2006 RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series winds up at Weymouth

European Champion Nick Dempsey took a clean sweep of race wins at the final RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series for 2006, held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy this weekend (28-29 October).

Racing got underway in over 20 knot westerly breezes on Saturday with all classes managing three races on the opening day of the event, but Sunday saw a different story with extremely light winds preventing any further action at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue.

Dempsey’s three wins from the opening day’s races were enough to hand him his third national ranking event victory for the year, while Finn European Champion Ed Wright also secured his third national ranker win, thanks to a 1,4,1 from Saturday’s racing.

World Champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis came out on top in the 470 fleet, with two race wins and a second easing them to a five point margin of victory over Austria’s Matthias Schmid and Florien Reichstaedter, while visiting crews took a clean sweep of podium places in the 49er class.  Germany’s Peckolt brothers, Jan Peter and Hannes, won thanks to a 1,1,2 from Saturday’s three races, with France’s Morgan Lagraviere and Stephan Christidis in second, and Emmanuel Dyen and Jann Rocherieux third.  The top Skandia Team GBR crew was Dave Evans and Rick Peacock in fifth.

For the Tornado class, this was the final domestic warm-up event before the crews head down to Argentina for the World Championship in December.  Rob Wilson and Mark Bulkeley took the event win ahead of world silver medallists Leigh McMillan and Will Howden, while Lucy Horwood came out on top in the third and final ranking event for the RS:X 8.5 fleet, beating European silver medallist Bryony Shaw into second.

The final Laser class qualifier of the year, held concurrently at WPNSA, also had racing action restricted to Saturday.  Skandia Team GBR’s Charlotte Dobson emerged as the top female in the Laser Radial fleet, while European Champion Paul Goodison topped the Laser Standard fleet with three race wins.

“The standard of these UK-based events just gets better and better, ” Rob Andrews, RYA Competitions Manager explained.  “Competitors from other countries are now making the trip to the UK to compete as they see these British events as key fixtures in the racing calendar. 

“We had seven nations sailing this weekend with foreign sailors taking the top three in the 49er class, and this level of competition will simply make our sailors more competitive and our events even better.”

The RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series also forms the qualification for British sailors for the ISAF Olympic Class World Championships 2007, and, combined with the early season RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series are used as part of classes international championship places qualification and RYA grants for key Olympic regattas. Details of the grants and places selection system can be found at in the Olympic Classes Handbook at www.skandiateamgbr.com