Results / RS Fat Face Circuit Thorpe Bay YC - 07/09/2002

Thorpe Bay Yacht Club put on another great weekend of racing and partying on 7th and 8th September for the 16 RS200s who travelled to the penultimate event of the Fat Face sponsored 2002 Racing Circuit. An earlier than usual start on Saturday due to the tides caught out a number of the top teams, especially those struggling to correctly rig their kites after Friday night's visit to the bar and a Southend nightclub! The first race started in a shifty south-westerly force 2 and was lead from start to finish by Ian Pickard and Lucy Matthews, followed home by Simon Gillow/Tracey Hill and Mike Chapman/Sheridan Killwick. Pickard/Matthews held off a determined challenge from Steve Dunn/Dottie Cormack in race 2 to take a second win, with Pete Vincent/Trudie Danbury third and Jon Lewis/Paula Hall fourth. The forecast conditions finally arrived for race 3, held in a solid southerly force 4 and dominated by Lewis/Hall, who even had time for a capsize on the last beat but still won by over half a leg. Behind them second to fifth were very closely fought between Vincent/Danbury, Dunn/Cormack, Pickard/Matthews and Sarah Taylor/Claire Upton-Brown, which was the order at the finish. Sunday morning dawned wet and calm with little hope of any racing. However, the determined efforts of the race team saw race 4 start in a patchy shifty force 1. Lewis took an early lead from Vincent/Danbury, Dunn/Jane Norris (after Dottie's visit to casualty with a disco injury) and Pickard/Matthews. The race was shortened to 1 lap with Pickard sneaking past Lewis at the finish to take a third win and the event, as further racing was abandoned. Dunn finished third with Taylor/Upton Brown just pipping Vincent for 4th. This result confirms Lewis/Hall as Fat Face Racing Circuit winners, but 2nd to 5th will not be decided until Highcliffe at the end of September.