Results / Wembley SEAS Wembley S.C./ Welsh Harp - 16/04/2005

By contrast to last year the 30 RS 200 teams that arrived at Wembley to contest the 2005 open were greeted with sunshine and a building South Westerly breeze. An RS 200 training day had been held on the Saturday by class ace John Lewis, and judging from the tightly bunch starts the lessons learned were paying dividends. Four races were scheduled, two back to back morning races and two back to back afternoon races. Principal race Officer Peter Walker set a tight line for the number of boats with a bias that swung from one end to the other in the shifting wind. A clean start for race one saw David Giles and Jane Wittan get a jump over the rest of the fleet from the pin end of the line to establish a comfortable early lead. In second were Simon Gillow and Emma Harmiman. Following a poor start Dave and Emma Derby climbed through the field to be close behind Giles by the finish with Gillow third. Race two saw Giles fly off the line and quickly establish such a big lead that it was as if he was in a race of his own. As it turned out he was, being one of several judged OCS at the start gun but being the only one failing to return. This allowed Derby, who had again started poorly but had worked his way through the fleet, to take the winner�s gun. Mike Chapman and Lynne Ratcliffe took second place after a strong final lap while in third place was Mick and Howie Wright. Nick and Claire Haylett finished a commendable fourth. With the start of race three Giles was clearly getting into his stride with OCS�s. This time, however, he made the wise decision to return and restart. Wright followed by Derby led the fleet around the windward buoy. Giles, recovering from his poor start joined these two in a breakaway bunch who scrapped it out for most of the race. Eventually Giles established a workable lead while Derby overtook Wright to take second place. Andi Riley and Julie Marsden put in their best result of the weekend to take fourth. So to the last race with Giles holding the slight advantage over Derby with 1, 1, OCS against 1, 2, 2. Determined not to be OCS for the third time Giles started buried on the third rank while Derby pulled off a perfect pin end start. Derby led around the first buoy with Giles recovering to second. Derby with a downwind speed edge established a good lead but was pegged back by the end of the upwind legs. These two established a large lead over the rest of the fleet. Coming into the final buoy Derby had a slender lead over Giles. This position would have given Derby the meeting on the tie break system. Knowing that it would be a tough call to pass ex-team-racing star Derby on the final upwind leg, Giles was heard to mutter �if there is to be a miracle let it be now�. At this point Derby�s spinnaker pole promptly failed to retract during the final spinnaker drop leaving him to sail the beat with a good part of his spinnaker flapping in the breeze. This was enough to allow Giles to pass Derby taking the winners gun and the meeting. Wright again took third to give him that position overall with Chapman fourth. In all an excellent days racing was had with the large turnout reflecting the growing interest of Southern RS 200 sailors in the newly established local circuit. New faces had their turn at the front, which does not always happen on the National circuit. This was one of the main intentions of the Southeast circuit and it is hoped that crews who have been reluctant to give open events a try will come to future events.