Results / Bloody Mary Pursuit Race Queen Mary SC - 07/01/2012

The 2007 GUL RS800 Winter Champs took place at Datchet Water over the weekend of February 24/25th. A good turnout of 25 boats braved the early season cold weather and rain showers, and battled it out with some close racing on the water. However the race for the title became a two horse race early on between Spod Olive & new crew Guy Fillmore and Pete Barton & Roz Allen. Race one saw the leaders get away from the pack over the four laps with Olive/Fillmore winning ahead of Barton/Allen. Last season�s circuit winners Justin Deal & Sarah Marriott came in 3rd with Dom & Jenny Johnson taking 4th, whilst certain members of the fleet showed early season rustiness by causing carnage at the leeward mark! The top two places remained unchanged for the second race, followed by Charlie Roome & Steve Hall picking up a useful third, with Jamie Reid & Ed Clay taking fourth. After a quick pitstop to allow the 600�s to finish, the final race was underway to ensure the competitors could get in to watch England�s thrashing in the rugby. The final race was a rapid quick fire three laps, with masses of place changing as the gusts blew down one side of the run or the other, meaning the results were never certain until you had crossed the finish line. The same group filled the top places as in the previous race, whilst Mick Whitmore & Sarah Smith put in a credible 5th, and David & Fiona Sayce completed a consistent day to hold 3rd overall overnight. Sunday dawned with slightly less breeze, and most definitely colder. Spod & Guy proved that even preferring the ladies toilets to the men�s and going to a wedding on Saturday night respectively couldn�t halt their immaculate preparations, and filed a 1,2,1 to tie up the event, ahead of Barton/Allen (1,4,4) in a safe second overall. Short quick fire races were the order of the day, and those who had starred the previous day were joined by the fast improving Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes and Dan Allin, who posted a 4th and a 2nd, interspersed by what would have been another good result if they�d managed to stay upright on the final reach. Both Roome/Hall and Reid/Clay conspired to kill off any chance of a podium finish in the last race, and after two separate incidents they were left spinning whilst the fleet sailed away around them! Deal & Marriott showed they hadn�t lost their knack of posting consistent results to finish 3rd overall after several general recalls towards the end of the second day. It was good to see such a decent turn out so early in the season for a fleet that seems to all come out to play once the ice has gone, which bodes well for the rest of the year. Several people who have had the winter off will start to be a force to be reckoned with, along with new teams like Jane Olive & Nicky Griffin who showed they will be up there challenging as the season goes on. Results: 1st � Spod Olive and Guy Fillmore (Stokes Bay SC) 2nd � Pete Barton and Roz Allen (Royal Lymington YC) 3rd � Justin Deal and Sarah Marriott (Frensham Pond SC) 4th � Charlie Roome and Steve Hall (Draycote Water SC) 5th � Dom Johnson and Jenny Johnson (Downs SC) 6th � Jamie Reid and Ed Clay (OCSS) NEXT EVENT: FIRST FAT FACE CIRCUIT EVENT, CHEW VALLEY LAKE SC 10th � 11th March. More Details: http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp? selection=eventsdetail&uid=114823218&class=RS800&fleet=RS800&detailevent=1