Huge win for Vidal and McGrane

The RS800 National Championships took place in Porthpean

Porthpean Sailing club provided the venue for an eventful and, although overcast, surprisingly windy Gul RS800 nationals from 24-29 August.  Despite nearly 80 boats attending the Eurocup in Garda threatening to make this a low key event, 41 boats turned up to enjoy a packed racing programme, busy socials and the notorious Porthpean beach access road for dragging boats up at the end of the racing day.
 
Racing on day one got underway after the usual disrobing and shedding of wallets and mobiles for the all-important weigh in. The fleet showed its depth from the outset in a gusty force three to four for race one. Spod Olive and Guy Filmore lead round the windward mark after winning the pin, but it was Tom Halhead and crew Christian Humphrey who went on to take line honours ahead of Olive and Filmore, and in third Ian Martin and Adam Broughton. 

Race two saw the breeze freshen a little. Silver fleet ringers Aaron Barden and Rob Hopper took the windward mark first, and every leg until the final beat where Charlie Roome and Steve Hall took the bullet, followed closely by Niel Baker and James Hughes, and in third, and rapidly upping the ante, the Selden boys, Ben McGrane and Olivier Vidal.
 
The wind forecast dismal for the rest of the week, the Commodore’s reception went on long into the small hours – the inaugural 800 Texas Holdem provding more competition and a chance to use their cunning for those who hadn’t had enough on the water, and of course delaying the onset of sleeping under canvas on a one in four hill.
 
Monday morning brought not the promised zephyrs, but instead an increasing breeze that would make conditions tricky even for the hot-shots in a sea with an underlying swell opposing the wind direction.  General recalls (four in all) claimed ten of the fleet prior to race three finally getting underway.  McGrane and Vidal took the race in style, proving unbeatable from start to finish in an impressive display of boat-handling, and managing not to lose out at the finish while a 50 degree wind shift claimed many. Heavy breeze expert Andy Jeffries, with crew Bonnie Moody, took second place ahead of Olive and Filmore. Race four saw more breeze and McGrane and Vidal confirm their intent with another win ahead of Stevie Wilson and Jamie Stewart in second and Justin Deal and Ollie Page in third. 

The fleet retired battered to the shore for an evening of violent tug of war, malco-ordinated volleyball and questionable rounders on the beach, much needed recovery, and for a hard worked Wilson and Stewart, the start of an intensive week of evenings of boat repair for the rest of the fleet.  Duckhams, in time honoured tradition was presented – and on this evening to Arkie Wainwright, the PRO… a strong call by the fleet to award Duckhams to him so early in the week and with so many races yet to run.
 
Tuesday, and the wind continued to keep both crew and helm on the wire upwind.  Shifty conditions favoured the now seemingly unstoppable McGrane and Vidal, who took an easy victory in race five, followed once again by Wilson and Stewart taking second, and Deal and Page in third spot.  Ben Schooling and Tim Hirst took a hard earned fourth, maintaining a consistent scoreline to put them third overall at the end of the day. Race six saw three boats get away from the rest of the fleet.  Final placings were Deal and Page ahead of McGrane and Vidal, while Phil King and Tom Trueman took third. 

After a prizegiving generously sponsored by Harken, the theme for the evening’s pub crawl to nearby Fowey was supposed to be Cornish pixies.  The boys took this opportunity and some artistic licence to turn up in the majority as fairies…and of course clearly outshone those girls who had done the same.  The evening concluded with inflatable raft luge down the stairs of the British Legion Club by some ‘larger’ fairies, which received an unsurprisingly mixed reception.
 
Curry Wednesday saw the McGrane and Vidal pairing maintain their dominance. Two victories put them in a strong position while below them Wilson and Stewart held on to second overall by the slenderest of margins from Shooling and Hirst and Halhead and Humphrey. The silver fleet remained tight, led by Andrew Smith and Micky Boughton by only a few points from Simon and Jo Skinner and Ralph Singleton and James Clark who had pulled off a fifth and seventh during Tuesday’s racing. 

So, four days in, all scheduled races complete, great evenings – the club was doing well. But it was to get better when they brought in a professional curry company for the evening.  Eyes proved rather larger than stomachs in the majority of cases, not helped by the generous sposorship by Geeta’s Curry Sauces.
 
Thursday saw McGrane and Vidal win the national champs with a day to spare depsite an uncharacteristic eighth in race ten. Lighter winds failed to dent the speed and consistency of Wilson and Stewart who held onto second overall just ahead of Shooling and Hirst.  Halhead and Humphrey maintained fourth courtesy of four top four finishes in four races. 
 
Post race ten, the much awaited, arguably most important race of the week took place – so important in fact that a sweepstake had attracted considerable prize money for the winner and no less than 38 boats stayed out to compete.  This was the inaugural RS800 nationals crews race, which was to prove to be the final act of the 2008 800 nationals. 
 
In every way as hard fought and competitive as the rest of the weeks racing, techniques ranged from the hiking only from the back to the seated spinaker hoist, but yet again it was the undefeatable Vidal and McGrane who took line honours in a race that would take the boats back to Porthpean beach.  In high spirits, the crews then headed for the home of the day’s sponsor, St Austell brewery for a tour, yet another pasty, and a half or so sample of their wares. 

Onwards to Charlestown and it was a very relieved fleet (in the main part) who watched Arkie raise the abandoned flag the next morning after a night of revelling in the picturesque village.  This brought the Gul RS800 2008 nationals to a successful and distinct close in what had proved to be a surprisingly windier, and for McGrane and Vidal, extremely impressive week.  The club sent the competitors off with a fine hog roast as the English weather returned to the norm of drizzle, low cloud and little wind.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot	Net
1st	Ben McGrane	Olivier Vidal	Chew Valley	-9	3	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	-8	28	11
2nd	Stevie Wilson	Jamie Stewart		-23	6	7	2	2	-13	7	5	6	2	73	37
3rd	Ben Schooling	Tim Hirst	Helensburgh SC	-13	4	8	6	4	4	4	6	-13	3	65	39
4th	Tom Halhead	Christian Humphrey	Bristol Corinthian SC	1	-14	(42.0 DNS)	14	6	11	3	3	4	1	99	43
5th	Justin Deal	Ollie Page	Lancing SC	8	8	(42.0 OCS)	3	3	1	-17	9	2	10	103	44
6th	Spod Olive	Guy Fillmore	Stokes Bay/Draycote	2	5	3	-10	-11	9	5	8	10	5	68	47
7th	Neil Baker	James Hughes	Thorpe Bay SC	3	2	14	4	14	8	8	4	-17	-23	97	57
8th	Ian Martin	Adam Broughton		4	7	(42.0 OCS)	7	9	-17	16	2	7	9	120	61
9th	Charlie Roome	Steve Hall	Northampton SC	6	1	(42.0 OCS)	15	17	10	15	7	3	-19	135	74
10th	Matt Gill	Toby Wincer	Felixstowe Ferry SC/RCYC	17	18	15	11	10	(42.0 OCS)	-20	10	12	4	159	97
11th	Andy Cornah	Orwin Murray	Hayling Island SC	18	19	(42.0 OCS)	-20	12	16	2	11	9	11	160	98
12th	David Pike	Fiona Lockwood	Eastbourne SC	19	10	9	9	13	-21	12	14	-33	12	152	98
13th	Simon Skinner	Jo Skinner	Datchet SC	-28	-22	6	12	16	6	14	20	14	13	151	101
14th	Phillip King	Tom Trueman	Oxford SC	20	-21	13	13	-21	3	6	18	15	17	147	105
15th	Adrian Coatsworth	Julia Coatsworth	Alton Water SC	16	(42.0 OCS)	-23	19	15	12	11	15	5	15	173	108
16th	Andrew Smith	Micky Boughton	Stokes Bay SC	14	-31	5	25	8	5	-33	12	23	20	176	112
17th	Andy Jeffries	Bonnie Moodie	Eastbourne SC	11	12	2	5	(42.0 DNF)	14	(42.0 DNF)	42.0 DNC	21	6	197	113
18th	Ralph Singleton	James Clark	Chew Valley Lake SC	22	16	-24	23	5	7	-28	19	18	22	184	132
19th	Aaron Bardon	Robert Hooper	LDC	29	9	28	18	7	23	18	(42.0 DNF)	11	-37	222	143
20th	Brett Ellway	Jay Bick	Stokes Bay SC	-27	11	21	26	22	15	-30	17	8	26	203	146
21st	Joel Walker	Sarah Crossman	Weston SC	15	(42.0 OCS)	12	-35	23	28	10	13	27	25	230	153
22nd	Jamie Stevenson	Jamie Oaten	Royal Torbay SC	7	24	22	16	19	19	-25	25	22	-28	207	154
23rd	Derek Buchanan	Elaine Buchanan	Oxford SC	32	15	18	21	24	20	13	(42.0 OCS)	-34	14	233	157
24th	Alastair Shires	Penny Shires	Stokes Bay SC	5	20	16	-27	26	24	-31	23	20	27	219	161
25th	Andrew Gould	Tom Kennedy	Emsworth Slipper SC	21	17	11	17	20	(42.0 OCS)	22	24	-36	30	240	162
26th	Oli Woods	Anna Perkins	Itchenor SC	(42.0 DNS)	(42.0 DNC)	17	32	33	18	9	16	25	16	250	166
27th	Sam Maxfield	Henry Maxfield	Hayling Island SC	(42.0 DNS)	(42.0 DNC)	10	37	18	26	26	21	35	18	275	191
28th	Giles Bradford	Charlie Esse	RNSA	25	25	25	-33	28	22	-35	26	24	21	264	196
29th	Andy Scott	Derian Scott	Chew Valley Lake SC	-36	32	26	34	-36	33	21	29	16	7	270	198
30th	Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes	Daniel Allin		10	13	4	8	(42.0 DNC)	(42.0 DNC)	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	287	203
31st	Malcolm Streeton	Miles Roebuck	Hayling Island SC	12	23	(42.0 OCS)	24	25	27	29	27	37	-39	285	204
32nd	Ed Brunyee	Tom Maidwell	Restronguet SC	35	(42.0 OCS)	20	(42.0 DNF)	30	30	23	22	19	32	295	211
33rd	Sam Seddon	Josh Seddon	Felixstowe Ferry SC	-37	29	29	-36	29	32	19	28	31	24	294	221
34th	Richard Nieveen	Robert Burton	Stokes Bay SC	26	28	27	29	-32	25	27	-35	30	31	290	223
35th	Anthony Harvey	Michael Stone	Mumbles YC	30	30	19	31	-35	(42.0 OCS)	32	32	28	34	313	236
36th	Blair Stanaway	Lisa Mullee	Mayo SC	34	33	(42.0 OCS)	28	27	31	24	34	-38	35	326	246
37th	Pippa Baker	Mostyn Evans	Restronguet SC	33	-34	30	30	31	(42.0 OCS)	34	33	29	29	325	249
38th	Neil Crossouard	Ian Crossouard	Weston SC	38	27	31	(42.0 DNF)	(42.0 OCS)	29	36	31	32	36	344	260
39th	Doug Horner	Tim Ellis		31	(42.0 DNF)	(42.0 OCS)	22	34	42.0 OCS	42.0 DNS	42.0 OCS	26	33	356	272
40th	Chris Bailey	Matt Bailey	Draycote Water SC	24	26	32	(42.0 DNS)	37	(42.0 OCS)	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	39	40	366	282
41st	Paul Bulkeley	Mike Worthington		(42.0 DNS)	(42.0 DNC)	42.0 DNC	42.0 DNC	42.0 OCS	42.0 OCS	37	30	40	38	397	313