Last weekend saw a good turnout for the five Olympic classes competing in the final weekend of the Holt RYA National Ranking Series 2002 at Warsash Sailing Club.

In light winds ranging from 0-6 knots, the Europe, Finn, 470 and Tornado classes sailed five races over the two days, whilst the 49er class managed an extra race on the Sunday.

In the nineteen-boat Finn class the pressure was on as the weekend also formed part of the selection for the Finn Gold Cup in 2003 and 2004. Newly crowned ISAF world sailor of the year, Ben Ainslie, stamped his authority on the class. Not content with being beaten by team mate Andrew Simpson at last weekend’s ranking series in Rutland, he won the weekend with four first place finishes and discarded his worst result, a fourth place. Simpson finished in second place with Matt Howard, who also won the Holt prize for first non-lottery funded sailor in the class, third.

After six races it was world bronze medallists Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith who were at the top of the leader board in the 49er class, although racing was close and it came down to the last few races. Alister Richardson sailing with Peter Greenhalgh and Steve Morrison sailing with Ben Rhodes were all in the running, but in the final races Brotherton and Asquith showed good form winning race five and finishing fourth in race six to win the weekend by four points from Richardson/Greenhalgh, with Morrison/Rhodes in third place. Andy Rice and Harvey Hillary won the Holt goody bag, finishing in fourth place and first non-lottery funded sailors.

The women led the way in the 470 fleet, Christina Bassadone and Katherine Hopson got the better of European bronze medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, beating them by one point to win the weekend, Nic Asher and Elliot Willis finished in third place and Neil Marsden and Graham Nelson won the Holt prize for first non-lottery funded sailors.

Bassadone commented, “We are really pleased with how we sailed this weekend as the light conditions were really tricky. We only started sailing together at the beginning of the year so we are really happy with where we are in our campaign.”

Racing was also tight in the Tornado fleet with one point separating first and second place after five races. Rob Wilson and new crew Matt Eales scored nothing worse than a fourth to take the top spot from Steve Lovegrove and Matt Hardy. Hugh Styles and Adam May included two first places in their score line to tie on points with Lovegrove/Hardy, but were placed third on countback.

In the Europe class, Debbie Winstanley discarded her worst result, a ninth place, to leave her with a total of seven points to win the weekend. Andrea Brewster finished second and won the Holt prize for first non-lottery funded sailor, with Chris Gill in third place.

The Warsash weekend concludes the Holt RYA National Ranking Series for this year. This means that at the end of 2002, Debbie Winstanley is at the top of the tables in the Europe class, Rob Wilson and Matt Eales lead the Tornado’s, Andrew Simpson the Finn class, Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith the 49er class and Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield the 470 fleet.

The dates have already been announced for 2003 and Holt will continue to sponsor the series as well as the social evening at each of the events. The dates that you need to put in your diary for next year are; 29/30 March – Queen Mary; 10/11 May – HISC; 18/19 October – WPSA; 1/2 November – Rutland SC; 15/16 November – Warsash SC.

Results

470

1, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson, RTYC ((5),1,3,2,1) 7 pts 2, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, RLYC ((4),2,1,3,2) 8 pts 3, Nic Asher/Elliot Willis, WOBYC (1,(4),2,4,3) 10 pts

Tornado

1, Rob Wilson/Mat Eales, RYA (1,2,2,(4),2) 7 pts 2, Steve Lovegrove/Matt Hardy, RYA (2,4,(6),1,1) 8 pts 3, Hugh Styles/Adam May (3,1,1,3,(5)) 8 pts

Finn

1, Ben Ainslie, RCYC (1,1,1,(4),1) 4 pts 2, Andrew Simspon, HISC (2,2,(DNF),1,3) 8 pts 3, Matt Howard, LoSSC (3,(9),7,3,5) 18 pts

49er

1, Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith, Glossop Dist SC (1,2,(12),3,1,4) 11 pts 2, Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh (4,3,4,2,2,(DNF) 15 pts 3, Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes, Exe SC ((7),5,2,1,6,2) 16 pts

Europe

1, Debbie Winstanley, Largs SC (1,2,1,3,(9)) 7 pts 2, Andrea Brewster, Frensham Pond SC (6,1,(7),1,1) 9 pts 3, Chris Gill, Portishead Y&SC (3,4,3,2,(7)) 12 pts

Sacha Oswald