Results / Gul RS400 Inlands Rutland SC - 21/10/2006

Gul RS400 Inland national championships Craig/Stewart end the season in style Rutland Sailing club hosted the Gul RS400 Inland national championships over the weekend 21/22 October and 51 boats were greeted with distinctly autumnal conditions. Chilly temperatures with gusty force 5 winds whistling across the course caused several competitors to miss the first race when it promptly got underway! The right was paid on the opening beat, and Paul Hilliar/Stu Jagger initially led from Greg O�Brien/Ruth Johnson. While Hilliar/Jagger maintained their lead, O�Brien/Johnson got sucked into the pack and overtaken by national champions Nick Craig/James Stewart. For the third lap, Craig/Stewart closed on Hilliar/Jagger but couldn�t overtake them, with Eurocup winners Dave Jones/Mark Hogan beating off the competition for third. In the second race, Nick Holt/Derek Hill stormed into the first mark on a big last left shift to take the lead, with the fleet closely bunched behind them. By the end of the first lap, Craig/Stewart were leading, with Tom Halhead/Chris Bishop and Chris Gowers/June Riley in close attendance. Craig/Stewart managed to stay just clear of the pack and took the win, while Hilliar/Jagger took second place from Halhead/Bishop then Gowers/Riley. There was no let up in the wind for the third race and a slightly flagging fleet started following a general recall. Craig/Stewart tacked early and crossed the fleet to build a big lead in the big breeze. Gowers/Riley slipped through Hilliar/Jagger into second place by splitting at the leeward gate and they held onto that to the finish. Halhead/Bishop finished fourth to indicate a recovery from their first race OCS. On Sunday, the overnight gales had subsided but still left a solid force four, again from the shifty south. Paul Allen/Michel Allen led out to the left hand side of the course but couldn�t hold off Craig/Stewart. Halhead/Bishop, Gowers/Riley and Dave Exley/Nigel Hall tussled for third but Halhead/Bishop eventually won that battle. Sunday�s second race saw Craig/Stewart sail off into a big lead (again, yawn) but behind them things were hotting up. Jonny Sinclair/Rich Brown held a solid second place and showed no signs of giving it up to the chasing Halhead/Bishop. That was until Sinclair/Brown donned the water wings during the second run, allowing Halhead/Bishop to take second place from Hilliar/Jagger. This gave Craig/Stewart the championship with a race to spare. While the fleet were having several general recalls for the final race, the wind died off to a patchy force 2 as a brief shower came through. Although the wind had swung left big time shortly after the start, the boats out on the right were looking good due to increased pressure. By the time they met at the first mark it was those from the edges of the course that were leading, with some different faces up front. The wind became patchier as the race went on but the Allen�s held out to win from Chris Hogan/Elaine Marsh, with Craig/Stewart just holding off Halhead/Bishop, this result being enough for Halhead/Bishop to secure second place by a single point from Hilliar/Jagger. The Allen�s took fourth overall on countback from Gowers/Riley due to their final race win.