Results / Crew Clothing RS800 Grand Prix Stokes Bay SC - 28/09/2013

Saturdays sailing started with a moderate breeze as 25 boats filtered out to the start line for some wind over tide racing in the Solent.

With the breeze consistently building race 1 got under way. Date and Wincer started the event with a bang pulling off a port flyer to head out to the right hand side. At the top mark it was Chapman/Stewart narrowly in front of Date/Wincer and a tight top pack.

Blustery wind and the infamous short Solent chop saw some teams suffering breakages and took a few scalps with Date/Wincer holding strong a lead into the final downwind leg where they parked it on a gybe and gifted the first win of the day to Phillips/Crocker with Shone/Tattershall in 2nd and Saxton/Littlejohn 3rd.

By race 2 the breeze had built making the conditions far less manageable in the lumpy conditions. At the top mark it was a similar story seeing Chapman/Stewart rounding in the top spot with Date/Wincer hot on their heels.

In the strong breeze the race spread out a little with and by the next mark it was Date/Wincer leading followed by Chapman/Stewart and Phillips/Crocker in 3rd and that is how it stayed until the close.

Race 3 saw the breeze lifting slightly and followed the same practice with Chapman/Stewart leading round the top mark this time followed by Phillip/Crocker the pairs pulled out a bit of a lead.

The positions stayed like this until the last gate when Chapman/Stewart sailed into the only hole on the race course at the bottom gate and watched their 400 metre lead rapidly transform into a second place to gift Phillips their second win of the day.

Overnight Standings
Phillips/Crocker 1,3,1
Chapman/Stewart 5,2,2
Saxton/Littlejohn 3,5,4

Sunday saw vastly different conditions with an off shore breeze and dead flat sea state. The off shore breeze and a windward mark in touching distance of the shoreline gave the fleet a bit of lottery racing with large shifts and patchy conditions.

The first race was taken by Cockerill/Heather who showed an impressive level of sailing pulling out a large lead in tricky conditions followed by Date/Wincer and 3rd was Luke and Emma McEwen who had a solid performance hold off the chasing pack and extend the gap.

For race 2 the committee held off on the start to reset the course and squared it up with a very efficient turn around. The race was taken by Date/Wincer who made a strong recovery after having to bail out at the start with 3 seconds to go, Fitzjohn/Allin in second place and an ever consistent Phillips/Crocker in 3rd.

Sundays final race saw the breeze decreasing but with some gems flying down the race course. Dave and Louise Steed picked up one of these on the first downwind and after some smart sailing took the final race of the weekend, Phillips/Crocker in second and Fitzjohn/Allin in 3rd.

Many thanks have to be given to everybody at SBYC for yet another outstanding event in particular the speed and efficiency with which races were turned around. Also thanks to everyone who turned up and we hope to see everyone at the inlands at Queen Mary on 12th/13th October.

Thank you to Ed Chapman for the report

More photos can be viewed at www.eddiemays.com.