Results / Draycote Dash Draycote Water SC - 25/02/2012

Friday off work, a respectable departure time in the morning to catch the 3pm ferry allowing a Thursday night warm up of the liver, and a few hours driving from Calais saw arrival at the venue for the next three days of sailing and partying� Center Parcs. It was going to be a good weekend! Aquavitesse who ran the racing for us came over the pond each day, from where their sailing club is situated, to set up a race course and did a fantastic job getting the full 10 race series in, in tricky, shifty conditions that struggled to get above 8 knots all weekend. The race office was a chalet near the beach and there was no sailing club for us to hang out in� but this didn�t seem to matter too much! Initial shock from all competitors who had opted to stay in the �bungalows�, which were actually Eurocamp tents, seemed to disappear quite quickly too, when it was realised that the summer sailing season has begun and we were officially on holiday (this realisation was perhaps a bit hasty as we were nearly evicted from the campsite on the first morning!). It�s a shame there weren�t more people there to join in the fun. I assume this was due to a combination of school holidays, and everyone saving their hard earned pennies to come to Lake Garda�! Matt Adams and John Date took a big lead in race one only to be robbed on the last run when James Date and Mike Warren twin wired the whole way down, as Date junior got acquainted with the play pen. They got their own back in the last race though coming from nowhere on the last beat to take a deserved race win. Ian Martin and Claire Booth were 3rd overnight with a 4,3,3, with Charlie Colbourn and Richie Burlingham not far behind with 3,4,4. Counting up the DNS across all fleets from Sunday morning gives a grand total of 13. Saturday night was good! Date/Warren were not quite operating on all cylinders and watched from the sidelines as Adams/Date take their second race win. Date/Warren won the remaining three races of the day with Matt Critchley and Ryan Crawford having a good with 2,5,3,2. Martin/Booth added two 2nds to their scorecard. Sunday night. 60 odd RS sailors. 12.50 Euros. BBQ and free lager all night. Enough said� Monday and three more races. Date/Warren took three more bullets, with Critchely/Crawford scoring 2,2,3. Of particular note though was Joe Turnbull and Andy �Rod of� Steel notching up a 3rd in race one. The Rod of Steel was an 800 virgin before this weekend, and this sniff of glory is surely the start of great things to come. Adams/Date had managed an impressive DFL in race one of the day, but got 3,4 in the remaining two to hold second overall by a point from Critchley/Crawford who pipped Martin/Booth on countback for third. A very enjoyable weekend, and hopefully the stories from those that were there will encourage the usual RS fleet size for next year! James Date.