Results / Inland Championships Grafham Water SC - 06/10/2001

Grafham always draws a big crowd of 600s which are supported by a heathly home fleet. This year saw 45 boats rigged and ready to go by 11:30 despite a wild weather forecast. Race 1 started in good, solid conditions of a F4/5. The first 3 to the windward mark were Richard Smith, Brian Greensmith and Andy Irons but the pack were very close behind. Irons pulled through and was never troubled again but the other key positions changed constantly. The key to picking up places was to keep in the gusts on the run, this made for a few mistakes on the gybes and more position changing. Race 2 was sailed in similar conditions and it was a similar crowd up the front. On lap 2 Irons was 'taken-out' by an out-of-control RS800 which took the pressure off the other leaders. Andy Peake pulled through well to take the first gun with Greensmith, Smith, Geal and York all finishing in rapid succession. Race 3 saw the wind picking up another force. This was playing into Richard Smiths and David Geals hands as strong wind specialists. Racing was again close with only a matter of several boats lengths between the first ten boats so there was no room for error, as the race draw to a close the wind was gusting at F6 so gybing downwind required concentration and good timing. Irons eventually overhauled some of the bigger boys by his superior downwind strategy and took his second bullet from Smith, Greensmith, Peake and Geal. The final race of the day saw the wind holding up but the fatigue was beginning to set in. If you could get round without a capsize it almost assured you of a top 5 result. The key contenders were again present at the front but the fun came on the final lap approaching the leeward mark. Irons and Peake were approaching the mark but still needed to gybe, a clean gybe would mean a simple reach along to the finish but a combination of haste and fatigue saw Irons capsize on his gybe and Peake follow him in. This proved costly in terms of places as the capsized boats drifted together making righting difficult. Overnight, Irons, Greensmith and Peake were all tied on 7 points with Irons having the advantage of 2 race wins. Smith and Geal were closely following up the first 3. Sunday appeared to have similar conditions to Saturday but the foreacast was for lots more by early afternoon. Luckily there were only 2 races left to sail which pleased most of the 600s as ripped hands and aching muscles were evident (not helped by the hang-over from the great evening before). Race 5 saw the leading contenders watching each other as if they were match racing. Irons looked to be having the better race in 3rd until he followed Smith and York towards the finish line alas 1 lap early. By the time they had realised the chasing pack had already hardened and were sailing upwind again to start the final lap led by Peake. Peake held on to win which effectively put a nail in the coffin of Irons' and Greensmiths' challenge. Race 6 saw the strongest winds of the weekend which by now were approaching survival conditions. Smith led from the start and took the gun with Irons 2nd and Greensmith 3rd, this time the fleet was quite spread out with up-turned boats and tied sailors littering the race track. Peake took the Inland Championship by 1 point from Irons and Greensmith a further point behind. Peakes' time in the boat this year has paid off and certainly puts him in the top league of 600 sailors for next year. Grafham laid on a superb event with over 250 boats sailing in the champioships and club racing its a credit to their organisation and to those in the RS Association who put so much work in.