RS500 Winter Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Dave Houghton 10 Mar 2014 13:54 GMT
8-9 March 2014
A cracking weekend for a Winter Championship. A shame only five boats attended, but two battles evolved with Mike and Meg being pressed from the start by Hannah and Graeme for overall victory.
At the other end of the pack Anna and Keith were battling it out with Kevin and Will.
Grafham delivered on both days. Saturday was cloudy but a good F4 wind. Sunday, unbroken sunshine, temperatures in the mid teens and a F3 wind. Both days also provided enough shifts and gusts to satisfy any pond sailor ! On Saturday everyone enjoyed at least one 'swim' with Mike missing his toes traps on one occasional resulting in the inevitable. The final result could not have been closer with the decision made on count back.
Having spent all weekend trying to keep up with the leading two an observation was that Hannah and Graeme seemed to have the edge upwind but Mike and Meg were very fast downwind.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1040 | Mike Saul | Meg Fletcher | Yorkshire Dales SC | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2nd | 0 | Hannah Bristow | Graeme Bristow | Leigh & Lowton SC | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 3rd | 795 | David Houghton | John Symonds | Great Yarmouth & Gorleston SC | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | (DNC) | 15 |
| 4th | 748 | Anna Zmura | Keith Sykes | Great Yarmouth & Gorleston SC | 4 | 5 | (DNC) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 20 |
| 5th | 638 | Kevin Murphy | William Slater | HBSC | ‑5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 22 |