18 RS 800's made the trip to Grafham, with a few put off by the forecast.  They missed out on the Saturday where we had brilliant twin wiring racing, both up and downwind!  The race officer did an excellent job, especially with the shifting winds.  It was decided to do 4 races on the Saturday as the forecast for the Sunday was less than impressive.

In the first race we had 15 knots with gusty and shifty winds.  James Date and Toby Wincer (RWO) rounded the first mark in first place in their brand new boat with David Hivey and James Barlow (SailingTogs.com) in second place.  Unfortunately both these boats had issues, Sailingtogs hit a boat down the run that made the classic mistake of trying to go under an asymmetric boat downwind, both ended up swimming in a tangle of ropes but luckily no one was hurt! RWO had issues with all the ropes being new, slippery and not quite the right length (it was the boats maiden voyage).  They did well to hang on to fifth by the end of the race.  Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes and Daniel Allen sailed brilliantly to win the race by a considerable margin, showing some outstanding speed downwind! Ed Chapman and Sarah Martin caught up to second and Ally Martin sailing with Claire Cumming finished off the top three.  The girls sailed well to stay in touch and indeed beat a lot of the heavier boys.

In race two the breeze picked up slightly, although it was still very gusty.  Sailingtogs rounded the first mark in the lead followed closely by Laurie/Dan and Hugh Stone with Hannah Tattersall in third.  Laurie/Dan and Sailingtogs swapped the lead several times until Laurie/Dan managed to capsize near the windward mark on a tack.  They recovered quickly to hold onto second place with Hugh/Hannah in third.

In the third race Tom Halhead and Stu Jagger rounded first with sailngtogs in second.  These two had a great race down the run but were outsmarted by Dan Kilsby and Bart Bridgen who picked up a huge gust to round the leeward mark in first.  Up the second beat Dan/Bart slightly underlaid the windward mark meaning two extra tacks, this handed the lead to Tom/Stu with sailingtogs in second.  The places remained in this order until the end of the race.

In the fourth race, it was Sailingtogs in the lead at the top mark.  Unfortunately they made the fatal error of gybing off early to go left. In doing so they lost about 200 meters.  On the plus side they showed the others where not to go!  Laurie/Daniel duly took advantage and went on to again win by a quite considerable distance. Tom/Stuart finished second with sailingtogs climbing back to finish third.

It was a great days racing, perfect for dusting off the spiderwebs collected over the winter for many boats.The sailors were treated to a curry in the evening and then a pub quiz.  Some sailors then braved the cold and slept in tents outside!!

On Sunday we arrived to more wind than forecast which unfortunately as soon as we arrived at the racecourse duly disappeared.  We had one race in VERY difficult conditions where hunting pressure was key.  Off the line Ally/Claire managed a blinding start and lead at the windward mark by a considerable distance.  Up the second beat the race turned inside out with a huge (comparatively!!) gust from the right.  Unfortunately the girls got on the wrong side of this and Laurie/Daniel took the lead and amounted an unassailable jump on the rest of the fleet. The other boats  swapped places at will as boats hunted the pressure on each leg.  Eventually sailingtogs fought back into second with Mary Rook and Mari Shepard sailing well to round out the top three.

Overall Laurie/Daniel deserved the win with some very consistent sailing. Sailngtogs finished second with Tom/Stu in third.

In the battle of the girls, Ally/Claire finished on equal points with Frances Peters and Nicola Groves (Ally/Claire took the top spot on best race). Mary/Mari were only 3 points adrift and one place behind.  Very close racing.

The next circuit event is at Highcliffe on the 21-22 March.  It should be great fun.  

A big thanks to Grafham Water SC who once again were great hosts.  An excellent weekend!