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Result Details

Event name: RS Racing Circuit
Date: 25 April 2009
Type:
Club: Royal Windermere YC
Classtype:RS400 , see more results

he weekend of 19 & 20 April witnessed the arrival of 43 RS 400’s to the stunningly picturesque waters of Lake Windermere. RWYC is a proper posh (and very welcoming) yacht club with GREAT catering as well as complimentary toiletries in the showers - very important to the fashion-conscious RS sailor.


The swell in numbers at this early stage of the calendar shows promise of encouraging turnouts for the season. It was also very pleasing to see a large contingent of local boats turn out to join the racing.

Race 1 kicked off with a 30 degree shift followed by the breeze shutting off for 5 minutes: just long enough to allow the fleet to compress. A number of boats elected to go right and were rapidly doomed and emotions ran high as an equal number of boats overstanding the port layline by tens of boatlengths were suddenly smelling of roses. Nobody was ready for "winter” to make a guest appearance for a couple of laps. Downdraughts, boat-tacking shifts, rain, hail, FORKED Lightening caused some mishaps including the odd capsise (ahem) as well as much exciting reaching Mike Hart & Sally Kilpatrick did well to capitalise on the swinging breeze to come through first followed by Paul & Mike Allen and then Chris Gowers & June Riley. A long pause followed as the race officer made brave efforts to re-align the race course with the wind which clocked progressively through 270 degrees pausing at regular intervals just long enough for the race marks to be dropped in - only to continue moving round the companss.

An ominous sign for race 2 which started with promise in a steady hiking breeze but rapidly became an endurance drift-athon. Special mention to Chris & Jane Bailey, whose break from 400 sailing has clearly done them good. Leading all the way up the beat only to tack and miss the toestraps causing a capsise and an interesting road block on the starboard layline. Chris Gowers made the best of the drifting. Then the Allens, and then Dave Jones / Mark Hogan.

Saturday night was memorable for the splendid catering at RWYC (apparently the local butcher is an enthusiastic member - jolly good). A very well-organised pub crawl provided the opportunity for all sailing folk to interact with the local population and sample lakeland ales - as well as RUM.

Sunday was greeted with less enthusiasm, but as the fleet launched, Garda - like conditions started to fill in. The first race of the day was all about winning the pin and working over to a nice wind bend providing a great lift up to the windward mark. Mike & Sally first, Dave Exley & NIgel Hall second, Allens third. And finally, for 6 boats a rare opportunity to discuss the racing rules of sailing whilst moored up to one another and the committee boat on the finish line.

Second race was starting practice. Lots and lots of starting. Fifth go, and the fleet were allowed to carry on up the beat. Allens first, Sam Parker, Stu Jagger second, just a whisker ahead of Chris & June 3rd

Final race provided another round of Champagne sailing: bright sunny planing conditions amid mountain scenery: if it wasn’t for the wooly hats it could have been Garda. The conditions did get the better of some sailors however: Simon Pritchard Jones and Sally Porter took an unlucky tumble having hooked a baseball cap on their rudder, which affected the boat’s stability “very much indeed”. Allens first, Hamish Gledhill & Simon Dowse second, Chris & June 3rd.

So in the final reckoning it was Mike & Sally 3rd, Chris & June 2nd and the Paul and Mike Allen in first place. Mike said success was partly down to the special 3mm spin sheets he uses for “light conditions”... perfect, but a bit of a struggle in the 18 knot gusts experienced on Sunday... In the silver fleet, local Bassenthwaite boats of Robin Dawson/Ian Smith and Mark Somerville/ Joe Roberts took 1 and 2, with 3rd place going to James George and Simon Kinsey.

All prizes were generously donated by a local chandlery. A fantastic weekend on and off the water. Many thanks to all at RWYC and as this author types the report en route back to Southampton, well worth the effort of making the journey. We hope to see Windermere on the circuit next year!

Rank Fleet SailNo Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R4 R5 R6 Nett
1 Gold 1155 Paul Allen Mike Allen Leigh & Lowton SC 2 2 no result -3 1 6
2 Gold 1204 Chris Gowers June Riley Port Dinorwic SC 3 1 no result -8 3 10
3 Gold 1082 Mike Hart Sally Kilpatrick Port Dinorwic SC 1 8 no result 1 9 19
4 Gold 1186 Dave Exley Nigel Hall Leigh & Lowton SC -22 7 no result 2 6 22
5 Gold 1014 Hamish Gledhill Simon Dowse West Riding SC 7 4 no result (41.0 DNC) 10 23
6 Gold 1328 Michael Sims Andrew George Carsington SC 9 5 no result 4 5 23
7 Gold 1275 Sam Parker Stu Jagger -25 11 no result 6 2 24
8 Gold 1251 H Farbrother N Pinch Queen Mary SC 12 -19 no result 7 4 27
9 Gold 767 Richard Marsh Heather Marsh Elton SC 6 12 no result 5 8 31
10 1189 Robin Dawson Ian Smith Bassenthwaite SC 5 6 no result (41.0 OCS) 13 33
11 1049 Mark Somerville Joe Roberts Bassenthwaite SC 10 9 no result -14 14 41
12 1139 James George Simon Kinsey Queen Mary SC 13 17 no result -19 7 43
13 Gold 186 Caroline Exley Jude Pryde Leigh & Lowton SC 4 18 no result (41.0 OCS) 11 45
14 Gold 1191 Louise McKeand Ben Kirk Leigh & Lowton SC 8 15 no result 11 -19 45
15 669 Nigel Tullett Graham Tullett RWYC 11 13 no result 13 -18 50
16 Gold 1172 Alex Fleming Joe Hartigan Leigh & Lowton SC -17 10 no result 15 12 54
17 1134 Nick Simmons Louise Hosken Weston SC -34 20 no result 9 16 55
18 1215 S Pritchard Jones Sally Parker Port Dinorwic SC -23 14 no result 22 17 68
19 847 Ian Martin Clare Philbrick South Shields SC 19 21 no result 10 -24 70
20 1293 John Richardson Alice Fisher RWYC -24 16 no result 21 21 74
21 Gold 962 David Jones Mark Hogan Port Dinorwic SC 14 3 no result 17 (41.0 DNS) 75
22 929 John Whalley Jenny Whalley RWYC 16 -27 no result 18 27 82
23 1345 Mike Adams David Stedman Bexhill SC 15 25 no result 23 20 83
24 1277 Paul Legge Brian Clough RWYC 18 23 no result -27 23 83
25 1263 Chris Bailey Jane Bailey Draycot WSC 21 34 no result 24 15 94
26 1349 Simon Herriott Arthur Mehigan Greystones SC -35 28 no result 26 22 94
27 744 Fiona Lewis Iain Lewis Queen Mary SC 38 (41.0 DNF) no result 12 25 98
28 545 Andrew Hall Ian Donaldson West Lancs YC 26 -33 no result 20 26 98
29 1292 James Nield Ian Frith RWYC 20 29 no result 16 (41.0 DNS) 106
30 1268 Alistair Rose Yvette Rose RWYC -32 22 no result 30 28 108
31 1229 Richard Pratt RWYC 29 -30 no result 25 29 108
32 1281 M Pearson P Salmon Elton SC 27 26 no result 28 -32 108
33 1323 Phil Titchmarsh Paul Nix Glossop SC 30 24 no result -33 31 109
34 509 Darren Martin David Hodgson RWYC 37 31 no result 29 (41.0 DNF) 119
35 762 John Marsh Stephen Kennedy Elton SC 28 32 no result 31 30 121
36 891 Paul Frain Tim Davidson RWYC 31 (41.0 DNF) no result 36 33 141
37 1103 Philip Hubbard Lily Charlesworth RWYC 33 35 no result 32 (41.0 DNS) 141
38 563 Pierre Labat Roger Waddington RWYC 36 (41.0 DNF) no result 35 41.0 DNF 153
39 561 Shawn Wodcock Tony Cliff Bartley SC 40 (41.0 DNF) no result 34 41.0 DNF 156
40 729 Anthony Sherran Peter Holgate RWYC 39 36 no result (41.0 DNC) 41.0 DNC
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