Results / National Championship Day 2 Exe SC - 18/09/2010

Day two, race one:

It was James Tanner and Lucinda Blain’s turn to lead the way up the first beat, showing the rest of the fleet how to make short work of the steep chop. But it was too tight to make the spreader mark with the kite up and so the battle continued with a close reach as the rest of the fleet racked up behind them.

Shifty winds and lumpy waves made the upwind legs tricky to navigate. The only lady helm of the fleet, Charlotte with crew MJ made it look easy with good boat handling and a podium finish in third place. Andy and Emma squeezed past them in to second position who were within spitting distance from Tim and Heather who pipped them over the line.

Battles continued all over the course with Simon Payne and Hope Halstad holding off Hamish Stewart and Steve Hackett on the downwind legs, but it was Hamish who beat them over the line.

Day two, race two:

Charlotte and MJ shot up the first beat with Andy and Emma hot on their heels, chasing them down round until lap three when they were able to get past the leaders due to an unfortunate capsize. Gibing in the chop.

Andy and Emma then held the lead until the last downwind leg when they ended up engaged in a luffing match with Tim and Heather on the last leg to the finish line, both missing the final mark, which resulted in a DSQ for Tim and a ninth for Andy who went back to correct his mistake.

The leaders’ mistake led to some great results for those who knew the course, with Phil Highfield and Tamsin Butcher racking up their first race win, followed by Hamish and Steve in their best result to date.

Close racing was had throughout the fleet with Welsh boys Mike Corney and Gareth Danks (all the way from Pembrokeshire Yacht Club) changing places with James and Lucinda on both the up and downwind legs.  But it was Mike and Gareth who finished in front with their best place so far in the competition - fifth - closely followed by James and Lucinda in sixth.

With the final day tomorrow there’s Still all to play for with the overall results, with Tim and Heather in first place, but a tie for second place. Andy and Emma, currently 4^th, will be right back in contention when the next discard kicks in.