Over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of June, Gurnard Sailing Club hosted the seventh round of the RS400 Gul Grand Prix.
Strong winds were forecast for the Saturday which reduced the numbers of this usually popular event. Saturday dawned and the weather was as predicted……windy. Racing was cancelled for the Saturday and 5 short races were scheduled for the Sunday.
Sunday saw perfect conditions with sun and a good 15-18 knots of wind. 14 boats took to the water for five races. A high calibre of sailors was represented at this event with ex Olympians, World champions, European and national champions competing at the event, racing was always going to be tight and hard fought.
Race 1 saw James Downer and Jon Price fighting with Paul Bowen and Shaun Kellet early on in the race. Downer/Price stormed off to a large lead followed by local legend Graham Deegan and Judith French. However after the third lap, Downer/Price and Deegan/French raced to the finish line only to find out they had another lap. Bowen/Kellett took the win followed by James George and Izzi Mitchell (showing that last years race win at the nationals was no fluke) and Deegan/French recovering to third.
James and Jon answered their race 1 mistake in race 2 with a 3 minute win over Bowen/Kellett and Howard Farbrother with crew Dan Martin took third after many place changes downwind.
Race 3 saw a performance equal to Downer/Price’s performance in race 2 from Bowen and Kellet. Farborther/Martin raced well to hold off Deegan/French who seem to have a different gear to everyone else downwind, working lower and faster. Humphrey Carter sailing with Ben Green narrowly missed the top 3 in fourth place.
The action of race 4 started with a minute to go with a pre-start incident involving Bowen/Kellet and Downer/Price. Bowen/Kellett led the race from Downer/Price and Deegan/French. Carter/Green sailing Deegan's old boat just missed a top 3 again in fourth.
The Final Race saw yet another fight between Bowen/Kellett and Downer/Price with another incident at the leeward mark. James and Jon came out on top of this race, with Graham and Judith slipping in to snatch 2nd on the final lap. Chis Symons and Chris Hughes sailed a fantastic race, finishing just behind Deegs for third place.
Place changes didn’t end on the water, a dark grey cloud and tense atmosphere descended upon Gurnard, with Downer and Price putting in three protests against Bowen and Kellett. James Downer and Jon Price won all three protests, relegating Bowen and Kellett to the bottom of the fleet and promoting the guys behind.
James and Jon took the win after two years of bad luck at the event. Graham Deegan and Judith French finished just one point behind in second. Visitors James George and Izzi Mitchell Got a race win from the event and third place overall.
Full results at http://uk.rs400.org/index.asp?selection=Results&Fleet=RS400&resultyear=2012
Lots more lovely Rick Tomlinson pictures at http://www.rick-tomlinson.com/
James Downer
RS400 1321
