An overcast and rather windy Torbay welcomed 37 RS400s to the Gul RS Grand Slam hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club on 18-19 May.

With some exciting moments launching off a rather precarious pontoon arrangement, most of the fleet made it to the race area in time for the first race. The wind was blowing a fairly solid 20 knots from the south-east with a nasty chop as the first race was sent off on a short windward leeward course. Greg O’Brien/Mark Blundell led the race from start to finish, revelling in the breezy conditions. Roger Gilbert/Andy le Grice managed to keep ahead of Craig Burlton/Andy Bonsey to take second place with Dan Vincent/Adrian Lynham finishing in fourth.

The second race began with the wind building and slowly tracking round to the south, Burlton/Bonsey taking the winner’s gun from John Date/Neil Hughston. Gilbert/le Grice suffered from a capsize at the bottom mark taking them out of the running for the race, and Vincent/Lynham finished third. The third race saw a greatly-depleted fleet starting in a much stronger breeze, Gilbert/le Grice stormed round to take the winner’s gun from Entwhistle/Fletcher with David Shiel/Paul Heath in third. Many tired but smiling faces were seen around the boat park after an excellent day’s racing. Sunday saw huge hangovers (courtesy of the excellent James Bond theme ball the previous night) and slightly less wind. Race four was won by Gilbert/le Grice, followed by Vincent/Lynham in second, and Burlton/ Bonsey in third. O’Brien/Blundell were spotted lounging around the middle of the fleet nursing the most severe hangovers, and unable to show the excellent speed of the previous day. The fifth race was won by Vincent/Lynham chased hard by Gilbert/le Grice in second and Burlton/Bonsey in third. Race six was a decider between Gilbert/le Grice, Vincent/Lynham and Burlton/Bonsey. Gilbert/le Grice stormed round to take the winners gun from Entwhistle/Fletcher, while Burlton/Bonsey finished in third. Vincent/Lynham finished in fifth, thus losing second place overall to Burlton/Bonsey by just one point. Gilbert/le Grice won the event with their first in the final race allowing them to discard their eight from the previous day, counting all results in the top two.