Wilson-Barney take season opener

Sam Newton reports on the F18 racing at Datchet

The first event of the 2009 F18 season saw 18 teams travel to Datchet and enjoyed some very close but tricky racing. Saturday brought some very light and shifty conditions, while Sunday was much the same but with a bit more breeze.

The first race was very close, with the lead often changing. The key was to try and avoid the big whole dotted around the race course. Hugh Styles and Greg Windle won the first race, with Will Sunnucks and Simon Farren finishing second and Rob Wilson and Ed Barney taking third in a close finish.

The breeze dropped just before the start of race two and produced some extremely variable and unsettled conditions. The win went to Styles and Windle closely followed Wilson and Barney. Tim Neal and Bob Fry put in a good performance and finished a well deserved 3rd.

The last race of the day was also very tricky. The Powers took the initial lead, but lost it to the new pairing of Chris Field and Oli Egan. Styles and Windle stole the lead for a while, but Field and Egan battled to re-take the lead and won the race. Styles and Windle finished 2nd, with Simon Northrop and Robyn Ford finishing 3rd.

There was a bit more wind on Sunday, up to 10 knots but the wind was still variable. Rob Wilson and Ed Barney had a very good day wining all three races. In the first race of the day the Newton brothers finished second after battling hard with Stuart Gummar and Ellen Forshaw who took third.

In race five Wilson and Barney took the lead, with Styles and Windle in Close pursuit. There was a little confusion during the race as to how many laps had been completed, which proved to be costly for Styles and Windle. Wilson and Barney took the win, David White and Jon Sweet took a well deserved 2nd after good battle with the Newton brothers who finished 3rd.

In the last race Wilson and Barney took an early lead and pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Styles and Windle made a good recovery after being over early at the start and finished second, Sunnucks and Farren took 3rd place.

Rob Wilson and Ed Barney took the overall win, sailing the new Shockwave from Loday and White, a boat which was looking pretty impressive over the weekend. Hugh Styles and Greg Windle finished 2nd with the Newton brothers taking 3rd. Datchet was an extremely good start to the season, with some very competitive racing and several different teams leading races.

Top three results:

1st Rob Wilson - Ed Barney - Loday-White Shockwave
2nd Hugh Styles - Greg Windle - Nacra Infusion
3rd Sam Newton - Ben Newton - Hobie Tiger

The Next Event for the F18 Class is at Carsington on the 11/12th of April, with the class travelling to Carnac for Eurocat at the start of May.