Results / GUL RS EUROCUP AVAL-CDV, GRAVEDONA - 28/05/2001

GUL RS EUROCUP at the AVAL-CDV Club, Gravedona, Lake Como, May 28th-June 1st The GUL RS Eurocup moved to a new venue this year and what a success the Aval-CDV Club made of the event. The Aval- CDV Club is in the small town of Gravedona on the North West shore of Lake Como. The location provided breath-taking scenery with snow-capped mountains rising directly behind the lake whilst the foreshore and lower slopes was pleasantly tree lined. Lake Como itself is 45 miles long and approx 2 miles wide at its northern end. The quickest way to get around Lake Como was on one of the many Hydrofoil ferries, or on the last day an RS800, rather than the narrow roads, which combined with the mad Italian driving gave many competitors a heart stopping welcome to Como! The old town of Gravedona has a very relaxed atmosphere with a very social waterfront. The Aval-CDV Club is based at the southern end of the town with a grassed waterfront with many trees providing welcome shade. The weather was hot throughout hitting a high of 32 degrees; there was a hint of rain on the last day otherwise there was strong sunshine throughout. With racing not starting before 13.00, basically when the wind filled in, the atmosphere ashore was positively horizontal. The majority of competitors camped right next to the Club with a great waterfront bar/restaurant attached. The relaxed atmosphere was helped by a really friendly host club who could not do more to help people enjoy themselves; a happy hour after sailing of beer and pizza for �1.50 was much appreciated. The combination of rapidly rising mountains surrounding a large mass of water produced complex thermal winds, which gave some very varied conditions. The Race Committee did a superb job always able to anticipate the wind they set good courses throughout, turned races round very rapidly and did not take the fleet afloat until they thought the wind was set. For Monday - Wednesday the thermal southerly wind arrived, with some very unusual areas of wind under the cliffs on the eastern shore; many described it as sailing with a hair dryer permanently on. Monday was a shifty force 3. Tuesday had a force 2-3 full of holes with huge variations over the course area; you really needed your lucky coin with you when deciding which side to hit. Wednesday gave a great force 3-4, much steadier, which slowly built all day so all classes held their last race in classic conditions. Thursday saw a very hazy morning, which produced a mess of variable light breezes. The Race Committee tried to set a course but soon took the fleet ashore eventually to abandon for the day. On Friday most campsite competitors were waken in the morning by strong winds from the North. This wind built during the morning to produce long periods of 25-30 knots around midday. With the mean wind easing the Race Committee decided to start racing at 14.00 with the 800's leeward mark just in front of the club and the 400/600's windward/leeward only 150 yards from the waterfront bars. For the two races the mean wind was around 16-18 knots but there were long bursts of 22-25 knots which arrived with little notice; these bursts of extra wind was made even more interesting as they shifted 30-40 degrees!! The spectators were not disappointed as the fleets put on a spectacular display of racing with some immense leeward marks. Every competitor left the water after a big afternoon, tired but very happy with many a tale to tell. The whole week was voted a massive success by competitors as happy competitors with very sunburnt faces slowly made their way home eager to tell friends of the events. RS200's Race 1 suggested this would be a one horse race as John Lewis/Lizzie Humphries went right up the first beat and won by the preverbal mile. Ian Pickard/Trudie Danbury though went left in race 2 and won just holding off a very determined Lewis on the final run. In race 3 Pickard started to leeward and got the immediate sort of shift you can only dream of. Again Lewis closed but some strong defending by Pickard gave him victory by half a boat length. Race 4 was the most open of the event and much sympathy must go to the two boats that led. Sarah Taylor/Claire Upton Brown led by a good distance when they sailed into a hole at the start of the third beat to watch five boats pass them either side. Paul Fitzpatrick/Lynne Ratcliff took over the lead to survive a nervous last run with Lewis closing to win their first important GUL RS200 race. Their joy turned to disappointment ashore though when the results went up showing them OCS. Lewis and Pickard hence picked up a first and second they did not deserve. After this excitement Lewis took control to win the regatta with Pickard always in close company in second overall. Sarah Taylor clocked up five thirds to claim third overall with Martin Grady/Liz Hartland, having started well recovering from a shaky middle to claim fourth overall. 1. Jon Lewis Lizzie Humphries Mr Mellow Burghfield SC 2. Ian Pickard Trudie Danbury Chimney swept Bristol CYC 3. Sarah Taylor Claire Upton-Brown Chunderbirds Hayling Island 4. Martin Grady Liz Hartland In the Navy RNSA 5. Paul Fitzpatrick Lynne Ratcliffe what code flag X? Bexhill 6. Kevin Reed Suzy Witheyman Stokes Bay 7. Gemma Frichlich Chris Tofts Britney RNSA 8. Jules Rain Becky Rain 9. Prue Nash Natalie Rogers Keep it quiet Stokes Bay 10. Keith Moody Nicola Moody Lymington RS400's By RS400 standards this was not a big fleet but with many of the leading lights on this years GUL Racing Circuit turning up this was a very competitive series of races. In Race1 almost the whole fleet went hard left into the cliffs. David Giles/Jared Halligan and Pete Vincent/Nuala McGrogan had bad starts went right and were 1.2. In race 2 Roger Gilbert/James Stewart won with Giles pulling through to second with Dave Brown/Sheena Craig third. Tuesday's very patchy wind produced races with plenty of snakes and ladders but the consistent Giles scored 1.2. Current leader of the GUL RS Racing Circuit Craig Burlton, sailing for the first time with Sarah Allen also scored 2.1. Wednesday produced some really action packed racing as the 400's really came to life in the force 3-4. Retiring Association Secretary, Pete Vincent had also read the fleet the riot act with regard rules observation, words which were taken note of as everyone got dizzy completing 720's. The early order of race 5 was upset when Phil Jackson/Gerard Barron were the first to find considerably extra pressure right under the cliff to take the lead. This led to the whole fleet sailing within a very narrow band within 20 yards of the cliff, which caused some severe changes in direction as wind, bounced back off the cliff. Giles took an iron grip on the event with victory with Gilbert second and Nick Craig/Keith Bedborough third, Burlton somehow recovering from a capsize to finish fourth. Craig stormed up the first beat with Giles and Gilbert completing 720's on the startline but the fleet was so keen to hit the cliff they completely over stood the first mark. Craig led at the first mark but Gilbert was back to second; Craig then had to do a 720 as he hit Gilbert leaving Gilbert to win, Craig second with Terry/ Mike Cook third; importantly Giles got back to fourth. The 400's loved the final day with some big reaches. For race 7 Craig Burlton and Robin Kenyon/Joel McDonald port tacked the fleet and were lifted all the way to the windward mark as a big gust came through. In a strange twist Gilbert had started at the Committee Boat but rounded third. Gilbert blasted through on a huge gust downwind to win; Burlton, with the lightest crew in the fleet was second, Kenyon third and Giles hanging on for fourth. Nick Craig, having gybed off a big gust to head for the 800's leeward mark in race 7 made no mistake in Race 8 leading from the start gun to win by a big margin. Jackson took advantage of carnage at the first leeward mark to claim second. Giles had carefully covered Gilbert who could only finish third but this was enough to keep him a point behind and give Giles overall victory. 1. David Giles Jared Halligan I'm on holiday Wierwood 15pts 2. Roger Gilbert James Stewart Mr and Mrs Frensham 16 3. Craig Burlton Sarah Allen Ronsatn Northampton 23 4. Nick Craig Keith Bedborough I can ride a bike Frensham 24 5. Phil Jackson Gerard Barron Bring it on Parkstone 43 6. David Brown Sheena Craig mind the table Island Barn 43. 7. Giles Chipperfield Heather Chipperfield Lymington 44 8. Pete Vincent Nuala McGrogan are you really ugly Bristol CYC 51 9. Charles Duchesne Dan Sanders 15 beers please RORC 54 10. Terry Cook Mark Cook Gill Nottingham 56 RS600 With many of the well known 600 sailors either absent or moved on to other classes this was always going to be a very open event and so it proved. Mark Sempers and Eddie Gatehouse dominated Monday with a first and second each. Tuesday saw non-British sailors dominate, home country sailor Carlo Micheletti scored an impressive first and second whilst the Flying Dutchman Mathijis Ten Berg won race 4. Mark Perrin started to make his mark on the event with two thirds. When the wind picked up for Wednesday the 600's started performing and the racing became even more open. Sempers was very steady with 3.2 results, Gatehouse made up for a shaky Tuesday with a 1.3 score. Perrin made the biggest gain though with a 2.1 score. 600 sailors love big winds but the big shifts were not a great idea when fully trapezing so the last two races became a major test of boat handling skills. Perrin continued his fine run with a second successive race victory. Ben Willows found the strong much more to his liking with a second with Gatehouse third and Sempers fourth. This left all to play for with Gatehouse, Perrin and Sempers all having 14 pts with Sempers having the best discard. Sempers settled the argument in the best way possible by winning the race by taking the big shift on the left of the first beat with Willows again second and Gatehouse third. This gave Sempers his first GUL event overall victory. Special note should be made of Ben Willows fine display of sportsmanship when Mike Perrin broke his tiller extension half way through a race on a run. Ben was carrying a spare tiller extension inside his boom and gave the tiller extension to Mark so he could finish. 1. Mark Sempers Datchet Water 15pts 2. Eddie Gatehouse Hayling Island 17 3. Mark Perrin Queen Mary 20 4. Ben Willows Northampton 24 5. Carlo Micheletti Italy 36 6. Mathijis Ten Berg Holland 37 7. Roland Emmans Queen Mary 41 8. Elaine Turner Datchet Water 50 9. Pim Van Der Vorst Holland 57 10. Marc Taylor Datchet Water 61 RS800's With a 30-boat fleet and a roll call of some of Britain's leading dinghy sailors there was going to be some hot action and the 800's did not let us down. Add into this the variable winds at the beginning of the week and a consistent set of results was going to be very difficult to achieve. In the first half of the week there was such a huge difference in speed between 800 's powered up in breeze and those with crews languishing in the boat; it was a real case of holding your nerve. On Monday Neil Upton-Brown/Roz Allen and Richard Lovering/Richard Kent were impressive with 1.3 and 2.2 scores respectively. Barrie Edginton/Harvey Hillary won race 2 but had an 11th in the opening race. Tracy Covell/Vanda Zadorozny won race 3 whilst Mike Lennon/Emma White won race 4 to add to results of 3.4.4. Tim and Jo Johnson scored a bullet in race 5 to move into serious contention as the only leading boat with five top ten results. Also coming into contention was Ricky and Steve Tagg with their second second place. Richard Lovering recovered from a bad Tuesday to win race 6 but it was Neil Upton Brown who had the best day with two thirds. With the loss of Thursday it was extremely close going into the final day. Upton-Brown/Allen had 15 pts but was discarding a 19th and effectively had to count Fridays racing. Lennon/White, the Taggs, the Johnson's, Lovering/Kent and Edginton/Hillary were on 20 to 22 pts but it was only the Lennon's and Johnson's that would be able to discard a race from Friday and win. Whilst the wind increased it looked marginal as if racing could take place. Barrie Edginton and Harvey Hillary went out for a blast and threatened to beat the Hydrofoil down to Como. As the wind eased it became clear racing was possible and a less nervous fleet took to the water. Tim Johnson clearly enjoyed the conditions to record a fine race win in race 7 with Lovering second and Edginton third. With Upton-Brown 8th, Johnson had a narrow lead on 22pts with Lovering and Upton-Brown tied on 23 pts and Edginton on 25pts. Edginton was off to a fine start in race 8 and led for most of the race. Johnson went for the gybe first on the final run and jumped into the lead to win with Edginton second, Lennon a fine third and Lovering 4th. Some boys obviously enjoyed the very fresh conditions, Spod Olive/Mike Warren scored 4.5, Matt Johnston/Andy Palmer-Felgate 5.6 and Stuart/Chris Doe 6.7 but need to work on more consistent results. Ashore it looked as if the Johnson's had won the event but many competitors were unhappy that Andy Postle had crewed for Tim on the final day. Much studying of Sailing Instructions and the RRS's could not produce a clear rule on changing of crew. With the matter heading for the protest room Tim retired from the last race leaving Barrie Edginton and Harvey Hilary the overall winners. 1. Barrie Edginton Harvey Hillary Hayling Island 26pts 2. Richard Lovering Richard Kent Hayling Island 26pts 3. Tim Johnson Jo Johnson Chew Valley LSC 31 4. Mike Lennon Emma White Hayling Island 31 5. Neil Upton-Brown Roz Allen Hayling Island 31 6. Ricky Tagg Steve Tagg Hayling Island 36 7. Matt Johnston Andy Palmer-Felgate Hayling Island 56 8. Tracey Covell Vanda Zadorozny Hayling Island 59 9. Dan Fellows Clare Dudley Mountbatten Centre 66 10. Spod Olive Mike Warren Weston 70 PETE VINCENT