Results / GUL RS National Championship Pwllheli Sc - 29/08/2005

Day 3 Race 4 Conditions F2-3 offshore, some swell Having taken his brave pills, Charlie Roome successfully executed a port tack flyer which saw him lead to the first mark. The pursuing group led by Christian Reynolds included Paul Smalley, Dan Dixon and Jamie Mawson. Positions remained the same until the run when inexplicably the heavy weather brigade, who had survived 'Big Sunday,' fell in one by one. Paul and Charlie lost the most ground whilst righting, leaving Christian in the lead until he too speared-in letting Dan through into the lead. Dan held on to win with Christian 2nd and Jamie 3rd . Meanwhile Ian Marshall and Andy Heissig had reeled in the leaders and pressed hard on the last lap to take 4th and 6th with Charlie slipping to 5th place. Race 5 Paul Smalley led to the first mark, but was overtaken on the reaches by Dan and then Christian. These two held the top spots till the finish with Jamie making gains up the second beat to finish 3rd. Paul held on to 4th and Ian Marshall won a tense downwind battle to take 5th, fractionally ahead of Roome. Race 6 With the line biased heavily to the port end most of the main players started close to the pin looking for opportunities to tack across to the middle. Christian tacked early leaving Jamie, Ian and Ollie Straker going furthest left before tacking onto port. These three hooked into a favourable streak of breeze and approached the mark clear of the fleet. Straker rounded the windward mark first, accompanied by whoops of delight, but was soon overtaken by Jamie and Ian on the reach with Dan threatening to break through to leeward on a lower course to the wing mark. After the gybe, the order was Jamie followed by Ian, Dan and Ollie who was gradually losing touch. Down the next run Ian gybed onto port first and came into the bottom mark on starboard claiming water and rounding just in front. Up the last beat Jamie went right and Dan left leaving Ian to decide who to cover. Having chosen the left side, Ian still led at the windward mark from Dan with Jamie now in third. These positions were held to the finish and Andy Heissig fought through to finish 4th ahead of Roome in 5th. Race 7 The wind dropped right off for race 7 and after one false start the fleet eventually got under way with the black flag keeping everyone back until the gun. Dan went left up the first beat and led comfortably around the top mark from Andy Heissig who also took the left sided option. Ian rounded third with Roome following in fourth. Dan continued to lead in the dying breeze while Andy led the chasing group of Ian and Charlie. As the leaders went up the second beat the wind dropped further. Dan finished at the next windward mark when the race officer wisely decided to shorten the course. Ian managed to sneak through and just pipped Andy for 2nd place whilst Jamie Mawson pulled up from about 15th to finish 4th with Gareth Davies also gaining places to end in a creditable 5th. Day 4 The fourth day dawned with what seemed like a reasonable wind and several competitors were hoping to improve their overall positions through the second discard as well as three more races. Unfortunately this was not to be and the race officer could not find enough wind in the bay to send the competitors afloat. By 1330 the bay looked like a mirror and reluctantly the last day of racing was cancelled, making a total of 7 races in all with one discard for the overall results. This resulted in a new champion as Dan Dixon's three firsts and a second on day three had elevated him to top spot with a five point margin from Christian Reynolds who became runner up for the fourth time (Oh for another race day!). Jamie Mawson's consistent set of results, with nothing worse than a fourth to count, earned him a well deserved third overall ahead of Paul Smalley and Ian Marshall in fourth and fifth with only a point between them.