Bank of Scotland Boss Multi Gala at Weston Sailing Club

by Julian Cramp 30 Jul 2001 08:49 BST

Ten Bosses came to Weston for the third Topper Multi Gala event on the 21/22 July continuing the growth and re-establishment of the class. The wind strength on the Saturday of force 3 -4 was perfect for most of the crews providing some great planing in the gusts. Close racing resulted and the top 4 boats fought hard for positions. In the first race the left side of the course certainly seemed to pay off with Martin and Sarah Sully establishing a good lead over the first two laps. Behind them Steve Bell, Chris Gandy and Julian Cramp battled for second. This pattern continued over the next race as well although the advantage of the left seemed to diminish as the racing continued. The down wind legs proved to be as important if not more so than the upwind legs as sailing into less breeze or getting your angles wrong could drop you from first to fourth very quickly. The last race of the day saw the wind decrease a little but more so behind a large container ship that came up the channel during the second lap. On this second lap Chris Gandy went right and took the lead from Martin Sully who had continued to go left. Chris then held onto the lead to the finish. The large hole in the wind left by the Container ship also had a big effect on Steve Bell and Julian Cramp as they rounded the windward mark together and ended up clashing rigs. The loser was Julian Cramp who broke a spreader but with the wind dying managed to sail to the finish. The evenings entertainment at the club started with a sweepstake as to whether either of the two bogged in 'off road' vehicles would make it off the beach before the tide came in. With the intervention of a recovery vehicle and a very long strop and with only ten minutes till the water reached the last remaining vehicle the vehicle's owner breathed a sigh of relief. That was until he saw the recovery bill.

On Sunday the wind had fallen to a force 1 - 2 and Steve Bell seemed to come into his own. His upwind boat speed was significantly better than the remainder of the fleet and it was only on the downwind legs that the chasing boats were able to threaten this position. Competition in the middle of the fleet was tighter with the occasional tacking duel whilst approaching the finish. Chris Gandy fought hard for second but in the end Martin Sully's two firsts from the Saturday proved too much to beat. Steve's results meant that not only did he win the Boss class event he also won the Overall Multi Gala event as well.

Right across the fleet everyone enjoyed the racing and the social although we felt sorry for Dan Dixon and Gareth Davies who inexplicably broke their mast before the first race which put them out of the event. The fleet is now looking forward to the Nationals at Stokes Bay 27 - 30 Sept. If you haven't been sailing your Boss for a while dust it off and come and join in the fun!

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	815	Steve Bell	Martin Ockenden	Island Barn	3	2	4	1	1	1	8
2	721	Martin Sully	Sarah Sully	Thornbury S.C.	1	1	2	2	5	3	9
3	780	Chris Gandy	Gareth Randall	Draycote Water	4	3	1	3	3	2	12
4	740	Julian Cramp	Patrick Carter	King George	2	4	3	4	2	5	15
5	755	Robin Hyde	Darren Hester	Datchet	6	8	5	5	4	4	24
6	796	Steve Murray	Nick Murray	Datchet Water	13	8	6	8	7	6	35
7	729	Mike Molyneux	Stuart Whitmore	Weston	5	5	13	7	6	13	36
8	757	Colin Clark	Robert Clark	Datchet S. C.	8	13	13	6	8	8	43
9	800	Terry Hand	Roy Hart	Draycote Water	13	13	13	9	9	7	51
10	812	Dan Dixon	Gareth Davies		13	13	13	13	13	13	65