| Annabel Vose wins, leading a team of 6 sailors from the RSnYC. |
| Written by Rob Wilson - North Sails |
| Fantastic racing condition greeted the huge Optimist contingent that descended on Grafham Water Sailing club for the Volvo Musto Optimist Inland Championships 2009. |
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| In total there were 335 competitors registered for the event, with 235 boats in the main fleet and 100 boats in the regatta fleet. 6 Royal Southern Sailors made the journey North, including the eventual winner: Annabel Vose. |
Encouragingly for the future of our sailing talent, the Royal Southern was represented in each of the 3 divisions: Annabel Vose and Benjamin Waha in the Senior fleet, Max Clapp and Connor Whelan in the Junior fleet, and Sally Clapp and Joshua Waha in the Regatta fleet.
The team had enlisted the support of Team GBR coach Macus Lynch, and of North Sails, in the form of Rob Wilson supplying Annabel their latest Radial design, and Benjamin with their tried and tested Cross Cut MH08. |
Day 1
Saturday morning, the competitors were greeted with a steadily increasing wind and sunshine. The wind started around 14-20 knots for race 1 and steadily increased to 22-25 knots for race two, with some huge gusts. |
| In the main fleet, Craig Dibb had the best day in the main fleet with two bullets. Craig was starting well, sailing fast and smart. Close behind was Annabel Vose with a consistent 3 and 2. |
| There were other heroic performances across the field, with some of the younger lighter sailors showing impressive determination and boat handling skills to mix it up with the leader! Notably Benjamin Waha posting a 32nd in his first regatta as a Senior. |
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| The regatta fleet for the up and coming sailors was sailed towards the Eastern end of the lake, in very slightly less wind closer to the shore, but not a lot less wind! It was great to see tomorrows champion sailors taking on the testing conditions in good spirits. Sally Clapp posted excellent results including a 16th and 11th. |
| Joe Glanfield, two time Olympic silver medallist commented "There was some really impressive sailing out there, the conditions were very testing." |
Day 2
The second day of racing dawned much calmer, with the wind in the SE, further left than the previous day. The forecast was for the breeze to increase (from 12-25 Knots) and shift right throughout the day to SSW. However the winning racing strategy was still to start clean towards the favoured end, work the shifts and look out for pressure. |
Going into the final race there were 5 boats that could win the overall event. There was all to play for and the pressure was on in the increasing wind that was still going right. Annabel Vose won the first flight with Craig Dibb second, this potentially put them in first and second.
Meanwhile Callum Airlie was winning the other flight which would have given him the title. Unfortunately for Callum, Sophie Hamilton overtook him giving Annabel Vose a well deserved win. |
Final Results:
Main Fleet: 235 entries
Annabel Vose: 1st
Benjamin Waha: 127th
Max Clapp: 200th
Connor Whelan: 216th
Regatta Fleet: 100 Entries
Sally Clapp: 27th
Joshua Waha: 81st |
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