photo by Turtle

 

 

SailSail.com UK 49er National Championships, Abersoch by Andy Rice (Friday)

Andy Rice and Gareth Edwards sailed their Typhoon-sponsored 49er to the
front of the fleet in a testing day of wind and waves at the SailSail.com UK
49er National Championships in Abersoch today.
After two days of waiting ashore due to much or too little wind, the fleet
of 19 Olympic skiffs had four back-to-back races in conditions that saw the
first race begin with 18-21 knots. Typhoon misjudged the strong tide washing
the fleet over the start line and had to return and begin chasing the fleet.
Whytebikes.co.uk, sailed by Eastbourne's Neale Fitzgerald and Andy Jeffries,
sailed a flawless three laps in 31 minutes to notch up victory in race one.
Rice and Edwards took advantage of boathandling errors to crawl through the
fleet and snatch 2nd by the finish, ahead of another Eastbourne crew Simon
Jenkins and Paul Hargreaves.
Race 2 began in as much wind, with Typhoon taking an early lead which she
extended to over three minutes by the finish. Crewsaver, sailed by Champion
of Champions Geoff Carveth and Ali Hall, crossed second ahead of Martin
Frary and Adam Dearnley from Weston Sailing Club.
Carveth and Hall won the favoured end of Race 3's start line and stretched
their lead to win ahead of Rice and then Jenkins. But it all went wrong for
Carveth, who got tangled up on the final start with Whytebikes and
Xtremity/Fredriksen, sailed by new RS800 champion Mark Asquith and Matt
Howard.
Fitzgerald came worst off out of the pile up, only managing 10th across the
finish, but Carveth gybe-set at the windward mark and made up 200 metres on
the leaders. By the leeward gate, Carveth was third, hot on the heels of
Typhoon and the Mutz Nutz, sailed by young ex-29er sailors Simon Marks and
Ali Sutor who revelled in the lightening breezes.
Carveth and Rice had their own race up the left of the final beat while
Marks sailed off to a significant lead. The main pack caught up with Carveth
who could only manage sixth while Typhoon held second place across the
finish.
Now the full results will have to wait while a three-way protest is heard
following the start-line incident involving Carveth, Fitzgerald and Asquith.
Tomorrow, the final day of the event, will decide who is crowned National
Champion for 2000.

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B14 Final Report by Tim Fells


The fourth and final day of the SailSail.com B14 National Championships
saw near perfect conditions with sunshine and a moderate north-westerly.  Four races were completed and it was the SailSail.com sponsored team of Tim Fells
 and Richard Dowsett who took the event by the scruff of the neck.  On a
 short two lap course starting was key and Fells / Dowsett demonstrated aggressive tactics to get clear of the pack.

 In race four Lovegrove / Sellars just failed to lay the windward mark and with Fells / Dowsett rolling down over them, speared the mark and lost many
 places.  Fells / Dowsett went on to take the race from Fisher / Barber with Matt Snedker/ Dave Dobrijevik third.


 In race five Aiden Mitchell and Andy Hicks picked a good port lift to round
 first followed by Fells / Dowsett who took them on the run and went onto
 another race win from Lovering / Barber and Fisher / Barber who were
 starting a run for the podium.

 Race five saw a black flag start and Fells / Dowsett pulled off an audacious
 port tack start at the port end.  Fisher / Barber flew up the first beat to
 just lead Fells / Dowsett at the top mark and down the run but a poor drop
 let Fells / Dowsett through to a third win on the trot and the National
 title with a race to spare.  Fisher / Barber came home second just ahead of
 Aidrian Williams and Pasty Vegus and moved into third place with one race to go.

 The final race was notable for a mass pile up at the port end as a number of
teams tried unsuccessfully to port tack the fleet.   Tim Peters and Dave
 Cunningham escaped to lead from Jason Andrews and Chimp Hobson at the top
 mark.  On the final run these places were reversed with Andrews / Hobson
 taking there first race win.  Lovegrove / Sellars after scoring 6,5,4 in the
 first three races came through to third to secure second overall.  With
 Fisher / Barber having a mare, Lovering / Barber's 7th secured third place.

 So after seven race series which saw winds from force 5 to force 2, sunshine
 and rain the current B14 world champions added the National title which Tim Fells had last won in 1993.

 Final Overall:

 1st 718 SailSail.com, Tim Fells and Richard Dowsett (Grafham) 9 points
2nd 654 Gull, Steve Lovegrove and Martin Sellars (Lee on Solent) 18  points
 3rd 743 Hyde, Richard Lovering and Shaun Barber (Hayling) 23 points
 4th 734 Contship, Steve Fisher and Neil Barber (Southfields) 29 points
 5th 736 Yachtpeople.com, Matt Snedker and Dave Dobrijevik (Weston) 29 points
 6th 701 Vickys Kitchen, John Brickwood and Paul Constable

 

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