On the way upwind.. Copyright David Harding 2010 Sailing Scenes.co.uk

The Parkstone Grand Prix open was a great success as many will have seen from the UK class website report. For me, the training at Stokes with one of the fastest newcomers Chris Rashley, Jason Belben, Ninja designer Kevin Ellway and partner Jo Evans  has paid dividends.

My racing was transformed with a 14th and a 12th amongst the UK’s top 20 which left me pleasantly surprised. It was great to be in amongst some of the big guns and hanging on to the tails of these guys. I suffered really badly in race 2 on the saturday with big holes opening up on the course and me seeming to be falling in to them around lap two.

Top result for me was being 2nd on the water on saturday only just behind Chris so my target was met and exceeded and I was way early for the start!

Sunday proved too much for me and I got psyched out (as it was gusting late 20s – 30knots) and remained ashore which transformed the overall standings. If I had managed to race and just finish the three races in last place, I’d have ended up well inside the top ten not that that would have been a true reflection of the racing as a lot of the guys left early to get their boats ready for mothfest.

Fair play to Olivier Vidal, Richard Westbury and Gareth Davies who went out and joined the front runners despite the massive winds and completed the racing.

Top marks go to Chris who put together a really consistent series to finish in 2nd place on equal points with Si Payne (1 more on countback)

So now begins the next phase of development for me which is refining technique, increase stamina and hopefully translating this to more speed round the course. I’m shedding a couple of kilos as I really don’t see the benefit of carrying it around anymore. The light guys can still smoke it round the track in a big breeze.

There will be a couple of equipment changes on the boat but mostly the changes will be in my head which can only be a good thing.

In the thick of it... heading down the run amongst it.. copyright David Harding 2010 Sailing Scenes.co.uk