Olympic Silver Medallist Luke Patience and Mary Henderson take a well-deserved win, but they didn’t have it all their own way.
Following his selection for a third Olympic Games, Luke Patience took time off from the World Cup circuit to compete in the RS200 Inlands at Grafham Water.
Sailing with Mary Henderson they topped the championship leaderboard after five races, with a two point lead ahead of James Peters and Charlie Darling, with Will and Matt Taylor taking third a further two points back.
Patience and Henderson opened the scoring by winning the first race ahead of Will and Matt Taylor, only to crash to a 20th in the second race, as Edd Whitehead and Toby Lewis recovered from a botched attempt at a port end flyer in the first race, with a win in the second.
The third and final race of the first day saw Patience and Henderson take another win.
This time finishing ahead of Peters and Darling, who had been laguishing in double figures in the two previous races, with the Taylors also back into the top three.
Top of the pile after day 1 were David Jessop and Sophie Mear, rewarded for their 4, 4, 4, consistency with the overnight lead.
Moving into day 2 with the breeze picking up through the day from 15 knots to 23 knots.
Nick Craig and Emma Hivey won the fourth race, with Ian Martin and Chloe George in second and then, what was beginning to look like the usual suspects . . . Patience and Henderson in third and fourth Peters and Darling.
Into race 5 – that would become the final race – and this was a win for Christian Birrell and Katie Burridge, with Peters and Darling in second and Alan Roberts and Arthur Henderson third.
Patience and Henderson finished down in 15th and the Taylors were ninth, setting things up for a classic final race shoot-out.
But, with the increasing wind strength further racing was abandoned and all bets were off, as the 2019 title went to Luke Patience and Mary Henderson.
Harken RS200 Inland Championship – Final leaders (53 entries)
1st 1703 Luke Patience and Mary Henderson – RNCYC – – 20 pts
2nd 1675 James Peters and Charlie Darling – Hayling Island SC – – 22 pts
3rd 573 Will Taylor and Matt Taylor – Lymington Town SC – – 24 pts
4th 1704 Christian Birrell and Katie Burridge – TBC – – 28 pts
5th 1659 David Jessop and Sophie Mear – QMSC/Hunts – – 28 pts
6th 1657 Nick Craig and Emma Hivey – Burghfield SC – – 29 pts
7th 1440 Peter Ballantine and Jo Kalderon – Wessex SC – – 29 pts
8th 1618 Ian Martin and Chloe George – Burghfield SC – – 36 pts
9th 1136 Arron Holman and Will Ward – Hollowell SC – – 37 pts
10th 1626 Edd Whitehead and Toby Lewis – Filey SC – – 42 pts
11th 880 Murray Hampshire and Jess Hammett – Hayling Island SC – – 42 pts
12th 1601 Jonny McGovern and Sarah McGovern – Port Dinorwic SC – – 43 pts
13th 1633 Tom Hewitson and Lucy Preston – Hayling Island SC – – 44 pts
14th 1683 Alan Roberts and Arthur Henderson – Hayling Island SC – – 48 pts
15th 1667 Olly Turner and Sam Mottershead – Starcross YC – – 54 pts
16th 629 Maria Stanely and Rob Henderson – Salcombe YC – – 55 pts
17th 1700 Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst – Beaver SC – – 56 pts
18th 1676 Paul Cullen and Verity Hopkins – Weirwood SC – – 58 pts
19th 1634 Cam Stewart and Joseph Bradley – Hayling Island SC – – 63 pts
20th 1039 Tom Goodey and Richard Thomas – Broadstairs SC – – 65 pts
RSS – Posts