Gul Series 2017 -
Event #1
Nearly 20 boats
turned out for a
warm but windy open
meeting at
Burghfield Sailing
Club in March. Once
again we shared the
short-sharp race
format with the OKs
and had some
tremendous fun on
the water, with 4
different race
winners from 8
races.
Close racing at
the windward mark!
Tom Lee's
summary of the event
is below:
Eight visitors came
to join nine of the
local National 12’s
at Burghfield
sailing club. The
sailors were greeted
with an 18kts
westerly gusting
25kts, as forecast.
Race officer Ian
Bullock set a
trapezoid course
with an inner loop
and outer loop in
order to keep the 2
fleets separate.
With the National
12s racing on the
outer loop and Oks
on the inner loop.
The aim was to run
as many 15-20 minute
races as possible
Race 1 started
without incident
with Tom and Robert
Stewart taking the
win. On the second
start, the fleet was
a bit more eager to
go causing a general
recall which gave
the race officer the
opportunity to get
the new ‘U’ flag out
the fleet then got
off cleanly. Races
two and three where
won by Graham Camm
and Zoe Ballantyne,
race four saw Tom
and Robert back at
the front.
After
four morning races,
Tom and Robert
Stewart were leading
by three points with
John Meadowcroft and
Sam Brown in second
and Graham Camm and
Zoe Ballantyne in
third.
After an excellent
lunch, a slightly
depleted fleet
returned to the
water for four more
races; this time the
N12s were sailing
the inner loop of
the trapezoid which
had the effect of
keeping the fleet
compact for longer.
John and Sam took
the win in race 5,
Graham and Zoe won
races 6 and 7 while
Nick Copsey and
Rosie White took the
gun on race 8
propelling them to
4th overall. By the
end of the
afternoon,
Burghfield sailors
Graham and Zoe had
done enough to win
the event by two
points from Tom and
Robert with John and
Sam in third. Jon
and Maya Brown were
first ‘non foiler’
and Bim Daser and
Katie Meadowcroft
were first Admiral’s
cup boat (non
self-draining boat).
Many thanks to Ian
Bullock and his race
team for running
some fantastic
racing, to the
safety teams who
where kept busy
throughout the day,
the club managers
and of course Gul
for their
sponsorship of the
series.
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