The D-One great European adventure 2013
by GBR D-One Class Association 9 Dec 2013 11:37 GMT
After last year's enjoyable jaunt to the Italian Riviera, the Lymington D1 fleet thought we'd get ambitious this year. Then Nick Simmons got more ambitious, and spent all his money on his and Zoe's spectacular wedding, so we were just Two Musketeers this year: Dave Gorringe and Giles Chipperfield. To make up for the lack of numbers, we increased the tour; the Italian Open at Riva del Garda, the Europeans at Campione, and then the Gold Cup / Worlds in Attersee, near Salzburg in Austria. Our GBR Euro-touring team was enhanced again by our good friends Nick Craig, Charlie Chandler and Jon Hammond, plus recent D1 East Coasters Martin Browne and Chris Sallis and brand-new D1 sailor Vanessa Weedon-Jones; a healthy increase on last year, and all extremely good company.
To complete the tour planning, Heather Chipperfield selected some luxurious hotels to make up for tolerating non-RS sailors, and settled down in Riva's newly restored Lido Palace for a couple of days coinciding with the Riva Shoe Fair (strapline 'the Shoe Must Go On' - and some rather attractive models as it turned out).
Dave in return announced that his boss had agreed to him 'working from home' from his Riva B&B in between the Italian events, leading to a comedy Skype conference call from the communal bathroom for the best combination of wifi and electricity. Audio-only, we trust. For the Chipperfields, the terrace at the Lido Palace allowed an enviable opportunity literally to look down on our fellow sailors, and we insisted on Dave wearing a blazer before we let him in.
The journey out was obviously going to be familiar simple stuff: France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and arrive in time for beer and pizza. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn somewhere early on and missed Germany by about 500 miles, resulting in a surprise arrival in a French ski resort rather late at night. Peace of mind was restored in the usual way. The Riva sailing was well-attended by the very welcoming Italian D1 fleet and turned in some full-on Garda sailing. We particularly liked the practice race where the sailing instructions just said to find your own way three miles upwind, and then all race back downhill once the afternoon 'Ora' wind had come up to full force. Fantastic fun until the wind shut off a bit early and a little local technique ooched the first Italian past Giles for the fluky wind trophy.
After a debrief in the very pleasant Hotel Santioni in Torbole, run by one of the hospitable Italian D1 sailors, it was back to Riva where the town laid on a spectacular night with music in every square of the old town, reconfirming our view of Riva as a marvellous place to holiday as well as one of the the best places in the world to go sailing.
After a 5-star hotel respite (Chipperfields) and tremendously diligent 'working from home' (Gorringe), Heather was dragged reluctantly from the Lido Palace to the... er... sailors hostel at Campione del Garda, the Italian equivalent of Portland Olympic Sailing Academy. Campione is an ex-cotton mill where the proposed redevelopment stalled at the foundations stage some years ago, and the trendy bars never quite materialised. Even Dave could not organise a pub crawl in Campione del Garda, but we managed a good time anyway.
Not quite the classic charming Italian lakeside town, but the sailing facilities were superb, the wind came up right on cue on every day, latin rule observance disappeared completely and the local kitesurfers invaded the course, so there was much to occupy us. Giles eventually fell victim to the relentless sun and wind (and possibly late nights) and failed to finish the regatta, but the tough conditions were perfect for Dave and he celebrated a milestone birthday by becoming hard-earned D1 European Masters Champion. The photo shows him in top form, spearing a kitesurfer who dared to get in the way.
After a brief pause, it was time for Austria. Attersee turned out to be near Salzburg, thus giving Heather the opportunity to mix sailing with smart clothes and a Mozart concert for the first time. This time we managed to find Germany despite getting on the wrong ferry (checking the satnav on arrival in Europe to see which country we were in). We were surprised to enjoy a spectacular stopover in a service station somewhere near Bavaria, where there is now less beer than there used to be. Curiously, we found that not only this services, but every other fuel stop in Germany seemed to be plastered with posters featuring Lymington's most famous Austrian LTSC member. Please feel free to ask Sylvia why she has kept her fame quiet up to now.
Nigel Walbank had been to Attersee with the Musto Skiffs two weeks earlier, so we were primed with photos of For ce 4 and sunshine. A more realistic forecast would have been Force 1-8 (instantly) Variable, grey mist giving way to torrential rain, and by the time we left the mountains around the lake were acquiring their new winter coat of snow. Sailing a D1 in 28-knots of wind is a whole new experience, and we met for the first time the tough and rather skilled sailors from Poland, Czech Republic and Austria where the D1 seems to be attracting a number of top-class ex-Finn and Finn Masters sailors. Which is good for our technique but not very good for our egos. Giles seemed to have found a surprising ability to go fast in a breeze, but also a new bad habit of crashing into Poles (Dave always chooses Italians). The great range of wind taught us a lot about going through the gears in a D1, which is mostly 'stop fiddling around with mast rake and start hiking harder'. The light-wind pace of 106kg Michael Maier (5-time Finn Masters World Champion) stopped Dave complaining about light airs slowness, while the super speed of 75kg Czech Laser lads Fiala and Teply similarly took away all Giles' lightweight excuses in the breeze.
In the end, Giles fought out a gratifying eighth place overall while Dave this time came in 19th. With Nick Craig winning the Gold Cup and four GBR in the top 10, it was a great ending to a big summer of sailing. Next year the D1 Europeans are combined with the Nationals in Brightlingsea, and look to be well-supported by the Eastern European fleets. We look forward to it very much, and I'm sure we will travel abroad with our friends as well."
There are now D-One's in four continents and as the class continues to grow the annual adventures consisting of great fun, great friends and great racing, get better and better each year. If you are interested in having a go please contact the GBR D-One class secretary Charlie Chandler for further details or visit the D-One Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/gbrdevotione