Results / Gul RS200 Nationals Looe SC - 16/08/2009

130 boats from the UK’s largest two man dinghy class arrived to a warm welcome at Looe SC, Cornwall for the 2009 Nationals.  With the entry limit having been reached several weeks before the late entry surcharge applied, the fleet is packed with top talent – Carveth, Peters, Olympic silver medallist Glanfield and, erm, Vincent are just a few of the names in attendance! 

With 10 races scheduled between Sunday and Thursday, most boats took the opportunity to have a practice on Saturday.  However, Sam Littlejohn decided it would be best to attempt to try to win Duckhams – having been peer pressured into cleaning his hull, he then stood back in admiration, only to see it fall off the trolley and puncture the hull!  Ouch – luckily, it was repaired in time for racing.

The first day, saw the fleet met with a breeze that fluctuated wildly in both speed and direction. It was, to say the least, to be a trying day.

Race one saw the fleet get away first time on the gate start.  Joe Glanfield, guest starring with Kate Mcgregor, proved that sailing the boat for only 30mins and not hiking in 12 years is no barrier to doing well in this fleet, and promptly led for nearly the whole race.  However, Ian Martin/Chris Catt eventually overhauled them to win the Selden Trophy, Glanfield settling for second.  Geoff Carveth/Emma Clarke, also back in a 200 for the first time in a while, rounded out the top three.

The second race was very interesting.  After some huge shifts on the first beat, with at least 20 different boats having a go in the lead, those on the right eventually benefitted from some decent breeze and ended up reaching into the windward mark.  Frances Peters/Claire Lasko followed the breeze best to win the Hyde Sails Decanter Trophy, but only after Robbie Burns/Vicki Simpson crossed the line to silence, having started the wrong side of the start mark – oops!  Pete Vincent/Tess Nicholls had a storming race to finish 2^nd, with Dave/Jane Hivey 3^rd.