Results / Gul RS400 National Championships Looe SC - 07/09/2003
The 2003 Gul RS 400 National Championship is one that will live long in
the memory; five days of awesome sailing and partying in one of the
country�s top sailing venues. Looe Sailing Club laid on fantastic
hospitality and slick race management throughout the week to ensure that
the fleet will be fighting their way back in the very near future. Any
venue with a greasy spoon caf� and a night-club in the boat park is
always going to keep the fleet happy.
Due to the late timing of the event this year a slightly depleted fleet
of 62 boats made the journey. Despite the lower number of entries there
was no lack of quality, with many of the countries top dinghy sailors
featuring in the fleet. Pre-event favourite had to be Roger Gilbert,
hunting his fourth national title but with the likes of Nick Craig,
Stuart Hudson and Craig Burlton also going well, there would be no easy
races.
After day one it was tough at the top with Gilbert/Dunn and Hudson/Heeley
tied on 5 points each, after they both posted a 4th and a 1st. Craig
Burlton earned an early Duckhams nomination; after leading the fleet to
the first windward mark, they didn�t spot the stretcher mark, so as they
headed off down the run it wasn�t long before expletives could be heard
and they were again heading up back wind.
Day 2 and after a short postponement due to the race officer oversleeping
and missing the morning tide, the fleet got away in difficult
conditions. The wind had swung from the previous days direction causing
the unusual condition of surfing upwind and fighting over waves down
wind. The day belonged to Nick Craig and Keith Bedborough though, as
they put in an excellent performance and posted a first and second.
Gilbert continued to sail consistently scoring a 3 and 4 but Hudson had a
bad day at the office with a 9 and 10. Craig Burlton was back on a
charge with a 4 and 1.
Day 3 belonged to Gilbert and Dunn as they showed the fleet home in both
races to take a pair of bullets while Craig/Bedborough managed a 3 and a
6. Hudson and Heeley were back to form with a 2 and 3. Jackson/Baron
had showed good boat speed at times, arriving second at the windward mark
in the first race before a few mistakes landed them back in the pack.
Day 4 and in the first race it looked as though an ominous yet familiar
pattern was starting to emerge. . Gilbert/Dunn sailed the beat of theirs
lives to lead the fleet by over 50yrds at the first windward mark, then
disappeared over horizon and took their 3rd bullet in row.
Craig/Bedborough continued to hang in there taking second and then the
bullet in the next race. Gilbert took third in the second race of the
day with Burlton in second.
Going into the final day and Gilbert had a three point cushion over
Craig. RS 200 sailors John Lewis and Millie Parsons sailed well to take
the bullet for race 9 with the Princes in second and Craig third. All
Gilbert could manage was 12th so going into the final race Gilbert and
Craig were tied on points. Gilbert�s better discard meant that to win
Craig had to beat Gilbert and finish in the top 3. The pre-start that
followed was awesome as the old Cambridge team mates battled hard even
while under postponement. Craig had won the pre-start coming out of the
line the better off but Gilbert had succeeded in ensuring both were in
the mid fleet. With Craig ahead of him, Gilbert headed for shore where
he could only watch to see if Craig could work his way up and take the
championship. Going into final run Craig was 6th and in an all or
nothing manoeuvre he gybed set and headed for the left corner. The whole
event depended on the next wind shift but as Craig gybed it was clear it
wasn�t to be his day. He crossed the line in 9th and handed Gilbert his
4th title in a row.
1161 R Gilbert S Dunn 18 1
1173 N Craig K Bedborough 20 2
1215 C Burlton A Bonsey 29 3
896 C Jennings E Nicklin 37 4
1211 S Hudson A Heeley 40 5
1212 N Freeman P Freeman 44 6
1174 M Littlejohn S Littlejohn 49 7
1183 R Kenyon T Lewis 64 8
1216 H Roberts M Storey 67 9
1182 P Jackson G Baron 85 10
1135 D Shiel P Heath 87 11
1055 C Prince T Prince 90 12
1205 L Sydenham M Bailey 102 13
1016 J Gorringe S Flack 116 14
1100 T Woods I Fletcher 120 15
1128 J Lewis M Parsons 122 16
448 J Sinclair T Gosden 122 17
835 T Halhead C Priest 128 18
921 G Chipperfield H Chipperfield 153 19
1051 A Fox S Birchill 159 20
1191 L Mckeand N Hall 161 21
787 P Vincent R Jones 162 22
1121 F Marshall R Libby 189 23
849 L walker A Middleton 191 24
721 R Fryer G Fryer 192 25
947 K Baker L Dunn 195 26
1169 N Byrd M Bailey 200 27
889 R Bone D Martin 206 28
1201 B Handley L Handley 223 29
1187 S Pilkington M Gunn 226 30
780 M Frary C Sallis 231 31
1208 J Pyke C Goswell 232 32
1219 M Reddington J Lynd 232 33
759 J Buchanan R Buchanan 238 34
1184 T Jones J Bucknell 242 35
1001 J Thorougood A Johnston 254 36
971 N Hammond H Hammond 267 37
1180 I Robson S Johnson 268 38
1123 S Sargent J Porter 271 39
886 G Marshall A Robinson 273 40
1008 N Miller A Miller 278 41
796 S Tubby C Baynes 282 42
1189 N Holt D Hill 288 43
528 R Sievers P Hyde 302 44
691 M Carnell V Pope 308 45
1073 A Oliver C Fowler 318 46
1066 R Evans A Berker 347 47
1077 A Willard R Willard 355 48
1106 N Fribbins P Armitage 356 49
1064 M Acton H Thorpe 362 50
520 N Dowrick S Coello 376 51
798 M Ampleford L Nankervis 377 52
1046 M Ritchie T Ritchie 382 53
1177 N Barrett C Burns 390 54
744 M Lowe J Lowe 404 55
719 K Greaves J Brisgel 409 56
888 N Francis S Edwards 426 57
1134 H Farbrother L Hosken 432 58
924 S Matthews P Atkinson 439 59
1147 J Elder C Elder 443 60
602 A Harris M Harris 449 61
1050 C Partington M Partington 504 62