Boss Open Meeting at Draycote Water Sailing Club

by Steve Murray 4 Apr 2003 12:42 BST

22-23 March

The fog lifted revealing a beautiful Saturday with blue skies and force 3 breeze. The first race gave an indication of how close the competion was going to be as the fleet passed the leward mark for the 2nd time less than a boat length separated the first 3 bosses but Chris Gandy managed to break free on the final beat and held the lead until the finish.

Race 2 was again very close with Chris Gandy, Julian Cramp, Patrick Carter and Steve & Nick Murray all taking it turns to lead, however it was, again, Gandy who broke the deadlock taking first.

The 3rd race saw frequent position changes until a shift put the Murray’s into the lead. They held on until the final downwind leg when both Cramp and Gandy got through resulting in a 3 way tacking dual up the final beat and a win for Cramp by the narrowest of margins.

The wind held for Sunday and race 4 got underway. A luffing dual on the first downwind leg put the Murray’s into first place which they managed to hold until the finish despite a late charge by Gandy.

In race 5 Gandy lead from the start but the fight for second continued until the finish where Cramp crossed less than 1 second ahead of the Murray’s.

In the final race Cramp took an early lead after an impresive port start. Terry Hand and Roy Hart took early retirement with gear failure. Cramp lead until a careless capsize handed the lead to Gandy but he was unable to hold on and Cramp just pipped him at the line.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Type	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Pts
1st	Boss	780	Chris Gandy	Stuart Watts	Draycote Water SC	7
2nd	Boss	740	Julian Cramp	Patrick Carter	King George SC	8
3rd	Boss	796	Steve Murray	Nick Murray	Datchet Water SC	13
4th	Boss	800	Terry Hand	Roy Hart	Draycote Water SC	23