RS200 SEAS Finale at Wembley Sailing Club

by Julian Bradley 3 Nov 2011 17:37 GMT 30 October 2011

RS200s at Wembley © David Gates / www.fotoboat.com

The positions after the penultimate round of the SEAS RS200 Circuit were extremely close, with any one of 7 teams in contention for the decider at Wembley Sailing Club on Sunday. These included your correspondent, who’d such a shocker of a day he has sought solace and salvation in the extreme asceticism of Buddha... who himself said that it is better to travel well than to arrive: thus 8 visiting teams contributed to the fleet of 24 (though no one from the hotbed of 200-dom that is Burghfield SC, depending on others for their SEAS salvation).

For once, we’d a crisp force 3-ish Westerly, allowing the RO team of John Curran and Kevin Armstrong to set a windward spreader and leeward gate. Wembley follows the format of 3 races back-to-back, with Mars Bars & water to all between races 2 and 3.

Race 1 saw Matt Mee and Emma Norris win from Andy & Jeraldine Peters. I have no idea what actually happened, as I capsized on the start line. (‘There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.’) Wembley’s Zen-like Steve Janering won race 2, again from the consistent Andy and Jeraldine. He and my sometime sidekick led race 3 for some 3 laps, before being ground down on almost the last beat by Matt and Emma, Steve Dunn and the Peters (opportunity knocks, but karma hunts you down).

So, Matt Mee and Emma Norriss attained Nirvana, both winning on the day from Andy Peters and Steve Janering in 3rd and also the hugely competitive series. Roger Wilson won the raffled spinnaker provided by RS.

Thanks to all the visitors, and the shore-side help – in particular Steve Lindley - in what was a fitting finale. It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. Or Rob Janering.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	Matt Mee	Emma Norris	Red Wharf / Hollingworth	1311	1	3	1	2
2nd	Andrew Peters	Jeraldine Peters	Queen Mary SC	962	2	2	3	4
3rd	Steve Janering	Chloe Sideris	Wembley SC	1423	4	1	4	5
4th	Steve Dunn	Karen Baker	Parkstone SC	1313	11	4	2	6
5th	Rob Janering	Charlotte Cotter	Wembley SC	1130	3	5	8	8
6th	Simon Skinner	Nicky Skinner	Wembley SC	594	7	6	5	11
7th	Tim Lewis	Elliot Lewis	Littleton SC	1343	6	7	11	13
8th	Francis Bucknall	Ben Bucknall	Wembley SC	787	5	10	9	14
9th	Simon Cory	Sarah Styles	Downs SC	1018	8	11	6	14
10th	Charlotte Savage	Mike Wood	Island Barn SC	1325	10	13	7	17
11th	David Beaney	John Beaney	Castaways SC	1150	9	8	13	17
12th	Niall Martin	Renate S	Wembley SC	1263	14	9	10	19
13th	Julian Bradley	Greg Gilbert	Wembley SC	1263	DNF	12	12	24
14th	Roger Wilson	Chung Chan	Wembley SC	1131	12	14	14	26
15th	Bart Bridgen	Bryony Hatchet-Evans	Stokes Bay SC	415	13	16	17	29
16th	Adam Jenkins	Yihyi Hwang	Wembley SC	508	15	15	15	30
17th	Alec Gass	Nadia Essendi	Wembley SC	633	19	18	16	34
18th	Joe Farwell	Beate Pohler	Wembley SC	705	16	19	DNF	35
19th	Orla White	Alex Gardiol	Wembley SC	1088	18	17	19	35
20th	Martin Thomas	Olivia James	Wembley SC	554	17	20	18	35
21st	Emma Redshaw	Alistair Loweth	Wembley SC	1178	20	22	22	42
22nd	Mario Campanelli	Karolis Atkocaitis	Wembley SC	612	22	21	21	42
23rd	Jane Hill	Jess O'Gorman	Wembley SC	1299	23	24	20	43
24th	Simon McNamara	Liz Graham	Wembley SC	439	21	23	23	44