Mears again

Pica comes out on top at the UK 18ft Skiff Grand Prix in Weymouth

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy was host for Round 3 of the UK 18 Foot Skiff Grand Prix, the last round before teams head to Carnac, France for the International Championship at the end of June. With Saturday racing cancelled due to high winds, Pica, helmed by Jamie Mears with Steward Mears on bow and Matt Gill in the middle, showed strong form winning all the races on Sunday in a wide range of conditions. Ronstan, with Ian Turnbull back at the helm pipped Gill Wet & Wild, helmed by Ed Browne, for second place. This is Pica’s second win of the season putting Jamie Mears and his team in the lead for the UK 18ft Skiff Grand Prix just 1 point ahead of Ronstan. With Round 4, the final event in the UK series which is to be held in Hamble this August, the UK Grand Prix is all to play for.

Saturday was overcast, but the rain held off. In Portland Harbour the wind was continually building and by the mid-day release time had reached a steady 25 knots, with higher gusts. Investec ventured out, with some Predator cameras on board to get some big breeze small rig footage. A big crash however sent the team back to shore and their middle man off to the hospital to be super-glued back together again. Click here to see the on board action and other videos form the UK 18ft Skiff Grand Prix.

The rest of the fleet, waiting for the start, were sent back in as the race committee cancelled racing due to a fleet of upside down Moths and Foiling 600s. Teams didn’t pass up this opportunity for a few blasts under kite with the inevitable wipe out.

Sunday was a different affair, with large clouds bringing rain and significant changes in wind strength and direction. The race committee did a fantastic job to get four races off in these conditions. In Race one the wind was predominantly south-westerly blowing off Portland. While the fleet drag raced out to the left, Pica tacked right and found a nice shift to lead Ronstan narrowly around the first mark. Investec rounded close behind with Gill Wet & Wild having a better hoist and going into high mode from fourth. Gill Wet & Wild managed to jump Investec on the run and take third while Ronstan and Pica engaged each other for the top spot. In the end Pica held on for the win.

Race 2 was nearly a repeat of Race 1 although this time Gill Wild & Wild managed to get the better of Ronstan, posting a second place and forcing Ronstan into third place.

The wind shifted 60 degrees to the south for Race 3. After some quick resetting of the course, the fleet started in a persistent left shift. With all teams fighting for the pin it was Pica that won the start and lead the fleet out left. Investec with a horrible start tacked right and found a bit more pressure. With the other teams over standing the layline on the left, Investec’s gamble paid off putting them around the windward mark in first place. The next two laps saw frequent lead changes in the shifty winds. Eventually, Pica manage to hold off a charging Ronstan for the win.

Race 4 was a light and shifty affair as the wind died almost completely. In these light conditions the race committee started the fleet on a shortened course. With the windward mark just under the drydocks at Portland and the wind shifting 30 degrees, place changes were frequent. Pica managed the conditions best to take the lead from Investec. After a full lap Gill Wet & Wild had pushed through to second, but let Ronstan and Investec through on the final agonisingly slow run. This was just enough for Ronstan to steal second place for the event. An impressive win for Pica, usually the masters of breeze but in this regatta showed good form in the light airs that Ronstan have been so dominate in.

Big thanks to George Denny and WPNSA, Predator Cameras for the great video footage and www.georgieclarke.com for the photos

Next up it is the big show in Carnac where over 30 teams are set to do battle for the Mark Foy Trophy. With 10 teams from down under and a few from across the Atlantic the racing promises to be impressive and exciting.

Weymouth 18ft Skiff Grand Prix - Round 3, Results

Pos	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1	Pica	Jamie Mears	Matt Gill / Stewart Mears	-1	1	1	1	4	3
2	Ronstan	Ian Turnbull	Paul Constable / Will Penfold	2	-3	2	3	10	7
3	Gill	Ed Browne	Mark Tait / Jack Christophers	-4	2	4	2	12	8
4	Investec	Mason Woodworth	Jon Noonan / Simon Hamilton	3	(5.0 DNC)	3	4	15	10

Series results:

Pos	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
				Rutland	Hayling	Weymouth	Hamble
1	Pica	Jamie Mears	Matt Gill / Stewart Mears	12	3	9		24
2	Ronstan	Ian Turnbull	Paul Constable / Alec Mackinlay	6	11	6		23
3	Gill	Ed Browne	Mark Tait / Jack Christophers	9	5	3		17
4	Pindar	Andy Richards	Andrew Fairley / Will Penfold	-	8	-		8
5	Investec	Mason Woodworth	Jon Noonan / Simon Hamilton	4	2	1		7
6	Red/White	Neil Cooney	Charlie Stowe / Graham Times	3	-	-		3
7	SP Systems	Iain Christie	Matt Sherwood / Niall Ferguson	2	1	-		3
8	Swordfish	Richard Le Mare	Dave Turner / Cladia Papadimitriou	1	-	-		1