Gill Sunsail Racing Series 2012 Round 3
by Terry Hunt, Sunsail 18 Apr 2012 11:11 BST
31 March - 1 April 2012
Gill Sunsail Racing Series 2012 Round 3 © Sunsail Racing
This past weekend saw Round 3 of the 2012 Gill sponsored Sunsail Racing Series with 16 boats entered the racing saw new and old faces making up the entrants. The wind was a pleasant, offshore NE F3-4 providing some tricky and shifty upwind legs for the Saturday
Race 1 course started in the vicinity of Craft Insure off of Ryde, with an upwind leg straight across the Solent to Browndown. It was all about playing the shifts and with a big port tack lift helping those on the left of the beat. It was Richard Hole who took advantage early on to take the lead, which he built throughout the race to win convincingly, followed home by Charles Line in 2nd and Neil Pritchard Meaker in 3rd.
Race 2 again started at Craft Insure, but with the wind having swung slightly back to the north and dropped to around 8-10kts. Richard Hole again showed the fleet the way round, again with Charles Line pushing him to finish 2nd and Ben Grosman rounding out the top 3.
Sunday morning dawned with not a cloud in the sky and a stiff NNE at around 15kts, which continued to build and gust upwards to 25kts by mid-afternoon.
Race 3 and in a decent breeze, the fleet got away at the first attempt from a line off of Craft Insure, with a similar course, but shorter around the central eastern Solent.
Yet again Richard Hole took an early lead which he held through to the finish, ensuring the overall win in the process. A great battle ensued behind with 3rd, 4th and 5th places only being decided a few hundred meters from the finish line.
At the end of race 3 it was Richard Hole taking 1st place, followed by Neil Pritchard-Meaker and 3rd Terry Hunt.
Race 4 and the PRO brought in the no spinnaker rule, wisely made after a few big broaches towards the end of race 3 and with the wind still increasing. A zig zag course took the fleet around the Solent to a finish off of Haslar. Neil Pritchard-Meaker took the gun, stopping Richard Hole from taking a clean sweep who finished 3rd. 2nd place going to Simon Froom.
The top 3 progress through to the final in November and Round 4 will hopefully take place in the warmer climates of July over the weekend of the 14th &15th..
If you would like further details on Sunsail Racing, please contact Terry Hunt at .
Round 3 Overall Results
| Position | Boat No | Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 4018 | Richard Hole | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 2nd | 4019 | Neil Pritchard‑Meaker | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | 4037 | Charles Line | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
| 4th | 4021 | Ben Grosman | 10 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| 5th | 4020 | Andy Oliver | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 14 |
| 6th | 4006 | Andrew Jefferey | 8 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 19 |
| 7th | 4001 | Simon Froom | 7 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 21 |
| 8th | 4023 | Terry Hunt | 13 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 22 |
| 9th | 4007 | Graham Sheard | 5 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 24 |
| 10th | 4013 | Al Crisp | 6 | 10 | 8 | 17 | 24 |
| 11th | 4028 | Jim Dunn | 12 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 26 |
| 12th | 4036 | Nick Dawson | 11 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 28 |
| 13th | 4033 | Jen Steventon | 9 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 34 |
| 14th | 4038 | Andrew Butler | 14 | 15 | 16 | 7 | 36 |
| 15th | 4031 | Iskander Rakhimov | 16 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 39 |
| 16th | 4010 | Sergey Uzdin | 15 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 40 |