Gul RS700 Nats at Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club Overall

by RS Class Association 8 Jun 2006 09:40 BST 3-7 June 2006

The final day of the 2006 dawned once again with bright sunshine and a shifty force 1-2 blowing from the East and a slight sea running.

Paul Bayliss had a commanding lead and looked certain to take the championship. However in theory there was a mathematical chance that either Andy White or Peter Purkiss could beat him. All he needed to do was achieve a top six finish to put the championship away. The fight for second place on the other hand was well and truly joined as Pete and Andy were tied on 25 points with similar discards.

The racing started on time and it was Matt Humphreys who led off the line and built a comfortable lead in the shifty conditions to take his first win of the championship. Paul Bayliss was sailing conservatively in second place, trying hard to avoid any confrontations. This allowed Leigh Albrecht to blast through at the end of the second run to take second place with Paul coming in a championship winning third place, Andy White fourth and Andy Holland fifth. Pete Purkiss was struggling a little with the conditions and put in a ninth place leaving the advantage firmly with Andy White to take the runner up’s spot in the championship.

The final race saw Jon Heissig win the start from the port end of the line from where he charged out to the left hand side of the course and was able to tack early and cross the fleet. He then benefited from a slight wind bend and the effect of the tide to be lifted up to the windward mark into a lead, which was never bettered. Just behind, local hero Alex Koukourakis and Andy Irons were enjoying a titanic struggle throughout the race, which Alex finally won, only to find he was OCS. However it was a fast charging Pete Purkiss recovering through the fleet who passed this duo to take second spot. Unfortunately for Pete, Andy White was not far enough behind, finishing fourth and taking the second place overall.

A very tired but happy fleet retired to the shore to pack up and reflect on a great championship before enjoying a traditional sandwich and cake, tea before the Prizegiving by the Mayor of Eastbourne. The club were presented with a print from Day 1 of the championship signed by all of the competitors as a token of our thanks for running such a fantastic event,

• In the Silver fleet a very popular winner was Stuart Riches who had found another gear for the championship and just took the title from a hard charging Alex Southon.
• First Lady was Nicky Griffin, although we were all really impressed with how well Bonnie Moody had handled the boat her first event in the class.
• First Junior - Ned McNulty
• First Master - Pete Purkiss
• The Merit Prize went to Mark Nicholson
• Furthest traveller went to Achim Kreuzer from Hamburg

The draw in support of the classes adopted charity Sail 4 Cancer was won by Griff Tanner who will receive a brand new spinnaker courtesy of Hyde. The class was able to raise over £800 which will be going directly to support this worthwhile cause. Our thanks go to Hyde, LDC, Fat Face and Dinghy Sailing Magazine for supporting us by donating prizes.

So what is the formula for a great event?

• A committed, friendly and well organised club in a great sailing location.
• Professional and efficient race management and the best shore team in the business
• Some real quality coaching from Paul Bayliss and our RYA judge Peter Fitt.
• A record-breaking entry of 51 sailors determined to have a great time on and off the water sailing one of the most exciting and challenging boats around.
• Fantastic support from the event sponsors, Gul, Hyde, Harken, RMW, LDC and Dinghy Sailing Magazine to whom we extend our thanks
• On site technical support from LDC.
• A well organised and full social program
• Great weather and a variety of challenging conditions.

I think everyone agreed that all the boxes were ticked and that this was one of the best championships ever. Definitely one for the scrapbook!

The action now moves onto Lymington at the beginning of July for the next round of the Fat Face Circuit which is the last chance to practise before the “full on” challenge that is the European Championship in Garda.

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Pts
1st	Gold	875	Paul Bayliss	Portchester SC	4	1	3	8	1	2	1	-15	3	(DNC)	23
2nd	Gold	900	Andy White	Draycot Water SC	2	13	6	-18	-18	1	2	1	4	5	34
3rd	Gold	761	Pete Purkiss (M)	Brightlingsea SC & Grafham	3	6	4	1	5	6	(52.0 DNF)	-17	9	2	36
4th	Gold	923	Anthony Yorke	Northampton SC	12	3	-14	9	-17	3	6	5	7	6	51
5th	Gold	951	Stephen Butcher	HISC	1	5	1	-16	9	7	8	6	15	(52.0 DSQ)	52
6th	Gold	913	Alex Koukourakis	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	7	7	12	3	3	-14	10	12	8	(52.0 OCS)	62
7th	Gold	823	Andy Irons		-17	15	8	-19	4	5	7	4	16	3	62
8th	Gold	926	Neil Robinson (M)	M.R.S.C.	9	4	-30	7	-24	4	3	3	19	15	64
9th	Gold	9031	Tim Dickinson	HISC	-13	2	7	2	6	12	13	(52.0 OCS)	12	11	65
10th	Gold	933	Matthew Humphrey	Weston SC	-24	17	2	4	2	-29	11	23	1	7	67
11th	Gold	92	Andy Peake	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	5	11	10	-12	-12	11	9	7	6	8	67
12th	Gold	882	Jonathan Heissig	Lymington Town SC	-28	14	-18	15	14	10	5	2	10	1	71
13th	Gold	939	Leigh Albrecht	QMSC	-25	8	5	6	10	13	-23	11	2	18	73
14th	Gold	922	Dave Smithwhite (M)	HISC	14	19	15	11	20	-22	-24	8	11	4	102
15th	Gold	944	David Cummins	QMSC	8	12	-21	13	11	18	12	10	(52.0 DNF)	21	105
16th	Gold	959	Chritian Brandt	BSC Hamburg	10	-29	11	10	19	8	18	(52.0 DNS)	14	20	110
17th	Gold	806	Nicky Griffin (L)	HISC	19	24	17	21	13	-31	-34	18	20	10	142
18th	Gold	834	Tom Offer	Chew Valley Lake SC	26	10	-38	-30	22	17	29	14	22	9	149
19th	Gold	941	Rob Chaplin	QMSC	11	16	-40	28	-30	21	14	28	21	14	153
20th	Gold	906	Andy Holland	Hunstanton SC	23	20	27	-35	21	19	19	(52.0 DNS)	5	23	157
21st	Gold	907	Duncan Ellis	Hunstanton SC	-32	22	23	17	16	26	22	16	-35	16	158
22nd	Silver	767	Stuart Riches	Hunstanton SC	18	27	-36	20	26	23	17	9	-37	26	166
23rd	Silver	927	Alex Souton	QMSC	20	23	26	27	-29	15	-35	13	26	19	169
24th	Gold	890	Ian Swann	HISC	34	-43	24	22	-38	9	4	30	29	25	177
25th	Gold	962	Steve Marshall (M)	Corus SC	-33	30	20	-34	25	20	27	20	23	12	177
26th	Silver	741	Ned McNulty	Hill Head SC	37	26	22	33	8	(52.0 DNS)	21	(52.0 DNF)	17	17	181
27th	Gold	776	Griff Tanner	QMSC	16	21	16	5	15	25	36	(52.0 DNS)	(DNC)	DNC	186
28th	Silver	831	Mark Nicholson	HISC	29	35	13	26	-40	16	20	26	36	(DNC)	201
29th	Gold	861	Eddie Gatehouse	Chichester YC	(52.0 DNF)	-38	31	14	37	24	30	21	25	28	210
30th	Gold	841	Richard Smith	Stone SC	27	28	44	40	28	(52.0 DNF)	25	(52.0 OCS)	13	13	218
31st	Gold	963	Mark Pollington	Burghfield SC	-38	25	25	38	31	27	15	(52.0 OCS)	34	32	227
32nd	Silver	840	Dan Azzopardi	QMSC	15	18	33	44	33	28	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	28	30	229
33rd	Gold	902	David Gorringe	Lymington Town SC	6	44	39	25	34	(52.0 DNF)	32	19	(52.0 DNF)	31	230
34th	Silver	792	Achim Kreuzer	BSC Hamburg	(DNC)	41	-49	24	35	36	26	24	24	24	234
35th	Gold	961	David Geal (M)	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	21	9	35	32	(52.0 DNS)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	18	36	255
36th	Silver	960	Ian Nolan	Hunstanton SC	30	32	34	-41	36	32	33	25	-38	35	257
37th	Silver	934	Matthew Stark	HISC	40	40	29	29	41	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	29	27	29	264
38th	Silver	743	Nick Lowe	Port Dinorwic SC	22	36	9	31	32	33	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	52.0 DNF	DNC	267
39th	Silver	798	Nick Rawlings (M)	HISC	36	39	19	37	27	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	DNC	30	27	267
40th	Silver	945	Jonathon Cameron	QMSC	41	42	-47	42	-46	35	31	27	32	34	284
41st	Silver	873	Adam Golding	HISC	42	37	28	23	39	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	DNC	33	33	287
42nd	Silver	880	Howard Edwards	QMSC	46	31	45	43	(52.0 DNS)	39	16	(52.0 DNF)	31	39	290
43rd	Silver	811	Mark Tanner	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	44	-46	43	-46	43	34	28	22	40	38	292
44th	Silver	950	Tim Garvin	QMSC	31	34	42	39	7	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	DNC	52.0 DNF	DNC	309
45th	Silver	868	Matthew Conner	QMSC	35	33	48	36	23	30	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	309
46th	Silver	940	Howard Smith	Chew Valley Lake SC	39	(52.0 DNF)	32	48	42	38	(DNC)	DNC	41	22	314
47th	Silver	726	Tim Royall	Mounts Bay SC	45	(52.0 DNF)	41	49	44	37	(52.0 DNF)	DNC	39	37	344
48th	Silver	778	Andy Scott	Chew Valley Lake SC	43	47	50	47	47	(52.0 DNF)	(DNC)	DNC	42	40	368
49th	Silver	740	Jason May	Mounts Bay SC	47	48	46	45	45	(52.0 DNS)	(DNC)	DNC	43	52.0 DNF	378
50th	Silver	891	Bonnie Moody (L)	Lymington Town SC	(52.0 DNF)	45	37	50	(52.0 DNS)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	392
51st	Silver	969	Martin Millar		(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	416