Holt RYA National Ranking Series
Since dropping out of the Americas Cup and deciding to concentrate on another Olympic campaign, Laser Gold medalist Ben Ainslie has shown rapid progress in his newly adopted class, the Finn.

A victory at the Olympic Classes Qualifier event at HISC over the May holiday weekend followed on his fifth place at Hyeres the week before against some of the worlds best. Against a very competitive GBR fleet, with the leading six boats all pushing hard he showed consistency, finishing off with back to back wins.

In the well supported 49er fleet Paul Brotherton and new crewman Mark Asquith won by the smallest of margins from Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh on countback. Brotherton and Asquith had been best GBR team at Hyere, finishing third but Richardson and Greenhalgh, and Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks made it clear that they will be fighting all the way. Newcomers Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes were starting to motor, never dropping worse than fifth.

Kirsty Bonar won the Europe class by just one point from Debbie Winstanley, her victory in the final race giving her the event. Andrea Brewster finished third in the mixed fleet.

Chips Howarth subbing, for Nick Rogers, with Joe Glanfield showed won the 470 but didn't have things all their own way. Clive Goodwin and Doug Powell took two wins in the first three races but in another close run series Rogers and Glanfields consistency told. Libby Greenhalgh was the leading women in fourth overall.

Final Overall leaders
Finn
1. Ben Ainslie 1.75,2,3,1,1
2 'Bart' Simpson 3.75,7,2,3,4
3 Charlie Cumberley 3.75,6,5,2,2

Europe
1 Kirsty Bonar 2,1,2,4,1
2 Debbie Winstanley 3,2,1,1,3
3 Andrea Brewster 5,3,3,5,2

470
1 Chips Howarth and Joe Glanfield 2.75,3,5,2,1
2 Clive Goodwin and Douglas Powell 1,8,1,6,2
3 Neil Marsden and Graham Nelson 4,5,9,1,4

49er
1 Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith, 2,1,1,3,3
2 Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh, 5,2,3,1,1
3 Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks 3,3,2,2,2

Full results tables below.

HOLT RYA Olympic Qualifier  - 4/5 May 2002
    FINN                
Place Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Points
1 3 Ben Ainslie N/A HISC 1.75 2 3 1 1 5.75
2 6 Andrew Simpson N/A HISC 3.75 7 1 3 4 11.75
3 15 Charlie Cumbley N/A HISC/TCYC 3.75 6 5 2 2 12.75
4 541 Chris Brittle N/A Roundhill 4 3 4 4 5 15
5 1 John Greenwood N/A Budworth 1 1 8 18 7 17
6 577 Dave Mellor N/A Warsash 7 5 2 18 3 17
7 550 Matt Howard N/A SBSC 8.5 4 6 18 6 24.5
8 589 Luke Chapman N/A Torquay 7.75 10 7 5 9 28.75
9 593 Edward Greig N/A HISC 8.75 8 10 6 11 32.75
10 542 Adam Deamley N/A Stokes Bay 8.75 9 11 7 8 32.75
11 18 Graeme MacDonald N/A Mengeham Rythe 9.875 12.5 9 8 10 36.875
12 77 Howard Sellars N/A Warsash 12.5 16 12 9 13 46.5
13 12 Matthew French N/A Olton Mere 12.375 12.5 14 11 12 47.875
14 595 Ed Thorburn N/A Newhaven & Seaford 2 15 18 18 18 53
15 572 Mark MacDonald N/A Mengeham Rythe 15 11 13 18 18 57
16 516 David Bourne N/A Blue Circle 15.25 18 15 10 18 58.25
17 58 Nick Daniels N/A Warsash 17 14 18 18 18 67
    EUROPE                
Place Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Points
1 381 Bonar N/A Rutland 2 1 2 4 1 6
2 372 Debbie Winstanley N/A Largs 3 2 1 1 3 7
3 368 Andrea Brewster N/A Frensham Pond 5 3 3 5 2 13
4 350 Bryony Percy N/A HISC 1 5 4 13 4 14
5 343 Laura Baldwin N/A HISC 4 4 5 2 5 15
6 352 Chris Gill N/A Portland 8 10 6 3 6 23
7 357 Lizzie Vickers N/A HISC 6 7 13 6 7 26
8 377 Ian Stow N/A Weston 7 6 10 8 11 31
9 344 Robert Laurie N/A Harlow Blackwater 11 11 8 7 8 34
10 380 Elaine Turner N/A Datchet Water 9 9 7 9 9 34
11 308 Chris Hughes N/A Weston 10 8 13 13 10 41
12 240 Emily Saunderson N/A Datchet 12 13 9 10 12 43
    470                
Place Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Points
1 791 Nick Rogers Joe Glanfield Exe 2.75 3 5 2 1 8.75
2 797 Clive Goodwin Douglas Powell Brightlingsea 1 8 1 6 2 10
3 781 Neil Marsden Graham Nelson Blackpool 4 5 9 1 4 14
4 799 Libby Greenhalgh Harvey Hilary HISC 5 2 6 11 3 16
5 802 Graham Vials Mat Gill RYA 3 6 4 4 5 16
6 792 Helena Lucas Jenny Heeley Weymouth 7 1 2 7 7 17
7 793 Josie Gibson Saskia Clark RTYC 2 4 7 5 11 18
8 804 Mark Plummer Oliver Hawkles Portland 6 7 3 3 6 18
9 801 Christina Bassadone Katherine Hopson RTYC 9 9 8 8 11 34
10 780 Guy Tipton Tom Trueman Oxford 8 11 10 9 8 35
    49er                
Place Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Points
1 7 Paul Brotherton Mark Asquith Glossope District 2 1 1 3 3 7
2 16 Alister Richardson Peter Greenhalgh Weymouth 5 2 3 1 1 7
3 20 Chris Draper Simon Hiscocks Portland 3 3 2 2 2 9
4 70 Andy Rice Richard Bailey Draycote 1 7 5 6 4 16
5 718 Stevie Morrison Ben Rhodes Exe 4 4 4 4 5 16
6 708 Ben McGrane James Perry HISC 6 5 20 7 8 26
7 537 David Edwards Ian Clingan BSSC 13 10 6 9 7 32
8 688 Jarrod Simpson Gareth Edwards Datchet 8 8 14 14 6 36
9 5 Greg Barker Diederik Bulters Datchet 9 13 29 10 11 43
10 442 Roger Gilbert James Stewart Stokes Bay 10 17 16 13 9 48
11 453 John Evans Ginny Evans Grafham Water 29 23 9 8 10 50
12 739 Brian Wilson Roy Goodlad Largs 14 20 7 15 29 56
13 682 Manuela Roth Marc Roth DWSC 11 9 13 29 29 62
14 68 Mike Lasko Oliver Vidal Bowmoor 19 19 21 5 29 64
15 523 Richard Smith Ian Turner WOBYC 7 6 24 29 29 66
16 687 Grant Rollerson Guy Naylor MBSC 23 14 19 11 29 67
17 532 Andy Davis Damian Winstone Bartley Green 25 16 12 16 29 69
18 672 Mike Speller Peter Lindley Minnis Bay 15 22 15 17 29 69
19 584 Alex Cherry Ed Barney Exeter Uni 20 11 10 29 29 70
20 422 Toby Heppell Richard Herbert Brightlinsea 24 25 23 12 12 71
21 104 Mark Sempers Bill Robson DWSC 17 21 22 29 13 73
22 599 Mark Dell Paul Dell Thorpe Bay 22 15 8 29 29 74
23 543 Bill Dawber Justin Biddle Dell Quay 18 18 18 29 29 83
24 689 Mark Richmond Magnus Leask Trearddar Bay 12 26 17 29 29 84
25 247 Lee Child Trev Child Dabchicks 21 24 11 29 29 85
26 716 Alex Hopson Phil Kennard Bough Beech 16 12 29 29 29 86
27 517 Tim Cload Steve Brian Plymouth 27 27 29 29 29 112
28 257 Thomas Pickles Adrian Stell Stokes Bay 26 29 29 29 29 113