Gul RS800 Grand Prix at Datchet Water Sailing Club

Gul RS800 Grand Prix at Datchet © Barry Peters

30 RS800s converged on Datchet Water for the second Gul Grand Prix of 2010, to be greeted by weather normally associated with July, sailors adorning shorts and flip flops, and a breeze substantially better than forecast.

The fleet took to the water and soon realised the low water levels and unusual direction had done nothing to dampen Datchet’s shifty, gusty conditions, and 3 races resembling snakes and ladders were the order of the day.

In the first race Tim Saxton & Nicola Groves (Rola-Troc), Charlie Roome & Dave Steed, and Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes & Dan Allin got away down the first run from the chasing pack, and were never caught.

The second race saw Ralph & Ollie Singleton once again showing the fleet the way up the first beat in their new ship, only this time to make it stick and take the win. Ben McGrane & Roz Allen (Selden) took second, with Rob Watson & John Clifton rounding out the top 3.

The final race of the day saw certain individuals being slightly over eager to get a jump at the start, and very close racing. At the start of the second beat a large gust came through the fleet, of which only Nick Charles & Chris Martin emerged unscathed! Roz Allen decided she’d had enough of Ben McGrane’s helming and jumped, whilst Charlie Roome & Dave Steed decided to give the underside of the hull a scrub. McGrane & Allen got back past to win, with Stevie Wilson & Adam Broughton in 3rd.

Overnight the usual pretenders filled the top of the leaderboard, and race 4 started with a hugely port biased line, which the Singleton’s and Roome & Steed got out of with port tack starts to lead up the first beat. Roome & Steed hung on for the win, chased by Ben Schooling & George Kingsnorth, Wilson and Broughton, and the consistent Justin Deal & Ollie Page.

After a small break in between races whilst the club racing finished, during which certain fleet members were noted to be undertaking a bit of plane spotting, race 5 got away in a slightly stronger breeze. Roome & Steed worked their way up to take the win, followed by McGrane & Allen, and Wilson & Broughton.

This meant it was all to play for going into the final race. Wilson & Broughton did all they could do, showing the fleet a clean pair of heels to win, whilst the fleet being was constantly changing. Saxton & Groves got the 2nd beat right to come through to third, with McGrane & Allen, and Roome & Steed picking up places down the final run after getting stuck the wrong side of the beat to come in 5th and 6th.

Coming ashore no one was sure who had won, and it was only after a bit of finger counting, and the final results being posted, that it emerged Roome & Steed had broken McGrane & Allen’s dominance on the season so far on countback, with Wilson & Broughton a point back in 3rd.

The fleet have been testing a new handicap system of results alongside the main racing, based on the results of the previous couple of seasons, which was won by Nick Charles and Chris Martin this time around, with second going to Matt Rainback & Simon Foskett.

Thus overall McGrane & Allen lead the circuit by two points from Roome & Steed and Wilson & Broughton going into the first sea event, Stokes Bay, in a fortnight’s time.

Overall Results: