Day 2 of the AW accounting Nations saw the celebrity appearance of Ian Jubb.  With the RS200’s sailing out in the bay and the possibility of a long sail home for the evening beer 4 races were held in Portland Harbour in 16 to 18knots of wind with a short chop.

The first race started cleanly with the fleet splitting evenly left and right up the first beat.  Showing clean heels the top 6 boats came in evenly from both sides of the course.  With a lap of the harbour only taking 15 minutes there was little chance to rest.  Chunky showing that he can still turn it on took the race wing followed by Mark C and George S.

Race two started similarly with a split.  Andy Heissig, showing the he has not lost boat speed, was in the top 3 at the first mark, only to find he’d lost his boat handling skills and stuck himself on the buoy.  The fleet mostly managed to duck round him, with one exception – Mark being jousted off the back of his boat by Andy’s mast.  George S sailed well to his first nationals race victory followed by Jason R and Pete N.

Race 3 was similar to the first race but this time Ian Jubb lead at the first mark and was never headed to take the victory.  Jamie M was hot on his heels but could not hold off Mark or Chunky on the last reach.

Race 4, Jamie got a clean start and was first round the windward mark.  Hot on his heels with a gaggle of 4 boats eager to press him down the reach.  Mark managed to sail past Jamie which sucked him back into the gaggle.  Jamie then rounding the mark at the end of the reach, turtled, and watched as the fleet roared past.  Mark cover the fleet down the run, but was obviously celebrating too early and rolled it in at the leeward mark to watch the fleet sail past him. Over the next lap there was very little in terms in place change.   Ian Jubb pulled another bullet out of the bag with Chunky and Jason closely behind.

Friday dawned dark & gloomy with an almighty cloud threatening nearby. An hour before our launch time it absolutely belted it down. The downpour brought a good breeze which made it interesting as the forecast was only saying 8-12 knots. We launched in an ideal sailing breeze from the northwest so it looked set to be a great for the last 3 races .At the gun we heard a lot of shouting from Jamie Mawson and George Smith in a tangle ! The rest of the race was an absolute lottery in the shifty dying breeze. The race officer decided to send us on another lap which Anthony York took full advantage of to take the first win of the day with John Power also making the most of the conditions and posting his best result of the week in 2nd place closely followed by John Charles
So with the postponement flag now raised the race officer called both fleet reps (600-300) into the committee boat and suggested that as the wind was meant to fill in from the south west at  2.30-3.00 pm we should sail back to shore and wait  until the wind swung around to the predicted direction. We were just about to pump are way back to shore when a dark grey line appeared from the south west which brought some fantastic sailing conditions sailors who earlier set the boats up for light wind quickly got on the fore deck again to crack the rig tension back on! The wind was now from the south west at a steady 15-20 mph with the gun the fleet split half sailing right into the land mass the others sailing into the middle of the harbour. It was very tight at the windward mark but it paid to go into the middle of the harbour, Anthony York was first to the mark & Andy Heissig was back to his best after the man flu he had been dealing with over the last couple of days (or was it a hang over ummmm). Tom in third with Jason close behind. The battle was on for third place. Another bullet for Anthony York with  Andy Heissig 2nd and Jason Rickards grabbing a 3rd.
Race 12 and the final race saw first place pretty much settled the battle was on for 3rd and 2nd. A very consistent 15 -20 mph of breeze ensured a good race with the fleet once again split half going into the land mass and the other half going into the open water of the harbour. George Smith and Jason Rickards went far left while the rest of the fleet tacked early George Smith held the tack for a further 10-12 boat lengths which took him into first place. The first run saw a game of cat and mouse between Jason and George the pressure on George caused him to capsize just before the wing mark letting Jason through and grabbing first place which he was to hold to the finish sealing 2nd place of the national championships in second place in the final race was Pete Nelson 

A very big thank you to the race officer who did  wpnsa proud and for all the rs 600 who came along.