18ft Skiff UK National Championship at Mount Batten Centre for Watersports - Day 2
by Tom Hill 12 Aug 2017 23:36 BST
12 August 2017
The second day of the UK 18ft Skiff Nationals took place in Plymouth Sound in borderline conditions between the big and small rigs. There were many walks around the corner to check the wind conditions and the usual boat park chats between teams, egging each other on to swap rigs until the last minute. In the end, the fleet was split down the middle on rig choices.
The first race was almost a carbon copy to the first one yesterday with Rutland taking the lead after the first leg, followed by ChameleonI and LED. Rutland were wandering how they were going to throw it away this time, but held it together for another lap to take the win.
Race two grew in breeze which favoured the small rigs. This meant ChameleonI got in front, even with the big rigs of Rutland and LED getting close, but not close enough. ChameleonI took the bullet followed by Rutland and a last minute charge from Union Rose.
The charge of Union Rose continued in the last race when hooking into an awesome shift and rounded the first top mark first. The little rigs seemed to pay for the whole last race, with ChameleonI following in second place and Rutland coming through in third ahead of their local counterparts in AC Boatworks.
That leaves Graham Bridle of ChameleonI looking good in the top spot before the last day and the two Rutland based skiffs in joint second place. Tomorrow is looking like the whole fleet will be sailing on the big rigs with the forecast and the 2017 title for National Champions decided by the end of the day.
Results after day 2:
| Pos | Boat | Sail No | Helm | Middle | Bow | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Chameleon 1 | 91 | Graham Bridle | Eddie Bridle | Ed Gibbons | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2nd | Rutland | 118 | Tom Hill | Mark Kudlinski | Michael Andrew | ‑5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| 3rd | AC Boatworks | 30 | Anthony Chapman | Josh Wilce | Matt Hollis | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑4 | 4 | 14 |
| 4th | Union ose | 115 | Alex Lewin | Sam Curtis | George Weston | 4 | 5 | 5 | (DNC) | 3 | 1 | 18 |
| 5th | LED Energy | 43 | Steve McLean | Scott Bonner | Ali York | 2 | 3 | 3 | (DNC) | 5 | OCS | 20 |
| 6th | Sail 4 Cancer | 0 | Jon Bradbury | Elliot Pope | Jack Watkins | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 35 |