King George Gallop (SailJuice) - North London, UK, Sat 20th Jan
A new record turnout of 79 entries competed in the King George Gallop, North London's 6th stage of the Selden SailJuice UK Winter Series and three RS Aeros braved the tough conditions to be rewarded with some great winter racing.
The wind blew at a steady 15 knots or so, but with large gusts well into the 20s as the new storm arrived in the UK. The 6'C temps were compounded with some mega wind chill as the gusts blasted the race course! The three back-to-back mixed fleet handicap races provided excellent racing and really good off season training with a fresh testing breeze and a busy racecourse.
The initial results had significant errors on the day which were unresolvable in time for a prompt prize giving. Fortunately with the SailJuice events' GPS tracking of each boat these issues can usually be remedied within a couple of days. Various reviews and rescores were carried out against the scoring sheets, GPS tracking and video evidence. Following each of these checks each of the top three boats (the Osprey, Musto Skiff and the 420) had at some point won the event - it was an emotional roller coaster!
Ultimately when the music stopped on the scoring checks the Osprey was victorious at the top of the results sheet, with the 420 2nd and the Musto Skiff 3rd. Just a couple of points behind Peter Barton took 4th overall in his RS Aero 7 with a 2,6,4, and with it the hard earned accolade of finishing as 1st non trapeze boat on a breezy day.
Thanks to everyone at KGSC for a great day's racing!
PHOTOS... thanks to Tim Olin