Results / Fat Face Racing Circuit Chew Valley Lake SC - 23/03/2002
Fat Face Racing Circuit � RS800 - Chew Valley Lake SC � 23/24 March 2002
Chew Valley with light winds from the East is notoriously fickle and this
proved the menu for the weekend, although it didn�t stop Geoff Carveth
from stealing the show in his new Fat Face machine. The cunning plan from
the Race Officer meant that the 800s started last in the sequence, which
allowed us to see how the previous fleets tackled the wind shifts.
The 600 went right, the 300s left and the 700s went up the middle - so it
was up to us to find our own routes.
The racing was exciting with people finding pockets of breeze and holes
all around the course. Apart from the top 5, there was a lot of place
changing and the phrase for the day was getting the head out of the boat
and spotting the wind. Downwind this was particularly apparent as lanes
of wind would open and then close. No one seemed to have a handle on it.
Tactics proved to be the key with clean air and neat mark roundings
allowing large gaps to appear in the fleet. In those winds it was not
uncommon to see boats approach the leeward mark, stifling the wind for
those rounding and concertinaing the fleet into a large raft that
struggled around in the faltering breeze.
When asked me to write this article, I asked Steve Irish, Geoff Carveth
and Paddy Gamble and the consensus was, they had no idea what was going
on and that some times they pulled away and other times they were buried.
Only Geoff seemed to stay ahead of the pack and revel in these conditions.
For ease of writing, I�m just going to talk about the helms but this was
a day for eagle-eyed crews talking to their helms and spotting the routes
up and down wind. And for reassuring them when they rounded at the back
of the fleet. I sailed past a number of floating teddy bears, obviously
thrown out of someone�s pram!
Anyway, enough of waffle, How did people do?
Race 1 The first race got away with a clean start and the fleet headed
off for the main band of wind off on the right with Steve Irish leading
around the first mark through the shifty wind. Places swapped behind him
but he managed to work the shifts keeping ahead of Robin Wood with his
miniature son, Ben, crewing and Geoff Carveth and Craig Davies, who
previously sailed with Mike Lennon. Who says industrial espionage is dead?
Race 2 Again another clean start and this time we even managed to get
out on the wire. Geoff had obviously learnt the errors of his previous
race and led from start to finish pulling out his lead in front of Steve
Irish and Mike Way (with new boy on the block, Peter Brooke- Houghton)
with his new boat.
Race 3 Once again this became a 3-horse race with Paddy Gamble finding
his feet and battling it out with Paul Jenkins, eventually hitting the
right gust down wind and pipping Paul at the post. But both behind Geoff
again. He must have been getting bored at this stage. Personally I�m
waiting for him to light up downwind when in the lead, then I�ll taking
up gardening.
Sunday kicked off with an identical wind and direction as the previous
day, or so it seemed. The Race Officer had found the black flag and
wasn�t afraid to use it. Once again the start line was just off the
beach, which allowed a number of people to dash ashore in between races
to change gear, fittings and stare into their crystal ball.
Race 4 Keen to repeat his performance of the day, Geoff scrapped past
Steve Irish on the finish line to take line honours with Mike Way just
behind then. Then as they paused, having a drink, slapping each other on
the back (what ever these boys do) Paddy Gamble rounded the leeward mark
and headed off up wind. Shock horror! The race wasn�t over. Lucky for
Geoff he had bimbled off up wind anyway and managed to sheet in to re-
capture the lead, just in front of the pack. Steve Irish also squeezed
ahead of the mob but Mike Way lost out while packing away the picnic
hamper and got dragged down the fleet. I can�t really say that much about
this as I was behind at the time and tried to finish prematurely as well.
Must learn to count, 1, 2, 3, �.
Race 5 This time it was Paddy who show his tactical awareness by
pulling away in front of Geoff with Mike Way proving that he knew how to
finish and go fast.
Race 6 By this time it was becoming a three horse race again with
Geoff leading for most of the way around until Steve managed to pick a
better route through the shifts to lead at the last top mark rounding. He
consolidated his lead and stayed ahead of Geoff and Paddy to take the
final gun.
1st 1000 Geoff Carveth Craig Davies Hayling Island SC 3
1 1 1 2 2 10
2nd 922 Steve Irish Martin Gotrel Draycote Water SC 1
2 4 3 9 1 20
3rd 951 Paddy Gamble Martin Frary Stokes Bay SC 8 13
2 2 1 3 29
4th 986 Paul Jenkins Colin Hatton Weir Wood SC 12 4
3 4 5 4 32
5th 941 Robin Wood Ben Wood British Steel SC 2
5 7 8 6 5
6th 983 Mike Way Peter Brooke-Houghton Mayflower Sc 9
3 10 9 3 16
7th 985 David Sayce Fiona Sayce Hayling Island SC 4
10 17 11 4 7
8th 903 Mick Whitmore Sarah Snith Eastbourne SC 6 9
9 5 12 8
9th 960 Spod Olive Mike Warren Stokes Bay SC 11 11
6 7 14 11
10th 987 Graham Simmonds Babs Days Hayling Island SC 5
19 20 10 10 6
11th 925 Philip Elford Neil Arnott Newhaven SC 15 7
5 17 11 14
12th 935 Lee Sydenham Adam Brislett Hayling Island SC 16
12 11 6 16 9
13th 902 Gary Smith Lynn Whitmore Eastbourne SC 14 6
8 12 17 18
14th 911 Dan Fellows Clare Dudley Mountbatten SC 17 14
30 14 8 20
15th 830 John Leal Mel Holt Mayflower Sc 10 23
13 30 20 10
16th 829 John Harvey Adrian Garland Thornbury SC 21 20
15 15 15 12
17th 967 Jason Smith Julia Plumstead Stokes Bay SC 23 16
16 13 18 15
18th 883 Ian Jubb Lesley Barnett Hayling Island SC 20
21 14 16 13 30
19th 802 Paul Lewis Sue Ogg British Steel SC 13 15
19 22 23 30
20th 819 Al Keck Graeme Ryder Bowmoor SC 18 27 12
20 30 19
21st 947 Matt Adams Mark Rhodes Bexhill SC 7 8
22 30 30 30
22nd 955 Andrew Smith Beck Tobin Stokes Bay SC 30 17
30 30 7 13
23rd 945 Paul Smalley Guy Tricks CVLSC 19 18 21
24 22 21
24th 923 Giles Bradford Will Thomas-Ferrand RNSA 24 22
23 18 19 30
25th 871 Lizzie Humphrey David Fewings HISC/Oxford SC 22 26
30 19 30 17
26th 823 Neil Young Lynne Gilbert-Norton Mayflower Sc 25
24 30 25 21 22
27th 957 Michael Bayliss Sarah Sulley Thornbury SC 27 30
18 23 24 30
28th 958 Andy Williams Andy Edmonds Portishead SC 26 25
30 21 25 30
29th 928 Chris Davies Will Davies CVLSC 30 30 30
30 30 30