Results / Gul RS800 Winter Championships Hayling Island SC - 15/02/2003

CARVETH OVERCOMES COLD TO CLINCH CHAMPS 'Winter Champs', the seasonal aspect to this regatta was never in doubt yet this did not deter 50 hardy souls from shaking the ice off the covers and heading out into a brisk and cutting nor'easter. If the wind chill made eyes water, the fleet, racing in Chichester out of Hayling Island Sailing Club, were soon warmed up a notch or two by the close and tactical racing that took place over the three races on Saturday. A progressively gustier breeze off the land, matched with an ever increasing ebb tide, made the beats a 'who dares wins' affair in the ever narrowing channel. Often ignorance can be bliss which is the only excuse I can find for some punchy and very successful moves by some visiting teams that resulted in the likes of Spod Olive and Mike Warren sailing in the newly sponsored Sola boat, putting in some excellent beats on the 4 lap courses to be in or near the lead at some stage in all three races. He did however lose the chance of being overnight leader when pushing it just a bit too far. After taking the lead in race three from Barrie Edgington and Harvey Hillary sailing Team RWO, he stopped for a bit of a rest on the emerging mud, no doubt to warm up a bit judging from the flapping arms and motivational language. But as is often the case, Geoff Carveth and Craig Davies, sailing Fat Face, put in there usual consistent performance keeping cool heads, while others seemed to be losing theirs to the numbing effects of the cold. They marginally lead the chasing pack of Sola, Nick Peters and Nicky Griffin in Fat Face 2 followed by Rick Tagg, new crew Roz Allen and Team RWO with 2 points separating the lot after day one. Day 2 - Tropical! At least a heady 2 degrees warmer, I know this because I was able to fold the cover rather than lift it off like a frozen lid. Still some of the fleet had obviously had their fill of ice cream heads and decided to stay close to the club fire. As it turned out this was their loss as the early start nearer the top of the tide facilitated better course area made for a cracking days racing. With less tidal influence and short sharp races, a well judged move by they race team led by Messrs G Wells and B Moss, it was the shifts and pressure that were the key to success and ironically this seemed more to the liking of the locals rather than the sniggly tidal stuff of Saturday. Mike Lennon and Emma White failed to feature in the overalls points after day one due to missing race one, apparently to an unthinkable 'over sleeping' incident that has yet to be fully explained! They did however emerge bright and breezy on Sunday to add a solid set of results to the two 'counters' from Saturday and secure an excellent 3rd. Team RWO also got it together on Sunday to score 1,4, 1 and rue what might have been, but day one's Captain Consistency became the Come Back Kid on Sunday to fight his way onto the podium with 2,2,2 score line with some punchy sailing and excellent calls when needed, especially on the downwind, to take the places he required to secure the win another RS title to add to the long list. Roll on summer �.