Results / RS Fat Face Eurocup, Italy AVAL-CDV - 21/07/2003
After a sensational Lake Garda trip for the RS�s last year, this year at
Gravedona on Lake Como was going to have a lot to live up to, but when
you�ve got 120 boats from 5 classes and all the usual crowd of families
and friends who come along just for the party, it was never going to be
dull was it?!
There needs to be a separate report for social side of the week. Let�s
just say here that a good week was had by all, so good that it was
noticed by the local residents and reported in the local paper�
something about being perfectly nice people by day and after a few beers
and cocktails in the evening� turning into monsters! Threats of police
with Guns and an apology to a very understanding sailing club seemed to
calm everyone down� a bit� A big thanks must go to the owners of Bar
Centrale (who have now apparently retired and purchased a Caribbean
island to live on for the rest of their lives on the profits), but
possibly also some blame, due to the size of the measures of gin and rum
and cocktails being served!!
There will be a selection of photos on Corky�s website, which was
experiencing technical difficulties when last mentioned after the Stokes
event but is now up and running again. www.whatacorker.com
Anyway, the sailing. The 800 fleet was the largest at 36 boats and the
racing was very close. The two days leading up to the regatta were
proper champagne sailing, force 3 � 4 and 30+ degrees giving those that
had arrived early a chance to go for a sail, recover from the journey,
and work out the tactics which are not quite as simple as Garda!
Pre regatta favourites after powering through the fleet to take the
practice race were Spod Olive and Mike Warren in the Sola boat, showing
good boat speed in similar conditions to the training days and going the
right way for a convincing victory. How was anyone going to touch them
for the rest of the week based on that performance?!
In true �it�s not normally like this here�� style day one was a no show
for the wind. So, day two dawned with severe hangovers all round due to
the early start of boozing. The thermal gradually built throughout the
day with crews getting comfy in the playpen in race one, but by half way
through race 2 we were twin trapeezing. Three races meant for a long day
on the water, and overnight leaders scoring 4,1,2 were James Date and
Mark Hogan in Sea Sure. Steve Irish and Martin Gotrell in Magic Marine
scored 2,3,4 to be second. Mike Lennon and Emma White were tied with
Nick Peters and Nicky Griffin getting 3,6,1 and 1,2,7 respectively with
Barry Edginton and Ian Lovering having a consistent day with 5,5,5.
Day three started with Lennon/White taking their second race win in a row
followed by Chris Hawarth and Stuart Aston pulling through the fleet
impressively to add a 2nd to their 3rd from race three the day before.
Edginton/Lovering broke their string of 5th places with a third. Race
two was lead from the pin end start by Date/Hogan in Sea Sure and just
holding off Peters/Griffin by quarter of a spinnaker pole length at the
finish with Lennon/White taking 3rd. Upon return to shore however it was
found that a third of the fleet had been disqualified by the round the
ends rule, giving another bullet to Lennon/White as Date/Hogan and
Peters/Griffin were disqualified. Hawarth/Aston got the 2nd as their
scorecard started to look impressive.
Having not been seen at the front of the fleet Olive/Warren decided they
would make themselves heard, by putting on their Stetsons, and trying to
sail through the side of Neil Ashby and Jeremy Davis�s boat on Port
coming into the windward mark� I think they just about made it back to
shore before they sank. A lot of water coming in from the two shark
bites in the side of the boat where Spod had rebounded on first impact,
and come back just to remove a bit of the transom for good measure. A
sterling job from Ben Saynor from LDC saw them back on the water for the
next day.
Day four, cloudy and loads of wind, from the wrong direction, then no
wind, then a little bit of wind from the wrong direction� The Northerly
thermal having a last blast or was it here to stay? Out we went for
racing anyway with the breeze dying and the sun coming out, everyone
dressed in long wetsuits ended up losing about 3 stone as the race turned
into a drift and was abandoned, with Hawarth/Aston not far from the
finish line.
Massive dehydration and no dinner were one possible explanation, but the
ruining yourself by nine o�clock award for the week went to Ben Saynor,
Mark Hogan and Mark Rhodes (Corky). They had very impressively managed to
get themselves in a state where they were unable to walk, talk, or
communicate with anyone but each other in the space of an hour!
The final day was here already and it was all to play for although
Lennon/White would have to have a complete disaster to be beaten. This
was never going to happen and they lead the race from the start, but a
bit of a tangle with the 200�s at the windward mark saw Edginton/Lovering
get through and never look back to take the race win from Lennon/White,
winning overall with a race to spare, with Date/Hogan in Sea Sure taking
third.
This meant for an interesting last race with 5 boats all within 5 points
of each other and those OCS�s hanging over few people�s heads, anything
could happen. With left paying for a lot of the week, and occasionally a
bit of the right hand side, but for this final race the wind abandoned
those on the left leaving the leaders to come out of the right hand side
and a lot of the main contenders down the pack. Hawarth/Aston came out
of the right with a considerable lead and were followed by Date/Hogan who
had got away from the left just in time. These two pulled away to finish
in that order. Third place in this race went to Mike Saul and Sophie
Hartley.
For those who left early, I am sure that you would like to know that
Saturday, having seen no more than 12 -14 knots for the whole week, it
was 20+ knts�!
A huge thanks to all involved in getting the RS fleet out to Italy and
keeping the locals happy, and obviously to the sailing club at Gravedona
for running a superb week on and off the water, providing us with racing,
food and great hospitality. See you all at the Nationals
GBR 1061 MICHAEL LENNON EMMA WHITE HAYLING ISLAND S.C. 3 6 1 1 1 2
13 14
2 GBR 1001 JAMES DATE MARK HOGAN STOKES BAY S.C. 4 1 2 6 OCS 3 2 18
3 GBR 1064 CHRIS HAWORTH STUART ASTON BRISTOL LORINTHIAN Y. C. 9 16
3 2 2 4 1 21
4 GBR 1044 BARRIE EDGINGTON IAN LOVERING HISC 5 5 5 3 7 1 12 26
5 GBR 922 STEVE IRISH MARTIN GOTREL DRAYCOTE 2 3 4 5 OCS 5 11 30
6 GBR 1045 NICK PETERS NICKY GRIFFIN HAYLING ISLAND S.C. 1 2 7 4 OCS
8 9 31
7 GBR 932 RICKY TAGG ROZ ALLEN HAYLING ISLAND S.C. 7 9 24 7 4 9 6
42
8 GBR 956 IAN MARTIN CLAIRE BOOTH DATCHET WATER S.C. 15 4 11 19 13 6
4 53
9 GBR 1050 MATT ADAMS MARK RHODES STOKES BAY S.C. 6 14 19 9 OCS 11 7
66
10 GBR 1055 NEIL ASHBY JEREMY DAVIS HISC 11 18 8 RDGa(12) RDGa(12)
10 14 67
11 GBR 1017 MIKE SAUL SOPHIE HARTLEY GRIMWITH S.C. 21 15 16 16 8 12
3 70
12 GBR 943 BEN FARREN-PRICE PETER BROOKE HOUGHTON MAYFLOWER S.C. 14
12 13 8 OCS 16 10 73
13 GBR 847 JUSTIN DEAL SARAH MARRIOT DATCHET S.C. 12 10 18 18 3 15
16 74
14 GBR 1046 NEIL HARRISOPN RICHE STOKES BAY S.C. 13 13 15 10 9 14 18
74
15 GBR 1057 SROD OLIVE MIKE WARREN STOKES BAY S.C. 8 8 6 DSQ 11 23
24 80
16 GBR 979 CHRIS HOPPINS MARTIN WINTER MAYFLOWER S.C. 10 11 10 OCS
OCS 13 5 86
17 GBR 1010 CHRIS MAYHEW MARK STOWE R.H.Y.C. 19 17 21 13 10 7 22 87
18 GBR 983 MATT JOHNSTON PETE ELLIS H.I.S.C. 16 7 9 11 OCS 20 26 89
19 GBR 967 JASON SMITH JULIA PLUMSTEAD STOKES BAY S.C. 17 22 DNF 22
6 27 8 102
20 GBR 919 CHRIS STEVANS PETE LINDLEY STOKES BAY 18 23 12 23 17 21
15 106
21 GBR 1013 JOE TURNBULL BEN SAYNOR STOKES BAY 28 26 23 17 5 17 20
108
22 GBR 974 DAVID GEBHARD JACKIE GEBHARD DRSC 26 19 17 21 14 24 23
118
23 GBR 883 IAN JUBB JOHARA SYKES-DAVIES HISC 23 24 14 15 OCS 19 27
122
24 GBR 1047 CHARLIE COULBORN NICK BISHOP STOKES BAY S.C. 20 28 28 14
OCS 18 19 127
25 GBR916 ROLAND EMMANS BABS DAY WESTON 25 25 26 20 15 34 21 132
26 GBR 926 ALASTAIR SHIRES PENNY SHIRES STOKES BAY S.C. 36 29 25 12
12 22 34 134
27 GBR 931 MARK POLLINGTON NOELLE VIDAL BURGHFIELD S.C. 24 21 22 26
20 25 25 137
28 GBR 898 BILL SMITH ALEX NEWTON LYMINGTON TOWN S.C. 22 20 30 32 19
32 30 153
29 GBR 836 DEREK BUCHANAN ELAIORE BUCHANAN OXFORD 29 32 20 RDG(25)
21 26 35 153
30 GBR 854 SAM SUTTON JESSIE GELDARD DERWENT RES S.C. 27 27 29 27
OCS 28 17 155
31 GBR 915 JETHRO LEBHARP CARINNA PERKIN DERWENT RES S.C. 30 33 27
24 16 29 32 158
32 SUI 947 JONATHAN COOK LOUISE ADAMS C. N. DE VERSOIX 32 35 33 31
18 33 33 180
33 GBR 934 JOHO RATNAGE MAX GOULDEN M.Y.C. 31 30 34 29 OCS 36 28
188
34 GBR 909 JOSHUA RICHARDSON JOHN WELCH THORNTON STOKES BAY S.C. 33
31 31 28 OCS 31 36 190
35 GBR 828 MATTHEW AMISS BECKY GARDNER WESTON 35 34 35 30 DNC 30 29
193
36 GBR 856 HOWARD SMITH ZOE LYLE M.S.C. 34 36 32 33 OCS 35 31 201