Results / Gul RS600 Winter Championships Grafham Water SC - 21/02/2004
The Gul RS600 Winter Champs at Gratham was a very windy and bitterly cold
weekend with wind strengths of 5/6 gusting 7 on both days. Great credit
to the race committee and all competitors to hold 5 out of the 6
scheduled races.
On Saturday Charlie Stowe won all 3 races showing everyone how to gybe in
strong winds as most choose to tack around rather than swimming at the
gybe mark. Charlie also demonstrated some impressive upwind speed, this
paid off especially in the 2nd race coming from a late start of about 1
minute after the gun to taking the lead.
On Sunday some of the 800 sailors provided a beach party aiding the 600s
launching and recovery choosing not to go sailing themselves. With strong
winds and lots of breakages on Saturday all but 2 boats opted for
the �kiddie� rig. The first race started on time with only 2 boats
making the start, both with Full rig. 9 Boats in total launched and
attempted the course but after further breakages only 1 boat counted a
finish although others completed the course but were to late for the
start. After either further retirees or breakages the second race saw
all four starters finish, with the �kiddie� rig paying off for Griff
Tanner demonstrating some good sailing and less swimming.
In all the weekend was an excellent spectator sport providing cold and
exhilarating sailing for the competitors.
1. Charlie Stowe, GWSC
2. Jamie Mawson, Pennine
3. Andy Heissig, Lymington Town
4. Peter Sanders, Datchet
5. Griff Tanner, Datchet
6. Rob Jones, Weston
7. David Nunn, Datchet
8. C Morgan, GWSC
9. Paul Smilley, CVLSC
10. John Clifton, Weir Wood
11. Richard Lilley, LTSC
12. Matt Conner
13. Ali Wyatt, Bristol Corinthian