Round 6 of the RS 800 Fat Face racing circuit took the fleet to Stokes Bay sailing club for a weekend of summer sailing and sunshine! The soaring temperatures weren’t the only incentive for a weekend of racing – the RS Summer Ball was also a key attraction… but more on that later! With 6 different race winners over the whole regatta the competition mirrored the weather…. Hot, hot, hot!

Race one started in a moderate breeze from the south-east – 5-8 knots of wind blew across the course making tough work for the crews as they crouched around in the front of the boat. Charlie Roome and Steve Hall read the puffs correctly and rounded the first mark in a solid first place. Ralph and Sophie Singleton followed through along with Peter Barton/Bonnie Moody (Skifftastic). By the bottom mark Roome/Hall extended their lead nicely while Singleton/Singleton fought hard to remain in second place. The racing remained tight all the way to the finish but there was no doubting the winners… first bullet of the day went to Roome/Hall while Justin Deal/Sarah Marriott (Fat Face) pipped Singleton/Singleton to 2^nd.

Just as race two was about to begin the usual Solent wind shifts came in to play – a change of 180 degrees forced the fleet to wait ashore while the race committee went about re-laying the marks. Waiting ashore between races isn’t usual practice for the 800 fleet; however the ice cream break was appreciated by most!

Race two, and a horribly pin-end biased start line lead to carnage after the gun! With everyone hitching onto port it was those who got away cleanly that reaped the rewards! Spod Olive and Guy Filmore (Sola Harken) lead the charge for the Windward mark with Peters/Spensley-Corfield, racing the new-style RS800, close behind. David & Fiona Sayce squeezed round the top mark in third with Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) nipping at their heels. As the wind began to drop there was no change to the top 3 three laps later at the finish. Olive/Filmore (Sola Harken) took the second bullet of the day; Peters/Spensley-Corfield crossed the line in 2^nd while Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) wriggled into third.

By race 3 the wind was definitely on its way out. The worries of fickle winds coupled with little time for hair and make-up prior to the ball made for tense times (amongst the boys in the fleet anyway!). With the black flag flying the fleet boldly lined up for the start. The dreaded single recall flag was hoisted but no one was prepared to risk ducking out at this stage. By the top mark Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) lead the way with Phil King and Tom Truman in second, Peters/Spensley-Corfield in third. Some place changing at the front resulted in King/Truman taking the bullet ahead of Deal & Marriott (Fat Face) only to discover that they’d lost second place to the dreaded black flag! 2^nd therefore went to Peters/Spensley-Corfield while Roome/Hall took third.

The race to the shore was next on the agenda ahead of the RS Summer Ball. The fabulous venue of Gosport Submarine Museum housed a few hundred drunken sailors who ate, drank and danced the night away. Highlights of the evening had to be the waiter who threw dinner over table number 9, Ben Schooling and Jamie Hilton’s dancing, Graham Simmonds winning the RS personality of the year and the fact that everyone was on the dance floor by the end of the night!

Sunday morning, a few sore heads but a gentle breeze and more sunshine soon cleared that up!

With a wind direction back to the south east race 4 soon got under way. This time the ever-consistent team of David and Fiona Sayce rounded the top mark in the lead, closely followed by Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) and Jamie Reid/Alastair Rose. But by the bottom of the final run things were set to change…. The left-right split went in favour of Barton/Moody who spotted pressure on the left and nipped into the lead by the leeward mark leaving Deal/Marriott to take 2^nd ahead of Sayce/Sayce in third.

Just as everyone was thinking about moving their jib cars in a hole the breeze began to pick up for race 5 and the fleet shot up the first beat…. True to form in the heavy stuff, Andy Jeffries and Ally Ody shot round the first mark with Reid/Rose in second and Dom and Jenny Johnson in 3^rd. The rest of the fleet filtered through and got into the usual blanketing battle down the first run. The big breeze was short lived but Jeffries/Ody held their own all the way to the finish to claim the bullet. Johnson/Johnson crossed the line just behind in second while Reid/Rose put another counter in their back pocket with a third.

Final race of the day and the results were all over the place. With several of the favourites carrying a black flag from day one, the final race was going to have to be a counter....

With the breeze back down to 7 knot mark the race began…..

After a sneaky hitch to the right-hand side of the course off the line, Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) rounded the top mark in the lead ahead of a fierce chasing pack. Peters/Spensley-Corfield and Johnson&Johnson fought hard to secure their lane down the run along with Barton/Moody. With the wind getting lighter by the minute tension was high but Deal/Marriott (Fat Face) hung in there to take top spot, Johnson/Johnson secured another second while Barton/Moody rounded off their regatta with a third.

With the points literally all over the place everyone was doing the maths in the boat park! Soon the race committee put us out of our misery and the final line up looked like this:

In third place after a consistent regatta it was circuit contenders Spod Olive and Guy Filmore (Sola Harken). Second place went to Justin Deal and Sarah Marriott (Fat Face) whose 13^th in race 5 put them out of the running for top spot. First place however, having sailed a brilliant and consistent regatta, went Peter Barton and Bonnie Moody (Skifftastic) proving their dominance of the 2007 season once again!

A huge thank you to Stokes Bay Sailing Club for organising yet another great event and to Fat Face who continue to support the racing with fantastic prize money vouchers. Next stop is Weymouth at the beginning of July and we look forward to seeing you all there!

Sarah Marriott

1054 – Fat Face