It was another light and difficult day at Mounts Bay for the RS sailors for the second day of the 200/300/600 national championship. When the competitors arrived at the boat park all the signs were for more breeze, with a forecast of Force 3-4, but by the time the fleets arrived on their respective courses there were some distinct dead patches and big shifts were working their way across the bay.

RS200

Geoff Carveth and Lesley Bennett (pictured left) made it look straightforward again with a third and first. According to Carveth, however “It was utterly nerve-wracking. In the second race the top ten were changing places with each shift and hole. We sat in a hole on one run and watched a bunch of boats sail around us.” Dave and Nicky Derby also kept their series intact, winning for the second time and then following that up with another seventh, a carbon copy of their first day’s score. Tom and Jo Hewitson jumped up to third overall, scoring fourth and fifth.

RS300

It was heavy weight Will Gulliver’s day, gaining two wins and a second for his work against the odds considering the conditions. The previous day’s top man, Phil Davies, lost his touch somewhat with a 4,2,3 and Matt Sargent closed the gap on the top two by scoring 2,3 and then a last race bullet. The top boats are now on 6,7 and 8 points, so the championship is wide open at this stage.

The 300 racing also saw some new faces making appearances at the front of the fleet at various stages of the racing. Nick Bolland is now in fourth overall and Ben Ward whose boat was smashed up on the A30 on the way to the championship, repaired overnight by LDC and on the water the following morning, led for some of the second race.

RS600

Things look different at the top of the 600 scoreboard. Overnight leader Christian Reynolds opened with a 37th, which he now discards and then kept in touch with a fifth and a sixth. Jason Belben was the man of the day, with two seconds and a sixth, jumping him into a one point lead over Reynolds. Ian Trotter will also be happy, climbing to third overall with 1,12,8 just one point ahead of Anthony York’s 6,7,4. But there is a growing points gap between second and third, so it remains to be seen whether the expected change in the weather will see a closing of the scores in today’s racing.

Overall positions after 2 days

RS200

1st 500 Geoff Carveth and Lesley Bennett 4pts

2nd 700 Dave and Nicky Derby 9 pts

3rd 655 Tom and Jo Hewitson 11pts

4th 579 Steve and Katie Restall 16pts

5th 374 John Gimson and Alex Hopson 17pts

6th 557 Craig Burlton and Emma Carveth 19pts

7th 710 Mike Saul and Sophie Hartley 24pts

8th 491 Harvey Hilary and Pippa Williams 29pts

9th 626 Paul and Caroline Fisk 29pts

10th 653 Paul and Susie Hammett 31pts

RS300

1st 475 Will Guliver 6pts

2nd 329 Phil Davies 7pts

3rd 443 Matt Sargent 8pts

4th 380 Nick Bolland 20pts

5th 455 Richard Cumming 21pts

6th 436 Andrew Beynon 24pts

7th 400 Ben Ward 27pts

8th 332 Matt Critchley 29pts

9th 374 Steve Cook 30pts

10th 364 Grahame Sanderson 38pts

RS600

1st 842 Jason Belben 13pts

2nd 953 Christain Reynolds 14pts

3rd 887 Ian Trotter 25pts

4th 876 Anthony York 26pts

5th 654 Ian Marshall 34pts

6th 938 Tony Freer 37pts

7th 911 Ian Montague 41pts

8th 909 Peter Sanders 44pts

9th 890 Ian Jubb 48pts

10th 935 Nick Lowe 48pts