Debut win

Wilson and Lynch have won at the first F18 event for the new White/Loday Shockwave F18

20 F18s descended on Grafham Water for the annual Grafham Cat Open, Sailing in the Fast Fleet they had nearly twice as many entries as the next biggest class proving how popular this Formula is becoming in the UK.

All the usual suspects were in attendance and with a good forecast predicting the winner of the event was going to be tricky with any of the top ten capable of putting a good series together and taking the win.

Saturday's racing started and straight away two boats made their intensions clear, Hugh Styles sailing with David White and Rob Wilson sailing with Marcus Lynch, in the fresh out of the box Loday/White Shockwave, set the pace all day. Styles and White were early leaders with two firsts and a second to Wilson and Lynch's two seconds and a first. However, on return to shore unfortunately for Styles he was awarded two DSQs for sailing through the finish gate downwind which handed all three races to Wilson, an impressive start to the very impressive looking Shockwave.

The rest of the fleet enjoyed some very close racing with Grant Piggott and Andy Sinclair being the next most consistent with two fourths and a second with Adam Piggott and Ricky Heaseman and Toby Orpin and Lewis Crawford showing flashes of brilliance to set themselves up for Sundays racing.

Saturday evening was a fairly quiet affair for most but some of the F18s blades were spotted in the wheat sheaf downing 'Squashed Frogs' and 'Tequila Slammers' no doubt feeling a bit worse for wear Sunday Morning.

Sunday started with a gentle force two suiting the lighter teams. The first race was taken by Styles after Wilson had led early on. Chasing hard all race were Orpin, Grant Piggott and Simon Northrop and Robyn Ford. This order stayed the same till the Gun.

Race five and all Wilson had to do to take the series was put a solid result in, after a clean start Wilson and Lynch led at the top mark from Northrop and Ford who faltered after their kite Halyard Jammed letting Styles through to chase down Wilson who held the challenge off all the way to the last leg. Styles slipped passed though and took the gun by one second.

Wilson and Lynch had still done enough to head home for a well deserved early shower but the rest of the fleet now sailed race six in some wild conditions which resulted in a few big name casualties with Gummer, Styles, Northrop and Worthington all having a swim.

The racing again was tight but this time Orpin and Crawford took the Bullet from Adam Piggott and Heaseman with Grant Piggott retiring due to not replacing a failing jib halyard dropping him to fourth overall.

A big thanks to Grafham Water and The race team who did a sterling job all weekend.

Results:

1-Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch (Shockwave) 7Pts
2-Toby Orpin and Lewis Crawford (Tiger) 15 Pts
3-Adam Piggott and Ricky Heaseman (Nacra Infusion) 20.5 Pts
4-Grant Piggott and Andy Sinclair (Nacra Infusion) 26 Pts
5-Hugh Styles and David White (Nacra Infusion) 31 Pts