Duel on Bewl

GP14s London and SE Area Championship

GP14 London and South East Area championships

The GP14 London and South East Area championships were hosted on 26/27 April by Bewl Valley sailing club. After a postponement for the wind to fill in, the first race got underway in less than 5 knots. The early leaders were Carl Jeffs and Paul Hilliar, but they got so tied up with each other that they led half the fleet to the wrong mark! Smart cookies in the increasing breeze were Dave Young who led the fleet home from Justin Jones and Andy Hateley. The breeze freshened for the second race and after a consultation with the course board, Richard Instone made no mistake this time to take the race from the consistent Young with Hateley again in third.

Sunday morning dawned with plenty of wind to keep crews on their toes. Jeffs led around the first mark but with the wind gusting to over 30 knots, his rudder promptly gave way. This allowed Hilliar into a lead that was never relinquished. The slightly soggy fleet followed with Hateley second and Jones third. The fourth race was held back to back with the breeze increasing. Jones led at the first mark and was never headed although Hateley was never far behind. Jeffs came back to grab third on the final leg.

After lunch, a reduced fleet headed out for a short final race in a moderated breeze. Jones held the overall lead, but Hateley could clinch the title if he beat Jones by two places. Some pre-start shenanigans resulted in the leading pair being last off the line, with Jones returning for a premature start. Jones and Hateley duelled throughout the race but although Hateley kept Jones behind him, he never caught Hilliar. This gave the title and the well-deserved congratulations to Justin Jones and crew Chris Anderson from South Staffs.

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	Justin Jones	Chris Anderson	South Staffs	2	4	3	1	3	9
2nd	Andy Hateley	Andy Thompson	South Staffs	3	3	2	2	2	9
3rd	Paul Hilliar	Rebecca Marriott	Frensham Pond	11	6	1	4	1	12
4th	Richard Instone	Marc Cheshire	Chase	6	1	4	6	4	15
5th	Tim Harper	Chessie Saunders	West Lancs	7	7	6	5	DNS	25
6th	Dave Young	Stuart McManus	South Staffs	1	2	5	DNS	DNS	26
7th	James Ward	Richard Whitehill	Papercourt	13	9	7	8	7	31
8th	Neil Hardie	Nikoli Metherol	Frensham Pond	5	8	9	10	DNS	32
9th	Carl Jeffs	Jim Toothill	Trimpley	8	5	DNF	3	DNS	33
10th	Mike Arrow	Ian Aitkin	Poole	10	10	10	DNS	5	35
11th	Bob Baldwin	Spencer Meyer	Warsash	9	14	DNF	9	6	38
12th	Steve Jones	Steve Browne	Leigh on Sea	DNF	12	8	7	DNS	44
13th	Mike Abbott	Marie Ryan	BTYC	4	11	DNF	DNS	DNS	50
14th	Liz Hall	Sarah Gordon	BTYC	12	13	DNS	DNS	DNS	61
15th	Jeremy Arnold	Dennis Nissan	Notts County	14	15	DNS	DNS	DNS	65
16th	John Webb	Peter Richardson	Bewl	15	16	DNS	DNS	DNS	67