Results / Bloody Mary Pursuit Race Queen Mary SC - 07/01/2012

The weekend of September 3rd and 4th saw the running of the first RS200 Club Championship at Datchet Water Sailing Club. Competitors qualified by taking part in series run by their own clubs. 11 races were run over the weekend, - a magnificent achievement on the part of the race officer and his team who managed to keep things moving for both the 200�s and 400�s simultaneously, running races on adjacent windward/leeward courses but with a shared start and finish. Saturday began in a pleasant force 2 with warm sunshine greeting sailors who had travelled from all around the country. Richard Whitely / Annabel Banham showed the fleet the way round in race 1, demonstrating the need to take advantage of the shifts both up and down wind, - a feat repeated in race 5. Robin Parsons / Jonny Shuster took note and followed up with a win in race 2, - the first of 3 wins over the weekend. Close racing throughout the fleet was demonstrated by the fact that every other race had a different winner, - bullets were recorded by Chris Peckles / Laura Westall, Tim / Wendy Gray, Andi Riley / Julie Marsden, Kevin Gerald / Julie Martin, Gavin / Anna Marshall, Paul / Hazel Williamson, and Nick / Claire Haylett. At the end of 6 exhausting races on Saturday, things were tight with Peckles/Westall tying on points with Parsons/Shuster. Sunday dawned with even warmer conditions and the wind rose through the day from an initial force 2 to a gusty force 4. Consistency proved to be the major factor in the final results as Parsons/Shuster won out from Peckles/Westall, and Whitely/Banham just pipped Gray/Gray for 3rd place. This proved to be an excellent event with great hospitality from DWSC and superb prizes supplied by Gul, LDC and the RS Association.