Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit Stokes Bay SC - 06/05/2006

Stokes Bay Sailing Club played host to round three of the RS 800 Fat Face Racing circuit this weekend. After two days of blistering sunshine and strong sea breezes the forty-strong fleet had to settle for just five knots and drizzling rain come Saturday morning!! But spirits were far from dampened as the fleet took to the water and the race officer did a sterling job of bashing the races out�� Race One and judging by the 700s who went off before hand, hitting the shore looked like a safe bet. Not so good at the pin end though and spotting that was Ian Martin and Claire Booth (Sail4Cancer) who shot out the middle of the line with great pace and reached the top mark with plenty in hand. Ben Schooling and stand-in crew Paul Rigg pulled their kite up just metres behind, while Charlie Roome and Steve Hall skirted round in third spot. End of lap three (we only ever do three laps don�t we!), Martin/Booth (Sail4Cancer) crossed the finish line and realised that there was still one lap to go! Cursing at their schoolboy error they headed back up the course. Final run and things were getting tight at the top! After a bit of a gybing dual between the top three places, Roome/Hall crossed the line in first place. Schooling & Rigg maintained a very well sailed second place while Martin & Booth (Sail4Cancer) had to settle for third place this time. Race two, a fresher breeze, but still the rain came down! � Marginal twin stringing conditions in the puffs, the crews finally got let out of the play pen! Top mark and round in first was Stokes Bay locals Paddy Gamble and Fiona Lockwood. Chasing hard, Justin Deal and Sarah Marriott along with David and Fiona Sayce. Also well up there in the leading pack, Schooling and Rigg fresh from their second place and Highfield/Butcher. Hitting the shore and keeping out of the tide was the only way to go down the run. The battle between the top markers continued for three laps but coming out top to take the bullet was Deal & Marriott. Sayce & Sayce cruised across the line to take second place while Gamble and Lockwood clinched third. A special mention must go to Spod and Jane Olive who's seaman-like behaviour was impeccable! After three attempts at rounding the penultimate leeward mark they gave approximately twenty boats room inside, as counted and verified at the video debrief! Race three, dropping temperature, dropping wind speed and still the rain came down! Rob Watson and James Holmes won the start and raced off up the first beat with some serious pace on the rest of the fleet. Gibbs and Johnson from Starcross Sailing club showed excellent speed, as did Coldridge and Collins from RORC. As the wind became lighter large rafts of frustrated sailors appeared at the leeward mark! The first involved the usual front runners, and coming out of that one nicely was fleet newcomer (as a helm anyway!) Jo Skinner who took advantage of the floundering fools and sailed into a comfortable second place! As the bunch slowly filtered round (and Paddy did his turns!) the next raft was on it's way, only three times the size and made even more entertaining for the on looking race committee by a �turtled� 800 drifting nicely into the middle of it all! Oh the fleet was on form today! By the end of the Race, Watson/Holmes stormed away to take the most comfortable victory of the day. Skinner/Skinner sailed over the line in second place and Jo deserves huge congratulations for that result, the highest placed female helm in the history of 800 racing! Third place went to David and Fiona Sayce, 4th to Highfield and Butcher. Back to shore, warm showers and a video debrief from our very own Spod Olive. Thanks to Roz Allen who did a fine job of filming the fleet at its best and in some instances, worst...... Ollie Page received the biggest applause of the night for a double- whammy � not only did his recently re-glued in main cleat pull out in race one (gel coat really isn�t strong enough!) but he also capsized right on cue for the camera. If only usual super-crew Tom was present to see this, but sadly he had some repairs of his own to take care of and missed the entire weekend� While Stokes Bay's hospitality and Disco didn't go un-noticed, most of the fleet disappeared pretty early on in favour of a night in bed and not under canvas! Day Two and the sun finally made an appearance, but the wind did not! A couple of zephyrs enticed everyone onto the water and while attempts to start the racing were made, it was back to the shore for an ice cream break and to re-apply the sun cream! The boredom of the postponement was lifted by some on the water entertainment in the form of single handed 800 sailing! Thanks to James Ross, Ian Martin and Justin Deal for that (700s for them next year!) Just as the 700s had rolled up their sails a sea breeze from the east filled in and it was business as usual! Bang! Race four, 8 knots of breeze and blazing sunshine! After a general recall to calm the fleet down, Stokes Bay locals Spod and Jane Olive (Sola/Harken) made an early break by hitching to the right hand side along with Ian Martin and Claire Booth (Sail4Cancer)� Definitely the right call to make, Martin and Booth lead round the top mark, the Olives very close behind in second. The chasing pack consisted of Gamble/Lockwood, Sayce/Sayce, Deal/Marriott and Willows/Farnborough, all sailing hard and not giving an inch�.. Determined to get all three races in the course was shortened after just two laps and gave Martin/Booth (Sail4Cancer) a very well deserved race win. Olive/Olive (Sola/Harken) crossed the line in second, Deal/Marriott 3rd. Race 5 and the breeze began to build as did the keenness of the fleet! Two general recalls later (and the best of the breeze now gone!) the race finally got off, but leaving behind it many casualties of the dreaded black flag! Twin stringing up the first beat and first to the windward mark was Neil Baker and Jimbo Hughes followed closely by Charlie Roome and Steve Hall. But Deal & Marriott�s Gybe-set at the top Mark that pulled them up into top spot which they maintained to the finish line and took the last bullet of the day. Baker& Hughes finished just behind in second while Watson/Holmes took 3rd. No time for race 6 and so after yet another weekend of light wind action the results looked like this: In first place overall, showing excellent consistency and taking their first event win was Justin Deal and Sarah Marriott. Ian Martin and Claire Booth (Sail4Cancer) leapt up the leader board on the final day with two great results and clinched second. Third place, went to David and Fiona Sayce from Hayling Island who sailed brilliantly in the light stuff. The silver fleet was a closely fought battle with Simon Grundy and Tom Sherrington taking top spot; Richard Keeton and Helen Rumbold from Lymington took second. A huge thank you to our race officer who succeeded in firing out five races in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable! A huge thanks also to Stokes Bay Sailing club for hosting another superb event, and to Fat Face for all their prizes. Round 4 of the RS 800 Fat Face Racing Circuit takes place in the Yorkshire Dale on the 3rd/4th June. See you all then!