Results : RS400 Inlands Grafham Water SC

The Gul sponsored RS400 Inlands took place at Grafham on Sept30/Oct1 with a
weekend when all conditions were thrown at the competitors making for a
lively weekends sailing. After the biggest two man boat open Nationals this
year the 400's produced a massive fleet of 76 boats for their Inlands.  The
standard of the fleet was high with Champions from the 49er, Contender,
Firefly, 420, Lark and many others joining the fleet for some sneaky
pre-Endeavour Trophy (Champion of Champions in RS400s the following weekend)
practice.



Saturday emerged totally windless, the direct opposite of last year, leaving
the 152 RS400 competitors wondering if they would get any racing all weekend
with the centre of the low pressure seeming to be right on top of Grafham!
Just as people were settling into their 1st beer of the afternoon a force 5
blew across the lake! The race officer set a course but the wind shifted 180
degrees as one of the most bizarre cloud formations moved over Grafham. The
wind increased to a force 6 with lightning and then died to nothing!
Sensibly, racing was postponed to Sunday leaving competitors to concentrate
on celebrating at the GUL RS Racing Circuit and GUL RS Eurocup prize giving
on Saturday night.



Sunday started off light and rather promptly with several crews missing the
start. Multiple Enterprise Inland Champion Steve Venables/Richard Brown
showed their form with a large win, with Colin & Caroline Smith scoring an
excellent 2nd. Stuart Hudson/Claire Cummings pulled through to 3rd ahead of
Craig Burlton/Andrew Bonsey and Laser 5000 superstars Alex Tobutt/Dan
Johnson.



The wind increased for races 2 & 3 to force 2-3 and were tough - very biased
start lines & one sided beats meant that start line skills were everything.
Race 2 saw 5 boats in a very tight battle for the lead. David
Giles/J.Halligan  sailed smartly to get on the inside of the pack at the
last leeward mark and win from National Champions Roger Gilbert/James
Stewart, Hudson/Cummings, Nick Craig/Keith Bedborough with 420 Champions
Stevie Morrison/Liam Murray in 5th.



Race 3 was even closer with this time 10 boats in a tight duel for victory.
Everyone had a go at leading but once again the last leeward mark was
crucial with Craig/Bedborough pulling off Giles' inside overlap trick to win
from Hudson/Cummings, Richard Hudson/Alex Hopson, Chris Jennings/Ed Nicklin,
Venables/Brown and 49er Champions Andy Rice/Gareth Edwards in 6th.



Going into the final race Hudson/Cummings had almost sealed victory being
the only team with consistent results. However, after missing the opening
race, Craig/Bedborough could still win with a 1st or 2nd in the final race.



The wind picked up for the final race and at times gusted force 4. Another
biased line and one-sided beat made the start key. National Champions
Gilbert/Stewart showed their mettle with a large win. Hudson/Cummings
rounded the top mark 10th and pulled through to 3rd at the last mark.
Craig/Bedborough looked buried in the 20s but motored downwind to take
Hudson/Cummings on the last gybe into the finish and steal 3rd. However,
they could not catch Chris Jennings/Ed Nicklin for 2nd so it appeared
Hudson/Cummings had won. However, Gilbert/Stewarts secret to their massive
win was to be over the start line so they were OCSed. All was not over
though, Craig/Bedboroughs overall win went because they were disqualified
from the last 2 races. After race 2, they had swapped boats with
Gilbert/Stewart to give the Gilbert/Stewart team a go in the boat they are
using for next weekends Endeavour Trophy but resulting in both boats being
disqualified for a clear break of SI's.



This gave Jennings/Nicklin the race win from Hudson/Cummings,
Burlton/Bonsey, Morrison/Murray and Mark Reddington sailing the race of his
life into 5th, ably crewed by former RS400/Endeavour/Enterprise/most other
classes Champion Jim Hunt.