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Results / RS Fat Face Eurocup Travemunder Woche, Germany - 23/07/2007

Sun, Rain, Sea, Sand…..and Apple Strudel

 

Chris & I went to Travemunde with one thought firm in our minds – Travemunde was never going to be the same as Garda. We were right; it was just what the doctor ordered for the “Missing Garda Blues”.

 

We rocked up in Travemunde on Saturday afternoon, found the apartment and parked the boat and car in the block’s own underground car park. A quick walk along the sea front demonstrated just how large this event is. We must have walked through half a mile of food stalls, bandstands, high wire stunts etc., thinking when is this going to stop? And then we hit the bars! There must have been about 10 bar areas, all with their own stages pumping out everything from Trance to the Wurzels. Right at the end of the promenade is our Sailors Beach Club which basically caters for all your needs from breakfast to a late night rave complete with lethal cocktails (be warned – that one last “Mohito” can be tragic for next day’s sailing!).

 

Sunday – tow the boat to the beach to be met by the resident tractor which then pulls your boat the final 300 yards through the foot thick sand to the boat parking beach.

 

Hello what’s this? Mr Peter Barton is looking a bit green this morning. He quickly earns the name of Mr Chunderman as he proceeds to litter the beach with last night’s carrots. We remind him that it is part of the SIs that you can be subjected to a 20% penalty if you are caught littering. This does not work. Later the reigning RS800 Eurocup Champion is nearly run over whilst kipping in his boat cover.

 

Now our boat’s rigged we go and register and walk away with some pretty decent swag including caps, sweatshirts and all kinds of reading material. We make a mental note to read the SIs but fail dismally.

 

That evening we all descended onto the Passat for a top VIP drinks/meal party. The Passat is a 4-masted Schooner that took part in the Round the World grain races at the beginning of the 20th century. The party was really our first opportunity to meet our fellow European 800 sailors which we achieved without upsetting anyone. Remarkable.

 

Monday

Very relaxed beginning to the week with a leisurely 1 pm start. The sail out only takes about ½ an hour and we are greeted with an equally leisurely F2 and ultra efficient race team. The race course is large and we never see the 2s and 4s and 6s again for the whole race.

 

Chris and I do lots of pre-race preparation and decide that left towards the headland is the way to go. Unfortunately Alistair and Penny Shires (1113) and Andy & Vicky Gould (899) carry out our first beat plan to perfection whilst Pete Barton and Bonnie Moody (1016) and ourselves go right. Oh dear. Alistair and Andy are mere dots on the horizon when we finally get to the top mark. The two GB boats, the Swiss and the Germans demonstrate how to concentrate and finish well ahead of the reigning Eurocup champion and ourselves.

 

With a dying breeze racing is then abandoned for the day.

 

Andy Cornah/Orwin Murray & Andy Bryson turn up a day late after a disastrous journey down from Calais with a variety of excuses from blown trailer tyres to running out of petrol. All pathetic.

 

Tuesday

 

As the wind is expected to die again in the afternoon, racing is scheduled for 11:30 and we arrive in time on the course area. A postponement is then proceeded with an urgent call for everyone to return to the beach as a lightning storm is expected. Not sure what happened to the lightning but we all got a good soaking for our troubles.

 

Racing is not attempted again that day.

 

Wednesday

 

Hurrah! We look out the window and the trees are bending over double! Chris and I take our preparation seriously with double portions of bacon sandwiches.

 

Suitably stuffed we arrive at the course area to be greeted with 20-25 knot winds. As part of our pre race preparation we decide to twin trapeze down wind and thirty seconds later score an excellent “5.9”, standing on its bow, pitch pole. Chris complains of being a “bit winded”. Later he reveals that he was nearly strangled by the trapeze wire in this capsize and proudly sports a manly scar on his neck for the rest of the week which he is keen to show to anyone who takes an interest.

 

Lots of hairy racing ensues with the 800s navigating around the 700 graveyard at the gybe area. Pete and Bonnie shows a clean pair heels in races one and two with Cornah/Murray winning the final race after Pete and Bonnie turned trawler in race 3.

 

One of the more interesting craft that visited us that day was the replica Galleon which tried to run down a number of 800s on the 2nd beat of race 2. Thankfully no cannon were fired so we escaped scot free.

 

Also noted was a large press rib which favoured no less that 4 (four!) 250 BHP outboard motors. The first example of an aquatic Bugatti Veyron to hit the water.

 

Chris remarked to me that there were a large number of big jelly fish on the course area. This thought obviously featured in his mind when swinging around the forestay in a near pitch pole in race 2. Here we go, I thought, we are going to get stung to death in the inevitable capsize that is to follow when suddenly Chris climbs back through from the foredeck area asking me what am I waiting for! Off we go again.

 

In all, an absolutely top day’s sailing.

 

Thursday

 

Concerned about the bad weather report for Friday, the RS PRO decides to run 4 races today in an ideal F3-4. After an exhausting 7.5 hours on the water Pete and Bonnie secured a further 3 wins with Cornah/Murray winning the last race. Bryson & crew have a good day and we keep our oar in with some reasonable results.

 

We all retire to the Lubech Yacht Club in the evening which features a bar upstairs with low couches, bean bags and chill out music. I am introduced to the wonderful Duckstein blond beer which proves irresistible whilst Chris drools over the equally blond German barmaid.

 

This location also provides a grandstand view of the incredible nightly Fireworks/Laser show which ends each evening at Travemunde Woche.

 

Friday

 

The trees are bending over again. We venture down to the beach where it is blowing dogs off chains. Ugs says that it is only blowing 18-22 knots on the race course. We point out to him that our “old git” chairs are blowing over in the gusts – the definition of windy in our view.  Soon the 800 fleet make a unanimous decision to can the day’s racing. The other fleets have many unresolved top 3 issues and decide to go. Having barely launched the Race Committee wisely call them back with reports of 40 knot gusts on the race course. Travemunde Woche is over.

 

Pete Barton and Bonnie Moody are deservedly crowned RS800 Eurocup Champions. Bonnie has taken on the formidable task of filling Roz Allen’s shoes whilst she recovers from her motorbike accident. Roz is doing well and we all look forward to having her back with us soon.

 

Despite missing the first day Cornah/Murray are 2nd, we are third, Bryson fourth, and Andy & Vicky Gould show remarkable consistency in all conditions to finish fifth.

 

In summary, Travemunde Woche provided an ideal counterpoint to Garda. No, it may not feature thousand foot cliffs and strong winds every day but it does include varied and exciting racing with a truly entertaining social programme. When are we next going?

 

1 GBR 1016 Barton, Peter
Moody, Bonnie
Royal Lymington [5] 1 1 2 1 1 1 [4] 7,00 1
2 GBR 881 Cornah, Andy
MURRAY, ORWIN
NETLEY SC
NETLEY SC
[DNS] 2 3 1 2 3 [4] 1 12,00 2
3 GBR 972 Simmonds, Graham
Doe, Chris
Hayling Island Sailing Club
Hayling Is
[6] 3 2 3 4 [8] 3 2 17,00 3
4 GBR 914 Bryson, Andy Nebley SC [DNS] 4 4 [8] 3 5 2 3 21,00 4
5 GBR 899 Gould, Andrew
Gould, Vicky
ESSC
ESSC
2 5 6 [DNF] [9] 6 5 6 30,00 5
6 GBR 1113 Shires, Alastair
Shires, Penny
Stokes Bay SC
Stokes Bat
1 [8] 7 6 [8] 7 6 5 32,00 6
7 GBR 1099 Hare, Daniel
Hare, Jamie
Blackwater sailing club
BSC
[8] 6 5 4 7 4 7 [9] 33,00 7
8 GBR 1102 Struckett, Rob
Sloper, Olly
Itchenor SC
ISC
7 [DNF] [10] 5 5 2 8 10 37,00 8
9 GER 1097 Munko, Björn
Munko, Moana
SVWu
SVWu
3 7 [DNS] [DNS] 6 10 10 7 43,00 9
10 SUI 1080 Holenweg, David
Chevalley, Laureline
CVE
CVE
4 [9] 8 7 [10] 9 9 8 45,00 10
11 GBR 888 Goodchild, Sam
Bickerton, David
Oxford
Oxford
[DNF] 10 9 [DNS] 11 11 11 11 63,00 11
12 GER 903 Busch, Jan
Marpe, Ben
ASV in Aachen
ASV in Aac
9 [DNF] [DNS] DNS DNF 12 12 12 75,00 12
13 IRL 971/1020 Herriott, Simon
Etchingham, Fiachra
Greystones Sailing Club
GSC
10 [DNF] [DNS] DNS 12 13 13 DNS 78,00 13
14 GER 1006 Lienkamp, Sebastian
Jäger, Carolin

RR&ZV
11 [DNS] [DNS] DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 86,00 14

 
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