Scorpion National Championships at Paignton Sailing Club - Day 3

by Harvey Hillary 21 Aug 2012 22:20 BST 18-24 August 2012

Musto sponsored Race 3 of the Scorpion Nationals which stated in the now familiar 8 knot south westerly with an equally familiar sight of Jeffcoate and Hillary leading off the pin. Ryan Buchanan and Hannah Burke reached the Windward Mark 1st and extended (much to their surprise) showing the fleet a clean set of heels for the remainder) of the 4 laps. Jeffcoate and Hillary spent the rest of the race trying to keep the gun team of Gillard and Wells behind them, only to be passed on the final beat. The action behind saw a closely matched battle with Pete Mitchell and Ruth Johnson eventually taking 4th from McKee and Jones in 5th. BIg congratulations to Buchanan and Burke on their 1st championship race win.

A building breeze in the Camcleat Race 4 saw the gate start get away cleanly. An even beat brought both sides together at the windward mark with Tim Parsons and ALexandra Hayman sneaked their nose around the windward mark just ahead of Wolfended-Rhodes and Grey-Pepperdine in 3rd. A leading group of 7 boats pulled away down the 1st reach as the pack behind fought for clear air. Gillard & Wells continued to show their class moving thought the fleet to claim another podium.

The main casualties were Parsons and Hayman who managed to introduce themselves to the finish mark in spectacular fashion. After clearing the rudder from the ground tackle and taking a penalty they still managed to misjudge the lay and had to gybe again for before finally finishing 5th. Peter Gray and Pepperdine won the race with Gillard and Wells 2nd and 3rd Mitchell and Johnson.

So after 4 races we're starting to see a patten arising. Tom Gillard and Ollie (Hugh Gass) Wells are the form team and the rest of the top 5 are all counting some high scores. Jeffcoate and Hillary are 2nd with Pete Gray and Richard Pepperdine 3rd.