Results / Gul RS Solent Grand Slam Stokes Bay - 22/06/2002
Thirty eight RS400s took part in a highly competitive Grand Slam event
sponsored by GUL at Stokes Bay Sailing Club over the weekend of 22/23
June. Weather conditions on the Saturday were about as good as you can
expect, a fresh breeze providing spectacular 400 sailing. The excellent
Race Officer elected to run a course whereby the 400s shared the
startline and the first windward leg of each race with the RS300s and
700s. The 400s were then taken off on a beam reach to a mark some way to
port (which became the RS400 windward mark for subsequent
windward/leeward laps) before gybing downwind to their own leeward mark.
The course worked extremely well and, certainly on the Saturday, the
initial beam reach gave rise to some real adrenaline pumping sailing!
Race one was sailed in a slack tide and the crews from Burghfield, Chris
Jennings and Ed Nicklin, Steve Middleton and Chris Rowland, headed out
mid Solent and took advantage of a significant lift on the port tack
layline to round the windward mark in first and second place. These two
then moved well clear of the fleet to be followed in at the finish,
significantly, by Nick Craig and Richard Brown of Frensham Pond, and
National Champions Roger Gilbert and James Stewart of Stokes Bay.
Races two and three were sailed in a tide building from the west, with
many a crew more than grateful for the fact that there is no penalty for
touching a mark at RS events. And it was local knowledge that gave Dan
Vincent and Adrian Lynham of Stokes Bay the edge to lead both these
races. In race two some of the top names in the class had a bad race and
Vincent/Lynham led the fleet to the finish with Chris and Matt Bailey
from Bartley and Hywel Roberts and Melissa Storey from Parkstone
following in 2nd and 3rd, with Craig/Brown lurking ominously in 4th. Race
3 saw the leading boats stretch away with Vincent/Lynham impressively
ahead after Gilbert/Stewart snapped their boom whilst leading at the
first windward mark. But they were over the line at the start allowing
Craig/Brown to record their first win of the weekend. Stuart Hudson and
Adam Heeley of Spinnaker completed an impressive days racing with 2nd
followed in by Burghfield�s Jennings/Nicklin and Middleton/Rowland.
Sunday brought bright, warm sunshine but a much lighter breeze � to the
relief of many. Not only were there some sore bodies from the previous
days racing, but litter bins overflowing with water bottles around the
club compound was a sure sign that there would be a few sore heads from
the previous night�s RS party at Lee-on-Solent SC with all the other RS
classes.
All three races on the Sunday featured a particularly strong west-going
tide which generally meant that it paid to head out mid-Solent asap to
make the best use of the favourable tide. It also meant that going
downwind, in what was quite a light breeze, most headed inshore quite
early but it was oh so easy to lose hatfuls of places. Early leaders of
race four Peter Stratton and Paul Newton of Weir Wood were quickly
consumed by the chasing group on the first downwind leg. In the end,
Gilbert/Stewart, clearly putting behind them a sub-standard Saturday,
took the winning gun from Jennings/Nicklin, Craig/Brown, and
Vincent/Lynham.
Race five will be remembered for the dozy pillock who sailed his very big
yacht straight through the course � twice! An experience I am certain he
won�t forget very quickly. It certainly messed up the race for a good
number of sailors. Nick Craig and Richard Brown scored a precious victory
in this race to exert a decisive grip on first overall in what is his
first 400 event of this year. Gilbert/Stewart were obviously enjoying the
conditions putting a good second place with Robin Kenyon and Toby Lewis
of Hamble River and the ever present team of Vincent/Lynham following
closely across the finish line.
In the final race of the weekend, the Burlton/Bonsey combo suddenly found
their �Go� button to score a deserved win. But Jennings/Nicklin came
through in 2nd place, sailing another consistent series never falling out
of the top ten, to wrap up 2nd place overall. But when it comes to
consistency, Stratton and Newton take some beating. In their final points
tally they counted five eighth places to finish�well you guessed
it�..ninth!
1 1038 Craig Brown Frensham Pond 4 4 1 3 1 (5) 18 13
2 896 Jennings Nicklin Burghfield 1 (9) 3 2 7 2 24 15
3 922 Hudson Heeley Spinnaker 5 6 2 (14) 6 3 36 22
4 873 Gilbert Stewart Stokes Bay 3 16 (39) 1 2 7 68 29
5 975 Vincent Lynham Stokes Bay 6 1 (39) 4 4 14 68 29
6 949 Burlton Bonsey Northampton (12) 11 5 5 11 1 45 33
7 1077 Kenyon Lewis Hamble River 7 (14) 7 10 3 6 47 33
8 1128 Middleton Rowlands Burghfield 2 13 4 7 (20) 9 55 35
9 1066 Stratton Newton Weirwood 8 8 8 8 8 (39) 79 40
10 956 Date Hughston Port Dinorwic 9 (15) 10 6 10 11 61 46
11 780 Frary Fryer Waveney & Oulton (16) 5 13 13 13 4 64 48
12 1102 Roberts Storey PYC 13 3 (39) 9 12 17 93 54
13 1090 Jackson Barron Parkstone 11 12 9 (22) 16 16 86 64
14 1125 Bailey Bailey Bartley 14 2 18 (23) 23 15 95 72
15 1129 O'Brien Blundell Sutton 10 7 6 25 25 (39) 112 73
16 719 Pilkington Gunn Notts County 22 (28) 14 15 18 10 107 79
17 592 Green Green RYA 15 10 15 (24) 22 19 105 81
18 950 Peacock Peacock Bartley (23) 22 12 18 21 12 108 85
19 716 Styles Styles Downs 20 (39) 25 11 24 8 127 88
20 971 Hammond Hammond Oxford (26) 18 24 16 17 18 119 93
21 785 Shingleton-Smith Bocton RNSA 24 25 19 12 14 (39) 133 94
22 464 Bevington Windle Lee-on-Solent (27) 20 22 17 19 22 127 100
23 850 Elford Jubb IBRSC 25 (39) 16 39 15 13 147 108
24 680 Smith Browning Thames 18 (39) 20 20 27 23 147 108
25 669 Meakins Meakins Hamble River (39) 39 28 21 9 21 157 118
26 980 McQuire Heath Stokes Bay 21 19 21 29 (30) 28 148 118
27 1078 Byrd Byrd Draycote 19 17 11 (39) 39 39 164 125
28 1045 Tolhurst James RCYC (39) 21 17 28 39 20 164 125
29 1106 Fribbens Armitage IBRSC 29 27 (39) 26 28 24 173 134
30 821 Nelson Blatchford RLYC (39) 39 39 19 5 39 180 141
31 724 Bridle Robinson Bewl Valley 31 23 27 31 (32) 29 173 141
32 599 Ambrose Bathmaker Datchet Water 30 26 (39) 32 31 26 184 145
33 913 Brown Barnett Warsash (39) 39 23 30 39 27 197 158
34 835 Bartlett Jagger Bartley 32 (39) 39 27 26 39 202 163
35 878 Thoroughgood Hamilton Netley (39) 29 26 39 33 39 205 166
36 1089 Ritchie Robinson Aldeburgh 28 24 (39) 39 39 39 208 169
37 781 Sands Warburton Lee-on-Solent (39) 39 39 39 29 25 210 171