Rooster 2000 National Championship at Castle Cove Sailing Club - Overall

The final day of the 2000 Rooster sponsored National Championships at Castle Cove had a different weather forecast! Instead of the bright sunshine, it was wild, wet and windy, with gusts potentially up to 32 knots.

The Race Officer very sensibly got the fleet out early, and race 9 kicked off cleanly, and then it turned into a tacking battle at the front end of the fleet in 15-18 knots - until the final 200yds to the windward mark when the shelter from Portland Bill kicked in and the winds turned very shifty and much lighter. Mike Wood / Jonathan Hynes came off the pin end, but the long port tack allowed Darren Roach / Jeremy Stevens to take the lead.

Alistair Barker / Nicky Goff showed great speed to round in third place. Jasper / Laura Barnham were fourth, comfortably ahead in the overall Championship battle. Mike / Jonathan had a great run to lead from Darren / Jeremy.

Again, the long port tack allowed Darren / Jeremy into the lead. Jasper / Laura in 2nd place were doing their overall points a lot of good, although Fergus Barnham / Serena De Nahik had dramatically caught up to 4th place after a poor (for them) start and first beat. A gybing battle between the 2 Barnham boats challenging for the overall lead allowed Darren / Jeremy to round in the lead - just!

The final windward mark had the first 6 boats rounding nose to tail - with some turns being done by Jasper / Laura putting them at the back of the group. But not for long, as they got the gusts and gybing angles perfect downwind to pull through to 2nd, just behind Darren / Jeremy. Mike / Jonathan took 3rd, just ahead of Fergus / Serena.

The final race of the week (is this the first Nationals when the class has managed to get all 10 races in, on the days specified, with no races postponed to another day?) was delayed while a ship slowly motored around near the windward mark. Once that obstacle was cleared, the fleet started - in the strongest wind of the week, with gusts to around 25 knots. Fergus / Serena ruled the Committee boat end, but it was Goodey / Thomas who stormed the beat to lead around the first mark.

These two were then followed by Darren Roach / Jeremy Stevens, who had started at the pin end - showing the consistency of the accurate start lines the fleet had enjoyed all week. Fergus / Serena took the lead down the first run, and then covered the fleet to lead around the final windward mark. Thomas / Richard held onto 2nd place, while Jasper / Laura had pulled up to 3rd just ahead of Darren / Jeremy.

A wind shift / strength change just at the gybing point closed the front-runners back up together, allowing Thomas / Richard to run straight for the line, while the other 3 boats all started to cover and jostle for the final positions. Fergus / Serena just held on to 2nd place to take the Championships, as Jasper / Laura got squeezed out at the end of the run by Mike Wood / Jonathan Hynes (who had a storming 2nd half of the run) and Darren / Jeremy.

A great week of racing, in very varied conditions, with just one point, and the final leeward mark gybes, all that decided the overall results.

Overall Results: