Results / Fat Face Racing Circuit Lymington Town SC - 08/07/2006

Champagne sailing! Champagne sailing conditions blessed the RS 800 fleet for round 6 of the Fat Face circuit. With some decent breeze finally forecasted 44 boats made the journey to Lymington Town Sailing Club for the most spectacular sailing of the season so far! With just two weeks until the fleet head off to Garda everyone was grateful for the practice in breezy conditions! With the usual trauma of launching and ferry dodging out of the way, race one kicked off in a decent 15 knots of breeze and beautiful bright sunshine! Fastest out of the blocks at the favoured pin end was heavy wind specialists Andy Jeffries and Ally Ody from Eastbourne. They lead the entire fleet into the breeze and the best of the tide along with Lymington locals, Peter Barton and Roz Allen (Henri Lloyd). Jeffries & Ody lead the way round the first mark, Barton & Allen (Henri Lloyd) very close behind in second, and Ben Willows & Jamie Farnborough rounded in third. As the kites popped the whole fleet gybed off and burnt back down the course � the most awesome sight of the year so far! By the end of the third beat and with just one run to go to the finish, Jeffries & Ody had pulled out a fantastic lead and looked set to take the first bullet of the day. But then disaster struck� A simple slip in the boat on a gybe left Ody with a badly sprained ankle and unable to race for the rest of the day. Devastation for the team as they headed to shore, but some light relief when the doctor said 8-10 days for recovery � Garda is still firmly on the cards! The rest of the fleet continued to the finish and the pecking order looked like this: Barton & Allen (Henri Lloyd) screamed across the finish line in top spot, Willows & Farnborough in second and Charlie Roome & Steven Hall third. Race two and the changing tide was the key to success this time� Fastest off the line heading out to the left hand side was Willows & Farnborough, Barton & Allen (Henri Lloyd) well up there in second. The tussle continued down a closely fought run but lap two was where the place changing began. Barton & Allen�s local tidal knowledge gave them the edge on the penultimate beat � inshore was beginning to pay�. Top mark for the last time and Barton & Allen popped the kite for the final run. They picked up their second bullet of the day, Willows & Farnborough settled for second, David & John Steed third. Race three, last race of the day and the whole fleet were in agreement that right was now the way to go! Barton and Allen (Henri Lloyd) had the peachiest start of the day, a port end flyer to cross the entire fleet! James Ross and Heather Back also seized an opportunity for an early tack gaining a great lane over towards the shallows. Top mark and Barton & Allen rounded in first. Ross & Back in second, Roome & Hall third. With the tide now ripping in the same direction as the wind flat water made for super-fast runs! Barton & Allen (Henri Lloyd) kept their lead but Ross & Back weren�t giving an inch. Final beat of the day and shoulders, necks and tummies were beginning to hurt! But the pain on board with Baron & Allen was more along the lines of frustration� The fast pin in the jib tack had popped out at the most critical point leaving Allen bunched up in the bow trying to sort the problem! Taking full advantage of the situation Ross & Back stole the lead and held their nerve right to the finish taking the final bullet of the day. Barton & Allen (Henri Lloyd) recovered well to maintain second while Roome & Hall picked up another third place. Back to shore and the BBQ was sizzling! Excellent food and then the disco began. Always slow to get started in the RS fleet but The Killers were the winning formula to get the dancing going and so it continued for the rest of the night. Finally the sailing club closed its doors at mid night so it was back to the camp sites, B&Bs or car boots for a good nights sleep. While those in B&Bs slept effortlessly until breakfast time, the campers could hear what was building from the west�. Sunday dawned and the breeze was howling! The anemometer up in the club house confirmed everyone�s suspicions � 30 knots of breeze, and wind over tide�. Sailing was beginning to look unlikely. At half ten the race officer made the call to abandon racing and so the prize giving commenced� After a spectacular display of boat handling and tactics, Peter Barton and Roz Allen (Henri Lloyd) took first place and put themselves firmly amongst top seeds for Garda! Charlie Roome and Steven Hall took second place with two excellent results in the top three. Rounding off the podium, Graham Simmonds and Chris Doe took third place and first overall in the silver fleet. A huge thank you to Lymington Town Sailing Club for a brilliant day�s sailing on Saturday and for making the right call on Sunday � with Garda just two weeks away everyone was grateful for not breaking their boats! A final thank you to Fat Face once again for their circuit support and prizes. One last mention about the RS 800 Nationals 2006. The reduced-entry fee has been extended to just 20 more boats. Still at �165 for six days of racing, daily seminars, huge parties (inclusive of food and drink!) it really is a bargain. Check out www.rs-association.com for details and to download the entry form. There�s also a Sail4Cancer raffle taking place with some seriously good prizes. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at all events in the run up to the big prize draw which will take place on the last night of the nationals in August.