Cockerill does it again

The RS300 National Championships were disrupted by some extremely light winds

A record entry of 31 boats attended the Gul RS300 National Championship at Hunstanton Sailing Club.

Race Officer Ian Holland set a triangle/sausage course for race one which was run in a force two Northerly. Popping out at the pin end of the line and leading at the first mark from Stephen Cockerill was Steve Bolland. The positions remained the same for the next lap as the leading pair put distance between themselves and the chasing pack. Cockerill overtook on the run and despite Bolland closing the gap on the last beat, Cockerill stayed ahead to the downwind finish. John Carron was third followed by Ian Baillie, Nick Bolland and Chris Hart.

Race two was run in identical conditions and again Steve Bolland led at the first mark. Storming in from the left was John Carron narrowly ahead of Cockerill and Nick Bolland who led the fleet in from the right. The three leading boats stayed within a few boatlengths of each other down the reaches. On the second beat Bolland pulled out a few precious yards on the following boats and although Cockerill came past Carron on the run, Bolland remained ahead until the last gybe as Cockerill used his superior downwind speed to good effect. At the finish the order was Cockerill, Steve Bolland, Carron, Nick Bolland, Tim Keen and Neil Beveridge.

A lack of wind resulted in no racing on day two. However, the Kings Lynn Audi largers, ten-pin bowling and curry went someway to make up for the lack of racing.

The long wait for wind was eventually worth it (for some) as the fleet eventually set sail early afternoon in a light force one North-easterly on day three.

Three races were fitted in before the light faded and top dog continued to be Stephen Cockerill from Stokes Bay who recorded two firsts and a third on the day. Not far behind, and using his inland experience to excellent effect, was John Carron who moved into a solid second place overall following his first, second and third today.

The final day was another one of waiting for the wind for the 31 competitors but a four knot westerly, the minimum required, arrived shortly before the cut-off period.

Left was the way to go up the first beat and light weather experts John Carron and Nick Bolland used this to top effect to arrive first and second at the first mark followed by Matt Sargent and Nathan Poulton.

Despite the light winds and the nerve-jangling downwind legs as the pursuing fleet threatened to turn the wind off altogether for the leaders the positions at the front remained largely unchanged. Close cover up the subsequent beats kept Carron ahead of Bolland and the order at the finished behind these two were Sargent, Poulton, Steve Cockerill and Ben Yeats. Richard Lemare had his best result of the week, just outside the top six, another one to benefit from the buddy system and training over the week.

The RS300 owners would like to thank our title sponsors Gul and Kings Lynn Audi for their support and all the members of Hunstanton SC for putting on a superb championship despite the predominantly light winds. Efficient race management, friendly on-shore service and even tea and cakes at the prizegiving were the receipe for an unforgettable championship.

Results:

Pos	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot	Net
1	Steve Cockerill	1	1	1	3	1	-5	12	7
2	John Carron	-3	3	2	1	3	1	13	10
3	Nick Bolland	5	4	-6	2	2	2	21	15
4	Steve Bolland	2	2	4	4	8	(32 DNF)	52	20
5	Ian Baillie	4	7	-9	7	4	7	38	29
6	Neil Beveridge	-12	6	7	6	5	12	48	36
7	Nathan Poulton	-22	13	5	5	11	4	60	38
8	Matt Sergent	10	(32 DSQ)	3	9	16	3	73	41
9	Ben Yeats	7	9	-18	14	9	6	63	45
10	Tim Keen	8	5	15	8	-20	14	70	50
11	Martin Hutchings	11	8	10	10	15	-27	81	54
12	Ian Smith	-13	10	8	13	12	13	69	56
13	Chris Morrissey	19	11	21	(32 OCS)	6	9	98	66
14	Paul Davis	15	15	-26	12	13	21	102	76
15	Jeff Marks	-25	21	11	19	10	16	102	77
16	Cliff Shaw	14	14	12	24	-28	19	111	83
17	Tim Hazel	16	12	-24	16	21	18	107	83
18	Richard Lemare	9	27	16	(32 OCS)	27	8	119	87
19	Barry Steel	29	24	23	11	(32 OCS)	10	129	97
20	Mark Henman	28	25	14	20	-29	11	127	98
21	Tom Ballingall	-26	23	20	26	7	24	126	100
22	John Peters	-31	30	13	28	14	15	131	100
23	Ben Clegg	21	18	-27	27	18	17	128	101
24	Sam Sutton	23	22	19	18	19	-26	127	101
25	Chris Hart	6	19	30	23	24	(32 DNF)	134	102
26	Alex Lomas	17	17	-31	17	22	29	133	102
27	James Phare	20	20	22	21	-25	22	130	105
28	Phil Underwood	18	28	25	-29	17	20	137	108
29	Emlyn Davies	27	26	17	15	-30	25	140	110
30	Alastair Wood	24	16	-29	22	26	23	140	111
31	Steve Dewberry	-30	29	28	25	23	28	163	133