Two days left

Dobson and Tunnicliffe continue to lead the GP14 World Championship

Dobson and Tunnicliffe still lead despite mixed conditions on day three of the GP14 World Championships 2008 sponsored by Mailspeed Marine.

Following yesterday’s abandonment, racing got back underway today at the regatta hosted by South Caenarvonshire YC in Abersoch. Five time World Champions, Richard Estaugh and Simon Potts, found more familiar form, moving up the leader board to fourth after posting a first and a third in the two races sailed today. Overnight leaders and reigning champions Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe faltered a little in race one when they placed twelfth but hit back with a comprehensive win in the second race.

Race one got away cleanly in around ten to twelve knots of breeze and a short chop. Pathfinders Adam McGovern and Chris Robinson looked to be in a good place to take advantage of an early right hand shift and when they tacked on to starboard they looked to be leading comfortably. As the beat progressed, however, the wind shifted back to the left and it was those boats starting early who eventually found themselves able to tack and cross the fleet. First around the windward mark were Richard Instone and Steve Parker just ahead of Richard Estaugh. In third was Andy Hately and Frank Nickless followed by Alastair Duffin and Stephen Nelson. Overnight leaders Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe rounded back in thirteenth place.

Down the first run Estaugh eased past Instone to take a lead that he held easily to the finish. Richard Instone was able to stay ahead of Alastair Duffin to take second with Andy Hately coming home fourth. Having rounded the first mark in seventeenth place, Neil Platt & Jane Alexander made steady progress throughout the race to finish fifth which was good enough to give them the overall Championship lead after three races.

Having been promoted overnight from the Bronze fleet, Devin Goonwaredena and Jeremy Bolling finished forty fourth and led the Silver fleet by one point from Championship Chairman Ian Sinclair crewed by Alan Jones. Duncan and Gail Fraser’s sixty second earned them first place in the Bronze Fleet at this stage, ahead of Maurice Cooper and Karen Jewkes.

As the fleet awaited the start of the second race the weather quickly closed in with dark clouds, heavy rain and sea mist making for unpleasant conditions for both the competitors and race team. After a long delay, the rain cleared and the wind settled down enough for the course to be reset. However, there was a further pause in proceedings when the subsequent start had to be abandoned. When racing finally got underway the breeze was up to around fifteen knots. Ian Dobson returned to his previous form to take race four by a comfortable margin ahead of Neil Marsden and Richard Estaugh. Ian Platt and Matt Johnson continued their consistent run of results with a fourth after a race long battle with Justin Jones and Lucy Evans. GP14 Class President Hugh Gill crewed by Ciaran Murphy had his best result of the regatta so far, finishing fifth.

In the overall standings and with one discard now in place, Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe had maintained their lead at the top of the leader board. Neil Marsden and Derek Hill moved up to second ahead of Neil Platt and Jane Alexander in third. Gerard O’Sulivan and Ben Saunders lead the Silver Fleet from Mark Greenhalgh and Paul O’Neil in second and Ian Sinclair and Alan Jones in third. In the Bronze Fleet, Mike Butler and Steve Caladine are leading with Duncan and Gail Fraser in second and Maurice Cooper and Karen Jewkes third.

Racing in the GP14 World Championships 2008 continues tomorrow with two more races scheduled. The final two Championship Races are scheduled to be sailed on Friday.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1st	Ian Dobson	Andy Tunnicliffe	1	1	-12	1	3
2nd	Neil Marsden	Derek Hill	2	3	-6	2	7
3rd	Neil Platt	Jane Alexander	3	2	5	-9	10
4th	Richard Estaugh	Simon Potts	7	-15	1	3	11
5th	Ian Platt	Matt Johnson	6	4	-9	4	14
6th	Richard Instone	Steve Parker	-10	5	2	10	17
7th	Justin Jones	Lucy Evans	4	10	-11	5	19
8th	Matt Mee	Sam Brearey	-20	7	8	7	22
9th	Alastair Duffin	Stephen Nelson	5	-24	3	20	28
10th	Andy Hateley	Frank Nickless	11	13	4	-21	28
11th	Mark Platt	Malcolm Marsden	8	6	-25	16	30
12th	Dave Young	Chris White	12	9	-23	12	33
13th	Curly Morris	Laura McFarland	13	8	-16	13	34
14th	Hugh Gill	Ciaran Murphy	17	12	-21	6	35
15th	Niall Henry	Ossian Geraghty	-36	19	10	14	43
16th	Tim Jones	Dale Knowles	25	(108.0 DNF)	7	15	47
17th	Jim Hunt	Andy Service	14	16	18	-24	48
18th	Paul Owen	Adam Parry	16	22	-24	11	49
19th	Adam McGovern	Chris Robinson	21	11	17	-25	49
20th	Gary Deighan	Dave Jobson	-40	18	26	8	52
21st	Diermaid Mullen	James Conlon	24	14	14	-26	52
22nd	Carl Jeffs	Jim Toothill	22	25	13	-28	60
23rd	Gerard O'Sullivan	Ben Saunders	15	31	-58	17	63
24th	Mark Grenhalgh	Paul O'Neill	-46	30	15	18	63
25th	Richard Street	Dan Crilly	-33	20	22	23	65
26th	David Lawson	Lynn Lawson	23	17	27	-32	67
27th	Paul Leavers	Justin Smith	19	29	19	-37	67
28th	Ian Sinclair	Alan Jones	31	-38	20	19	70
29th	Devin Goonwaredena	Jeremy Bolling	18	26	-44	27	71
30th	Bill Kenyon	Ben Ditchburn	9	-42	30	35	74
31st	Martin Brennan	Alistair Knott	37	27	-38	22	86
32nd	Ian Davies	Neil Davies	35	21	33	-88	89
33rd	Matt Thursfield	Sally Fowler	26	35	28	-53	89
34th	Innes Armstrong	Oliver Dewhurst	28	-41	37	29	94
35th	Dave Pickering	Linda Estaugh	44	23	-48	31	98
36th	Chris Jones	Robert Temple	34	-45	35	34	103
37th	Stewart Brown	Alastair Mitchell	-43	32	34	38	104
38th	Chris Scott	Mark Taylor	-42	28	41	41	110
39th	Steve Hubbard	Jean Shaw	47	-58	36	30	113
40th	Ian Thompson	Andy Flitcroft	41	39	-55	33	113
41st	Peter Collings	Andrew Collings	29	37	-60	50	116
42nd	Clair Brunner	Hil Brunner	27	49	42	-64	118
43rd	Graham Hutchinson	Andy Bury	30	33	59	-99	122
44th	Joe Stocking	Graham Jones	39	43	40	-54	122
45th	Mark Wolf	Stephen Browne	-58	53	32	39	124
46th	Peter Gardner	William Gardner	32	50	-74	42	124
47th	Dave Pugh	Anne Pugh	-55	34	52	40	126
48th	Julie Waddington	Chris Waddington	53	40	(108.0 DSQ)	36	129
49th	Andy McNamara	Stuart Green	(108.0 DSQ)	61	29	51	141
50th	Graham Knox	Steve Heywood	54	-57	45	43	142