505 Nationals at Mounts Bay Sailing Club - Day 3

One race was scheduled for day 3, the traditional long distance "Race of the Year". The conditions remained superb with a sunny force 5 gusting 6 at the start. This is the first National Championships with the bigger spinnaker, and the down wind legs were extremely exhilarating, with much higher down wind speeds than before.

The new Anglo-German combination of Thoralf Greger and Simon Lake went through the gate first and banged the left hand corner with most of the fleet sailing up the middle/right hand side. At the windward mark Greger & Lake held a small margin over Ian Pinnell and Steve Hunt followed by the French team of Boite and Briffoteaux.

Pinnell and Hunt had to retire at the windward mark due to gear failure, a little later Greger & Lake capsized after going through a wave rather than over it. This allowed Boite and Briffoteaux into the lead, which they held until they had a problem with the spinnaker, allowing Dave Smithwhite and Paul Young to take the lead. Smithwhite and Young were then flattened going up the last beat allowing Boite and Briffoteaux to take the gun.

Smithwhite and Young recovered from their capsize and had a close battle to retain second place narrowly from Mike Hart and Matt Toone. Richard Sims and Simon Wood sailed a solid race to finish 4th, followed by Greger and Lake who recovered to 5th.

Special mention goes to the lightweight combination of Martin Wedge and Scott Allen who completed the race in 8th place without capsizing.

Results after Day 3: (5 races, 1 discard)