Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - 10/07/2004
RS800 Fat Face Racing Circuit Weymouth 10/11 July
The last weekends practice before heading out to Lago di Garda
next week. And what a weekend! 20 knots plus all day Saturday,
15 knots that gradually dropped to 10 knots by the last race on
Sunday. With the wind coming straight over Chesil beach, the race
officer could use the entire length of the harbour to really give
us some room to get motoring. Plus the satisfaction of going back
to work on Monday with a suntan when it seemed to rain everywhere
else in the country?! The event was shared with the 700s, 600s
and K6s.
Steve Irish managed to get a weekend pass to come to the event
only 2 weeks after the arrival into the world of their new born
baby daughter (congratulations Paula and Steve!) and cleaned up in
style. Sailing with Martin Gotrel, 3 firsts on the first day
meant a quick 1,2 on Sunday morning and back home to nappy
changing duty!
The score line on Saturday did not quite represent the closeness
of the racing with Steve and Martin capitalising on mistakes by
James Date and Mark Hogan, and Chris Haworth and Stuart Aston.
Both of these boats lead races on Saturday and handed them to
Steve and Martin with a variety of capsizes and boat handling
errors. Steve and Martin sailed flawless races to take a deserved
3 bullets. Chris and Stuart ended up tied on points after day one
and held second from James and Mark on count back.
Rounding up the top five overnight were Ronald Miller and Peter
Marshall and Alex Davies and Sarah Hughes with 4,3,5 and 5,8,7
respectively. Alex and Sarah however deserved a bonus points
reduction for the most stylish manoeuvre of the day. A port tack
flyer in race 2 saw them successfully cross the fleet, over stand
the windward mark to ensure no extra tacks and an extra fast,
stylish looking bear away as they tore round the windward mark in
the lead of the 33 boat fleet... one small problem? RS racing
allows you to hit marks, this perhaps left Alex with a false sense
of security as he rounded very close travelling at about 12 knots?
Two words? Anchor Warp?!! This was all being filmed by Mark
Asquith who was 29er coaching at the time and was looking for some
footage of the top 800 sailors bearing away in 20 +knots. Mpeg
coming soon to the website!
Sunday, and more sunshine, but slightly less breeze which the
majority of the fleet were very happy with after the previous
night in Rendezvous night-club. For some their second night of
Rendezvous hospitality in a row, but at least less breeze meant
there was less being sick on the water on day two? Toby Wincer.
Steve and Martin started as they left off the day before with a
victory in race one. Followed home by Ronnie and Peter, with
Chris and Stuart having the worst dose of bad luck for the weekend
when the shackle securing the pair of them to the top of the mast
gave way as they approached the final leeward mark in 2nd. They
recovered to 4th with James and Mark taking 3rd.
Race two and the breeze increased slightly, the usual suspects
were battling it out at the front again, led briefly by Jono
Ratnage and Max Goulden who were putting in a bid for the most
inconsistent series of the weekend, with results ranging from 4th
to 27th! They showed some awesome upwind pace (possibly something
to do with the combined crew weight of 180kg, but sailing well
too!) and sometimes kept it together downwind!
The leaders of James and Mark, Steve and Martin and Chris and
Stuart were separated by no more than 5 boat lengths most of the
way round. A proper dog fight, with James and Mark eventually
coming out on top and nearly ending up aboard the committee boat
finishing in rather a large gust with about 5 seconds separating
the top three after 45 mins of racing.
The final race of the day saw Chris and Stuart disappear off into
a large lead, taking the race from James and Mark. Dave and Fiona
Sayce joined the battle for the first lap, but by the second beat
the two leaders were well clear, Sam Neal and Mandy Bretherton put
in their best result of the weekend with a 4th.
Chris and Stuart were very unfortunate with the trapeze wire
breakage and without this, 2nd and 3rd positions would have been
reversed, but as it was James and Mark took second. Ronnie and
Peter headed for shore before the last race safe in the knowledge
they had secured 4th and to get a head start on the drive back to
Scotland. Alex and Sarah completed the top 5 with 5,5,10 on
Sunday, just pipping Spod Olive and Jane Norris. These two boats
were never far apart all weekend and we can see some beer being
bet on the outcome of Garda. Although Spod celebrated his 40th
birthday this weekend, so may be too old for that sort of
behaviour now??!
Another top weekend for the 800?s, well run by WPSA who laid on
fantastic weather for us, and with close racing and close battles
going on throughout the fleet. The 800 is the perfect boat for
Garda and with 40 + boats expected out there next week it can?t
get much better? can it?
James Date.
Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy
R S 800 Racing Circuit 10 - 11 July 2004
Series Series
Place Sail No Helm Crew Points
1 1058 Steve Irish Martin Gotrel 6
2 1080 James Date Mark Hogan 11
3 1064 Chris Haworth Stuart Aston 12
4 1065 Ronald Millar Peter Marshall 18
5 839 Alex Davies Sarah Hughes 30
6 1057 Spod Olive Jane Norris 33
7 843 Rob Watson Nob Holmes 40
8 1054 Justin Deal Sarah Marriott 44
9 985 David Sayce Fiona Sayce 46
10 878 Sam Neal Mandy Bretherton 51
11 964 Ian Martin Chris Catt 57
12 934 Jonno Ratnage Max Goulden 59
13 1046 Charlie Coulborn Rich Burlingham 65
14 921 Ruos Gibbs Jayne Johnson 70
15 836 Derek Buchanan Elaine Buchanan 77
16 850 Brett Ellway Rory Paterson 86
17 938 Stuart Bishop Simon Bishop 88
18 989 Ben Schooling Tim Hirst 93
19 926 Alastair Shires Penny Shires 96
20 929 Nigel Furnles Matt Gotrol 97
21 1072 Jon McCuirve Lou-Lou McCuirve 101
22 1019 Tim Cutsforth Sally Cooper 102
23 1084 Matt Critchley Rob Chaplin 108
24 916 Babbs Emmans Emma Heeley 112
25 864 Adrian Coatsworth Julia Jenkins 114
26 953 Andy Picrell Grahame Dobson 114
27 907 Paul Bartlett John Parkes 118
28 NONO Pippa Baker Mostyn Evans 133
29 931 Tom Jeffcoate Toby Wincer 134
30 1015 Michael Archer Richard Williams 140
31 980 Allan Higgs Alex Lyon-Dean 147
32 956 Ian Martin Claire Booth 149
33 809 Bill Smith John Heffernan 149