With a fantastic turnout of 60 boats, the Gul RS800 Racing Circuit event at Hayling Island SC on 14-15 July promised to be exciting, and with the wind varying between 10-25 knots on the first day, it did not disappoint. In the first race, a steady 15-18 knots was livened up by gusts of 25 knots and the token hailstorm.

There was a mix of opinions about the absence of gates on the course, but there were considerably less incidents than at Gul RS Racing Circuit event at Weymouth two weeks ago and the spacer mark worked well (apart from the handful of boats who missed it out). Positions were hard fought for with lots of capsizing and broken tiller extensions, although Hyde Sails, sailed by Richard Lovering and Richard Kent, seemed to be untouchable, ending the first day with three bullets. The conditions were such that everybody (except Hyde Sails) had a range of results; Ricky Tagg/ Stephen Greaves finished second in the first race followed by 15,9. There was fierce competition between RWO, sailed by Neil Upton-Brown and Ian Lovering, and Michael Lennon/Craig Davies in the third race, with RWO crossing the line less than half a boat length in front of Lennon/Davies. Consistency paid off however, as Lennon/Davies finished the day in second place with 5,4,4 The partying started early, with Hayling Island Sailing Club laying on the usual excellent entertainment.

With bright sunshine and light winds on Sunday morning, the big question was whether Lovering/Kent could hold onto their 10-point lead the morning after the night before! The GUL RS Racing Circuit leaders, Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudry recovered from a slow start on Saturday, with 2,12,6 finishing fifth overall. The battle between RWO and Lennon/Davies was fought to the bitter end, but the event belonged to Hyde Sails, with ‘Cheshire Cat’ Lovering/Kent breaking their light wind jinx to produce a phenomenal six bullets. Richard Kent’s only concern was that he didn’t know how they did it!

The GUL RS800 Racing Circuit is now very finely balanced with one event left. Lee Sydenham/Anne Vaudrey improved their overall lead at Hayling but Richard Lovering, Neil Upton Brown and Michael Lennon could all catch them; all three will have to count their result at Halfway YC in Sept and hope that the Sydenham/Vaudrey team do not improve of one of their fifth places.

Emma White

Overall Results

1st Richard Lovering and Richard Kent HISC 5pts

2nd Neil Upton-Brown and Ian Lovering HISC 21pts

3rd Michael Lennon and Craig Davies HISC 23pts

4th. Ricky Tagg and Stephen Greaves Rickmansworth 38pts

5th Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudry HISC 38pts

6th Geoff Carveth and Jim Dean HISC 39pts

7th Nick Peters and Caroline Litchfield HISC 51pts

8th Matt and Geoff Larkin Weirwood 51pts

9th Paul Jenkins Colin Hatton Weirwood 52pts

10th Steve Irish Martin Gotrel Draycote Water 53pts

GUL RS Racing Circuit Overall (four out of six events to count)

1st Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudrey 13pts

2nd Steve Irish and Nartin Goetrel 20pts

3rd Tim and Jo Johnson 23pts

4th Mike Lennon and Craig Davies 27pts