Managing risk and banking gains.

With 5 finals races under their belt the 76 29ers went into Torbay after a short postponement and with some slick race management from Stuart Childerley got in 4 more finals races for each fleet. This meant the second discard came into play to help insure against "bad luck". The wind was fluctuating around 285 but more importantly pressure was changing constantly with a wind from 4 to 15 knots at times. The sailors that 'managed their risk effectively and banked their gains" were the ones that would escape with the least damage on their score sheet. (Quote from Matt Thomas).

In Gold fleet the pair that "won the day" were Dan Venables / John Mather with a 10,2,3,8 to surge up to 5th overall. Above them Nick Robins / Billy Vennis-Ozanne 18,10,25,4 took 4th overall behind James Hammett / James Eales who scored 7,25,1,9 today. However, at the top of the leaderboard it was IRL 23 Harry Durcan / Harry Whittaker with a 8,17,2,1 who took the UK Zhik Open Championships by two points from Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling who with a 13,22,5,29 took the Zhik 29er UK National Championships.

The UK Ladies 29er National Champions are Hannah Bristow and Emily Covell in 12th position overall. Second ladies were Hattie Rogers and Orla Mitchell with Phoebe Connellan and Sophie Otter in 3rd. In the other categories Ellie Walton / Dan Budden took the mixed prize in 9th place overall after a very steady 4,7,6,16. Top Juniors were Henry Jameson and Harry Jones.

In Silver fleet Luke Robertson and Jacob Hutchings won from Jessie and Ellen Main who put in a late charge with a 1,4,1,2 from Luke and Euan Gribbin in 3rd.

After a total of 36 races and 18 races per flight the Race Team can take a rest and the sailors enjoy the Black Tie dinner at the Imperial Hotel after a fantastic week of varied sailing conditions. Weymouth 2017 will have a high bar to reach after a Royal Torbay Yacht Club delivered so well in 2016.

Report: (Authors - Paul Hammett),  Photos and Video - VR Media