Shadow X wins Grafham Sailing Club Invitational Catamaran Open
by Robin Leather 23 Oct 2012 14:41 BST
20-21 October 2012
Shadow X wins Fast Single Handed Fleet
The Shadow X took on the might of the latest A Class and F16 cats and won in convincing fashion in varying conditions.
Saturday saw light 5 - 10mph breezes and the ultra fast upwind performance of the A Class showed at the first mark. However, once the kite was up on the Shadow X, short work was made of catching and overtaking the fleet to lead on the water by the leeward mark. The 'not too shabby' upwind performance of the Shadow was enough to keep all but the fastest A Class behind on the rest of the beats. As the laps counted by, great racing was had, with the lead A Class passing on the beat and losing the lead on the runs. A similar pattern emerged for the remaining two races on the Saturday giving Robin Leather on his Shadow X three convincing wins on handicap.
Sunday promised a little more wind and built as the day went on. Initial fears of the conditions being more favourable for the A Class relegating the little Shadow X to the back of the fleet were soon forgotten. The A Class did go better down wind, but so did the Shadow! The last race of the day saw real depowering of the rigs but the results were still the same.
After a thoroughly enjoyable weekend of good close racing, Robin Leather on his Shadow X finished the weekend on top. Whatever boat you are on, the Fast Single Handed Handicap fleet is a great group of people to be part of and provides good, fun racing without the hassles of two man classes.
Grafham Water Sailing Club and especially its race management did a truly first rate job with good courses and quick turnarounds between races. The new format Grafham Cat Open is a great success.
Fast Singlehanded Fleet Results:
| Pos | Class | Sail No | Helm | Club | Rating | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Shadow X | 85 | Robin Leather | Gurnard Sailing Club | 176 | ‑1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | A Class | 55 | Phil Neal | Rutland SC | 0.988 | 3 | 3 | ‑4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 3rd | A Class | 73 | Bob Fletcher | Snettisham Beach & Rutland | 0.988 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ‑8 | 16 |
| 4th | Shadow X | 27 | Patrick Balcean | SNEH | 176 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | ‑8 | 5 | 18 |
| 5th | A Class | 39 | Dave Lowe | Rutland | 0.988 | ‑6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 23 |
| 6th | A Class | 11 | Colin Bannister | RSC | 0.988 | (DNF) | 10 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 28 |
| 7th | A Class | 2 | Derek Gibb | Largo Bay Sailing Club | 0.988 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | ‑12 | 32 |
| 8th | A Class | 53 | Struan Wallace | TBYC | 0.988 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | (DNC) | 7 | 43 |
| 9th | Formula 16 | 4 | Paul Tanner | Gurnard SC | 0.989 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | (DNC) | 6 | 44 |
| 10th | A Class | 38 | Gordon Upton | Rutland SC | 0.988 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 11 | (DNC) | 9 | 45 |
| 11th | A Class | 51 | Lester Barr | Pwllheli YC | 0.988 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 7 | (DNC) | 11 | 50 |
| 12th | A Class | 40 | Tony Lampitt | Rutland SC | 0.988 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 10 | (DNC) | 56 |
| 13th | A Class | 45 | J. Walker | Rutland SC | 0.988 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 9 | ‑14 | 59 |
| 14th | A Class | 66 | Mark Aldridge | GWSC | 0.988 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 12 | 7 | 10 | 63 |
| 15th | Nacra 17 | 49 | Ian Wilson/Alex Nock | GWSC | 138 | 13 | 13 | 14 | (DNC) | DNC | 13 | 70 |
| 16th | Nacra 500 | 3839 | Mark Richards | GWSC | 1.127 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNF | 11 | 15 | 77 |