Results / Zhik Eurocup YC Carnac - 28/05/2011

Day 1

The 800s that made the short trip across the channel to Carnac were greeted by glorious champagne sailing conditions. Sunny, good wind and flat water made for incredible sailing and good practise for the Nationals in Weymouth!

Andy Jeffries and Allyson Ody got off to a cracking start by port tacking the fleet in race one and then extending away to taker the win by some distance, definitely proving that their new boat isn’t slow! Roger Phillips and Will Crocker sailed a savvy race, reading the shifts well and working their way through to second. Stevie Wilson and Ash Davidson were a good third.

The breeze picked up to a glorious 15-18 knots for the second race which allowed brilliantly fast runs on the flat water. Andy and Allyson took another win with Stevie and Damian giving them a good run for their money all the way round. Tom Halhead and Stuart Jagger sailed another good consistent race to come third, showing that they’ve not lost their speed in their break from 800 sailing.

It was great to race against the French boats too, with Jeanlouis Treguier and Ludovic Collin having some great upwind pace. They are first French boat overnight in 7^th place.

The fleet are now off to enjoy some great French food and drink with plenty of time to recover before the sea breeze kicks in tomorrow for our relaxed 1 pm start, magnific!

Day 2

Sunday started overcast with an unstable light breeze. After a short postponement onshore allowing the breeze to stabalise the fleet launched in around 7-8 knots.

The first race started cleanly and it quickly became obvious that being on the correct windshift was outplaying boatspeed. Tom Hallhead/Stuart Jagger lead at the windward mark closely followed by Stevie Wilson/Ash Davison and Andy Jeffries/Allyson Ody. With the shifty light breeze and long course the positions changed several times down the run. Up the second beat Wilson/Davison took the lead and extended a decent gap and held on to take the win followed by Jeffries/Ody with Hallhead/Jagger finishing off the top three.

The second race started in the same way as the first, still a light breeze and 15 degree windshifts. Again the fleet was very tight together at the windward mark with Hallhead/Jagger leading, a position they held onto until the finish. The next few boats got a bit involved with each other up the second beat, missing that the sun had come out and the breeze beginning the clock round to the right. This allowed the main pack to catch right up. By the end of the race Jeanlouis Treguier/Ludovic Collin were in second and Chris Webber/Emma Pethybridge third.

The sun decided to back in for the third race so we were back to the light shifty 7 knots. The startline was pushed a bit hard in this race, with Wilson/Davison being caught OCS. Jeffries/Ody led at the windward mark, again closely followed by the pack. This time up the second beat there was an overly sized left hand shift which caught out a few teams who had gone right with the sun beginning to shine through again. Jeffries/Ody who seem to be the form team this week held their lead to the finish, with Dan Kilsby/Bart Brigden taking advantage of the left shift climbing up to second and Hallhead/Jagger finishing off the top three.

Day 3

Following on from the relatively light breeze on day 2, day 3 was initially looking pretty quiet, but the relaxed start time gave the sea breeze which was absent the day before time to kick in, building to a steady 15-16 knots.  Race 6 got away cleanly and saw the lead changing hands between Stevie Wilson / Ash Davison and Andy Jeffries / Allyson Ody, with Stevie and Ash looking likely to take the win until a case of mistaken identity saw them misjudging the final layline and getting pipped. Dan Kilsby and Bart Bridgen rounded out the podium spots in third. Race 7 saw the same two boats at the front, with Stevie and Ash taking this one from Andy and Allyson., with Chris Webber and Emma Pethybridge in third.  The breeze had dropped a little for Race 8, which saw Andy and Allyson taking another bullet, Tom Halhead and Stu Jagger in second, and Stevie and Ash coming home third. 

Day 4

Initially day 4 was also looking pretty light, but with the breeze having swung to the north the clubhouse was fairly sheltered, and we got a 2 mile blast downwind in 18 knots to the start line – worth the trip in itself. Andy and Allyson were setting the form all weekend and carried on with another win in the first race. This gave them the event with a race to spare and they headed in – there must have been some tripe left over from the club buffet the night before…  Dan and Bart clearly found the bigger breeze to their liking with a second, and Roger Phillips and Will Crocker took third. The final race was possibly the breeziest of the week – nice to finish with a proper blast round. Stevie and Ash took this one with Chris and Emma second and Roger and Will third.

Overall Andy and Allyson were pretty dominant with 6 wins out of the 10 races across a spread of conditions. Stevie and Ash took second, with Tom and Stu rounding out the podium in third. Thanks have to go to YC Carnac who were fantastic hosts, and event sponsors Zhik. The venue has to go down as one of my favourites with great courses, a full range of breeze across the four days, apparently endless sunshine, great racing and all for only one day off work. On a final note, I’d like to point out that passport officers do seem to have a good sense of humour both sides of the channel, and look forward to my forthcoming duckhams nomination….

Tom Halhead