D-Zeros at the Grafham Grand Prix 2017

Thanks to David Summerville for the below report-

D-Zeros at the Grafham Grand Prix 2017

2nd January

Grafham Water Sailing Club

An impressive turnout of 22 D-Zeros, 14 visitors and 8 home boats, entered the 2017 Grafham Grand Prix, more than 10% of the total entry of 192 boats.

Conditions were ideal, with constant sunshine and 10-12 knots of breeze from the North West.

               Neil Washington at the Grafham Grand Prix 2017. Photo Copyright Tim Olin

The D-Zeros raced in the Medium fleet, which consisted of 73 boats, with the D-Zeros being the slowest class in that fleet. The tail-end Fireballs, Merlins and Flying Fifteens were a constant hazard and it was important to find clear lanes and avoid the associated wind shadows. Despite the mix of boats the D-Zeros experienced close racing throughout their own fleet.

In race 1 the familiar battle was between National Champion Ian Morgan and Rob Lennox at the front of the fleet. Eventually it was newcomer to the fleet Chris Wright who picked up a nice right hand shift on the final windward leg to take the win, with Rob 2^nd, Ian 3^rd and David Summerville having a strong charge at the finish to take 4^th, and Jon Cowper also having a good race to finish 5^th.

             David Summerville at the Grafham Grand Prix 2017. Photo Copyright Tim Olin

In race 2 Ian had another good start from the middle of the line, with Mandy Sweet pushing for the lead throughout the race, and taking the lead upwind at times. David, Chris and Rob battled closely throughout the race, with plenty of place changing. At the end Ian took the win, with David finishing strongly again to pip Mandy for 2^nd by 1 second, with Chris 4^th and Rob in 5^th.

For race 3 David had a good mid-line start and navigated the first leg well to lead for the entire race, though with Ian pushing hard for the lead at times. At the finish it was David who took the gun from Ian, with Rob in 3^rd, Class Chairman Paul Jefferies in 4^th and Chris in 5^th.

                 Ian Morgan at the Grafham Grand Prix 2017. Photo Copyright Tim Olin

Full results can be found here.  Overall results as follows, with fleet positions in brackets:-

1^st Ian Morgan                   (21^st)

2^nd David Summerville    (23^rd)

3^rd Rob Lennox                  (29^th)

4^th Chris Wright                (30^th)

5^th Mandy Sweet               (33^rd)

6^th Jon Cowper                  (34^th)

7^th Paul Jefferies               (36^th)

8^th Tom Southwell            (37^th)

9^th Paul Murphy                (38^th)

10^th Neil Washington       (39^th)

11^th Nigel Austin                (40^th)

12^th Stuart Brown             (43^rd)

13^th Gordon Stewart         (45^th)

14^th Ben Stevens                (49^th)

15^th Ed Deacon                  (50^th)

16^th Jamie Southwell       (51^st)

17^th Rob Campbell            (52^nd)

18^th Kevin Moll                  (54^th)

19^th Joe Constable            (58^th)

20^th Will Deutsch             (62^nd)

21^st Jeremy Carey             (69^th)

21^st Alistair Hill                 (69^th)