Gul RS500 Inlands at Grafham Water Sailing Club

RS500 Inlands at Grafham © Helen Saxton / www.fotoboat.com

RS500 Inlands at Grafham © Helen Saxton / www.fotoboat.com

Andy Palmer-Felgate claims victory

An impressive turnout of 22 RS500s in a growing fleet joined the massive RS contingent that descended upon Grafham Water Sailing Club last weekend to do battle for the Gul Inland Championships. With six races scheduled and a perfect force 3 to 4 breeze over the weekend, the racing was fast paced, exciting and close throughout.

A very enthusiastic start from the fleet led to a general recall on the first race, and the race officer responded with a black flag to keep the competitors in line, which remained throughout the weekend and claimed a few scalps.

National champ Alex Taylor was away representing the 500s at the Endeavour Trophy (congrats on a very creditable 11th place), but crew Bryan Mobbs was sailing, joined by ex-Laser 2 partner Graeme Bristow for the Saturday of the event. Despite this being Graham’s first go in a 500, they showed good form. However Andy Palmer-Felgate, also sailing without regular crew Liz, but joined by Fiona Ramus, showed his intentions in the first race with very good speed upwind and down to stamp their authority on the race right from the start. A close battle was had for second place, with Graeme and Bryan showing great upwind speed, but a few teething problems downwind. Also in the chase were Russ and Ali Cormack (Budworth SC), and Ivo and Piran Tedbury (Hawes SC) at their first RS500 event, having travelled all the way from Cornwall. In the end it came down to finding the pressure downwind, and it was Tim Wilkins and Heather Martin from Sully SC who came through on the last downwind charge to snatch second place from Graeme and Bryan.

The second race in an increasing breeze saw Graeme and Alex find some more form and during a gruelling five lap race overhauled Andy and Fiona with impressive upwind speed, and reading of the shifts. Race three saw a drop in wind strength, which seemed to suit Tim and Heather who led comfortably from start to finish. A second place for Graeme and Bryan, and third for Andy and Fiona left a three way tie for the lead after day one, with all three scoring a first, second and third.

To celebrate an enjoyable day on the water the fleet headed up to the bar and managed to make some decent inroads on the beer stocks before the 200s had even got off the water after all their ‘starting practice’. However the 200s eventually joined in and with a lively cover band a fun, blurry evening was had. A special tribute goes out to the support band, who we thought were great despite being green, inflatable and silent.

Day two was colder and windier, and with three convincing bullets it was clear that Andy and Fiona were going for gold, which left close battles for silver and bronze. And close battles were had, putting everybody’s boat handling skills and knowledge of the rules truly to the test on the mark roundings. James Goss and Emma Mackley gave a good performance and the leading boats a real run for their money using their slick manoeuvres and fast upwind pace. They just missed out on podium positions with two fourth places, but were never far behind giving them fourth place overall in the competition. And kicking at their heels were Alex Good and Tom Crockford from Datchet SC who secured fifth overall with a set of good results on the first day of racing.

Richard and Sue Morley from Burghfield SC claimed the Merit prize finishing 10th overall.

A fantastic weekend was had by all and it was great to see some new faces on the circuit.

Although the racing season has drawn to a close training is planned through the winter & spring in preparation for the first RS 500 World Championships in Holland. A training day is taking place at Datchet Water Sailing Club on Saturday 17th October. For more information see www.dwsc.co.uk/rs500training.html

Overall Results: