British Contender Nationals at Felpham Sailing Club - Day 3
by Iain Horlock 30 Aug 2014 18:50 BST
28-31 August 2014
After yesterday's stormy weather and no sailing, a lot of the fleet were hoping for slightly calmer conditions, but Felpham once again delivered more wind than the forecast with gusts well over 20 knots and ever bigger waves!
Three races were in the schedule to try and make up for yesterday.
The first race was general recalled, probably for the best as the wind kept swinging around. A black flag was swiftly put up for the second race, meaning most of the fleet was pretty shy from the line.
Mussel lead from start to finish, with much superior upwind speed. Back in the pack lobster pots were once again catching people out causing some retirements with broken rudders.
Race 2 got away cleanly in F4-5.
The same faces took to the lead and continued to the finish. Further down the results D. Butner recorded a 6th keeping him inside the top 10.
In the second race, Horlocks harness gave way whilst in a good position around the bottom mark leading to a long hike back upwind to shore for a quick harness swap and turn around for the third race.
Mussell won from Langdown and Holden.
In the final race a black flag was once again up, and this time it caught someone out, unfortunately C.Howe had capsized in the 5 min on the wrong side of the start line and couldn't quite get back across in time before the one minute gun went.
Jones finally finding his pace lead for much of the last race but eventually Mussell put on the afterburners and powered away upwind on the last lap to take his 5th straight win!
All to play for in second place and also very close points between 5th and 9th...3 more races tomorrow in what should potentially be lighter winds!
Difficult conditions for the shore crew trying to get all the boats in one by one in the big waves but they all did a fantastic job once again.
Results after Day 3: (top six, 5 races, 1 discard)
1st Simon Mussell 2420 (Highcliffe SC) 4pts
2nd Ben Holden 2315 (Halifax SC) 9pts
3rd Gary Langdown 2588 (Highcliffe SC) 14pts
4th Stuart Jones 2465 (Datchet Water SC) 14pts
5th Iain Horlock 2376 (Exe SC) 27pts
6th Martin Frary 646 (Weston SC) 27pts