Results / Gul Inland Championships Grafham Water SC - 27/09/2003

The first day of the Gul RS600 Inland Championships proved extremely frustrating for competitors and race management alike. The wind varied from nothing to F2, and could be seen coming from every direction within a space of a few metres at one point. Matt Chapman showed what he could do in the light stuff and ended up at the front of the fleet for the first race, followed by Colin Turner and Alex Knight. Just after the start of race 2 the wind died completely; people fell off the foredeck or produced other embarrassing light wind capsizes, but when the wind reappeared order returned with Ian Marshall at the front closely followed by Ian Montague, with Ewan Birkin-Walls gliding to the front at the appropriate moment for third. Chapman returned to the front in race 3 to finish ahead of Turner and Andy Heissig. Trapezable wind arrived for the next morning, and, having been tied on points with brother Andy, overnight, Jon Heissig made a special effort and worked his way into the front of the first race, with Humphreys second and Turner in third. Race 5 saw Montague break clear followed by Humphreys, Heissig in third to leave all to play for on the last race. The fleet split, and with wind on the left Mark Barron was first to realise the potential for overstanding the mark and tacked off to lead the fleet round the course, with Heissig was second. Barron discovered his only mistake as he crossed the line - black flagged at the start. This left Heissig in first, Montague second, Smith in third and then Turner discovered he�d been OCSed, losing him the championship. Montague was deservedly crowned Inland Champion, beating Chapman by a point, who in turn was a point ahead of Humphreys. Many thanks go to the excellent race team, the club and Gul for a great event in some particularly testing conditions. Jon Heissig RS600 Communication Rep