Matt Aston back on form at Weston

Report by Martin Frary 

30 Contenders made the annual pilgrimage to Weston for the 12th TT event of the year, coming from all areas of the country.

A weekend of extremes was experienced from light and shifty on Saturday to 20 knots plus on Sunday, meaning consistency would count.

Race 1 started in a force 2-3 and was led away by Stuart Jones closely followed by Simon Mussell and Mike Murley, hole avoidance was key, with many place changes, with this being the final finishing order.

Race 2 continued with the unpredictable conditions. Early leader was Rob Angus, who built up what seemed to be an unassailable lead, unfortunately he became a victim to the variable conditions, this allowed Martin Frary, Matt Aston and Stacey Bray to pass with this being the finishing order. Rob managed to hang onto 4th.

Race 3 and the wind had dropped further, Stuart Jones returned to form with Peter Dives finishing second and Mike Murley completing a consistent day in 3rd.

Sunday arrived with a much stronger breeze and some entertainment as Martin Frary showed how not to get off a Lee shore with a fixed rudder.

Race 4 and Simon Mussel showed his usual strong breeze form and powered away to victory followed by Stacey Bray and Ben Holden.
 
Race 5 and the slightly larger helms ?, continued their climb of the leader board. Ben Holden built a huge lead followed by a consistent Matt Aston and Simon Mussell in third.

So going into race 6 the event was wide open, Ben Holden continued his rise up the leader board, with another win, Stuart Jones returned to the fray in second and Nick Noble finished in 3rd, Stacey Bray finishing in 4th. In this race the boats provided an awesome spectacle with the top 5 boats all within 10 boat lengths at the finish.

Overall Matt Aston took the victory with consistent results, followed by Stuart Jones in 2nd and Stacey Bray in 3rd.

Rob Angus took the Silver Fleet prize.

This leaves the result still open for the National travellers, particularly as the Final event this weekend includes bonus points.