Gul RS100 Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Al Hall 15 Oct 2014 20:21 BST
11-12 October 2014
RS100 Inland Championships 2014 © Ela Miller
The National Tour decider
The spotlight on David (Smartie) Smart, Mark (Chairman) Harrison and Huw (The Power) Powell... we were disappointed!
Harrison had some excuse of an AGM at his home club. He is the Club Commodore so could have easily re-arranged.
Smartie had some even weaker excuse of a holiday in the Galapagos - weird... why go there when you could go to Grafham for a light wind thunderstorm fest.
As a result Huw Powell is the new National Tour champion without even unpacking his boat. Some say he would have won it anyway but based on Saturday's result the author is not so sure.
Anyway, ten 100s travelled up or down the A1 with a poor weather forecast. Expectations were met as the fleet trickled slowly on to the water in a marginal 4 knots of breeze.
New boy Angus Jolly showed everyone a clean pair of heels as many boats succumbed to being overshadowed by RS500s who shared our start line. Chaos at the committee boat with Booth and Hall being forced to windward of the committee boat. Jolly extended to win by a large margin in what were marginally light sailing conditions, with Booth fighting back to second and Andrew Wilson third.
Race two and lightweight Paul Luttman showed a turn of speed in the light shifty breeze to lead most of the race only to be cruelly robbed by some exceptionally fast downwind sailing by Wilson at the finish. Booth came through to third.
Race three and the fleet were getting the hang of the light, very shifty breeze but lightweights Wilson and Luttman dominated after Hall and Booth tangled at the windward mark with some RS500s. Both completed 360 turns by which time the leaders were solid gone. Jolly hit right on the last downwind leg and was rewarded to finish third passing four boats on that leg.
The thunderstorm had arrived by race four and with it some wind. Suddenly there was a huge grin on Huw Powell's face and he stormed away to a convincing processional win in force 3-4 conditions with Booth hot on his heels and Wilson third. No overtaking to be seen as the wind had shifted making it a fetch – broad reach race.
Overnight seven points separated the top six boats. The forecast was not great but only two races needed.
The forecast for day two materialised... as you were! Home early for tea and medals! Well done Andrew Wilson, Greg Booth and Gus Jolly.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 377 | Andrew Wilson | DWSC | ‑3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 2nd | 428 | Greg Booth | Port Dinorwic SC | 2 | 3 | ‑6 | 2 | 7 |
| 3rd | 288 | Angus Jolly | Isle of Man YC | 1 | ‑6 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 4th | 303 | Paul Luttman | Weir Wood SC | 6 | 2 | 2 | ‑7 | 10 |
| 5th | 240 | Hugh Powell | Red Wharf Bay SC | 5 | ‑7 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 6th | 480 | Al Hall | N/A | ‑4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 7th | 221 | Martin Wilson | DWSC | 7 | 5 | ‑8 | 8 | 20 |
| 8th | 309 | Mostyn Evans | Restronguet SC | 9 | ‑10 | 7 | 6 | 22 |
| 9th | 481 | Tim Newton | Oxford SC | 8 | 8 | ‑10 | 10 | 26 |
| 10th | 454 | Gav Benbow | Leigh & Lowton SC | ‑10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |