Results / Bloody Mary Pursuit Race Queen Mary SC - 07/01/2012
GUL RS PURSUIT RACE AT DATCHET � Nick Craig even polished the cup.
The first attempt to run the GUL RS Pursuit Race in November never hit
the water with a flat calm and fog beside Windsor Castle. Datchet Water
SC kindly agreed to a re run and the RS family met at Datchet on Sat, Jan
21st under reasonable winter sun and not a bad looking breeze around the
top end of a force 2-3. Afloat the trapeze boats were looking hopeful as
they got out onto their wires and the 400�s were powered up on the
reachs. The wind was though surprisingly patchy over the M shaped course
with a long tight reach across the bottom.
In race 1 Tom/Jo Hewitson and Geoff Carveth/Bouncy Emma Clarke were
swapping places in their 200�s in the lead but it was soon evident the
400�s were making quick in roads and the 800�s were going to be very
close. As the last few minutes approached the 400�s were rapidly pulling
through the 200�s but the 800 of Alan/Jane Olive were on a charge and hit
the front in the last two minutes or had they? Nick Craig/James Stewart
in their 400 had got real pressure on a reach early on to pull well clear
of the rest of the 400�s and took the lead in the race with 20 minutes to
go. By the finish they were literally over the horizon over a leg ahead
of the Olives, with the Hewitsons third and Roger Gilbert/Fiona Clark
fourth in a 400.
The wind had slightly eased for the start of the second race and David
Giles/Kita Carpenter escaped the quality 200 fleet on the first lap,
about the only boat to make a kite work on the tight reach all day. With
the wind slowly fading the 200�s were proving impossible to catch and
were going to pack out the leading positions eventually taking seven of
the top ten places. Giles/Carpenter were miles clear but with the
Hewitsons and Carveth/Clark always in the top five overall victory
depended on how far through the 200�s Craig/Stewart could get. With
Carveth/Clark securing second in the dying wind Craig/Stewart moving into
sixth in the last five minutes was crucial. The trapeze boats made up
very little ground and the Olives were the first trapeze boat limping in
a distant 21st.
Craig/Stewart were on the same points as Carveth/Clark but won overall
having won a race giving him a chance to admire the trophy nicely
polished by his girlfriend. The Olives were the first 800 in 12th place.
Paul Craft from Teign Corinthian was the first Vareo, sailed off 1050, in
14th proving competitive against other RS classes when sailed off a true
PY. Andy Hessig was the first 600 in 18th and Tim Keen the first 300 in
19th.
Pete Vincent
Race 1 Race 2 Total
1. RS400 1237 Nick Craig James Stewart 1 6 7
2. RS200 751 Geoff Carveth Emma Clark 5 2 7
3. RS200 772 Tom and Jo Hewitson 3 5 8
4. RS200 1133 Colin Smith Rachael Williamson 7 3 10
5. RS200 753 David Giles Kita Carpenter 10 1 11
6. RS400 1161 Roger Gilbert Fiona Clark 4 7 11
7. RS200 927 Trudie Danbury Karen Baker 9 4 13
8. RS400 1236 Richard Bone Dan Martin 6 10 16
9. RS200 1077 Pete Vincent Tessa Nicholls 10 9 19
10 RS200 1103 Alex Taylor Sam 14 8 22