Photo: Ricky Whitmore

23 boats arrived at sunny Eastbourne for the penultimate leg of the Gul Grand Prix and final event before the nationals. Racing got underway in a shifty Northerly breeze which was gusting between 8 – 15kts making tough lay line calls and allowing some big separation between the fleet.  Race 1 was over surprisingly quickly after just two laps being won by Rob Watson and John Clifton followed closely by locals Mick Whitmore and Sarah Smith.

In race 2 Nick Charles and Chris Martin got in phase with the gusts and had pulled out a leg on the fleet by the finish, Ben Schooling & George Kingsnorth worked back through to 2^nd after spinning off the line with Andy Jeffries and Alison Ody rounding out the top 3.

By Race 3 the wind had shifted through 30 degrees to become NE with the windward mark being placed just off the pier. On the third leg it shifted even further left and became a fetch to the windward and a tight spinnaker reach to the finish. Those who broke left early on the last beat came out on top with Francis Peters and Nicola Groves rounding the final windward mark in 2^nd but were overhauled into 3^rd by the finish by Schooling/Kingsnorth. Stevie Wilson and Alain Sign read the shifts well to lead from start to finish – a sign of things to come!

Sunday dawned bright and sunny with a similar offshore breeze but with the locals muttering that something more was brewing. Sure enough the sea breeze combined with the Westerly gradient to provide 19 – 22kts with a short tricky chop to provide and epic Eastbourne foam up! Race one and Wilson/Sign showed electric pace off the line to lead round the windward mark and on to the finish. Justin Deal and Ollie Page were in 2^nd until their rudder split apart and Charles/Martin experienced their first pitch pole gifting 2^nd to Jeffries/Ody with Schooling/Kingsnorth 3^rd.

Races 5 & 6 were repeats of race 4 with Wilson/Sign dominating the big breeze and leading the fleet in style. Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes and Daniel Allin showed they still had their Tenby National Champion breeze on form with a couple of 2^nds with Charles /Martin consistent with 2x 3^rds. Congratulations to Stevie Wilson and Alain Sign for finally breaking his 4 year duck and winning their first event!

Look forward to seeing everyone at the RS Games & RS800 Nationals in Weymouth in a couple of weeks - with 52 already pre-entered this is shaping up to be a great event!!

Ben Schooling

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