Gill RS100/800 Europeans & RS200/400 Eurocup at Lake Garda Day 4

Day 4 of the week and it was a pleasant change not to be soaked by rain before you'd even taken the cover off. However, the fleet did launch into a rapidly decreasing Northerly.

Gill RS800 European Championships (from Tim Saxton)

As everyone reached the committee boat, the Ora (the Southerly thermal wind) came in and soon built to 13-15 knots, almost as if it was planned! We finally had the weather Garda is so famous for, sun and wind!

Off the first start the fleet headed inshore on the left towards the cliffs on the Torbole side of the lake. All except Tim Saxton and Sam Littlejohn who made their intentions clear, and took a risk by heading for the cliffs on the far right of the beat.

As the two sides came back together at the windward mark, Tim and Sam had a slight lead ahead of Dave and Lou Steed, James Date and Toby Wincer.

Saxton/Littlejohn held their lead to the finish, whilst Date/Wincer and Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch had an intense battle down the final run with Date/Wincer eventually sneaking second place meters from the finish line. The Steed's and Dave Hivey and James Barlow rounded out the top 5.

The second race began in a similar fashion to the end of the first with the fleet racing towards the cliffs on the hard right of the beat, with gusts pushing towards 20 kts. After clear starts Saxton/Littlejohn and Date/Wincer rounded the first mark in that order and extended to the finish. Barton/Feibusch and the Steed's again took third and fourth respectively with James Green and James Trewick showing great pace to round out the top five.

A small left shift before the final start of the day meant that the boats starting towards the pin, and crossing early on port had the advantage. Hivey/Barlow made the most of this to lead round the windward followed by Andy and Allyson Jeffries and Luke and Emma McEwen. However, Saxton/Littlejohn sailed a great run and second beat to lead round the next windward after Hivey/Barlow tacked just under the starboard lay-line and had to do an extra two tacks.

Saxton/Littlejohn again held out to the finish to round off an excellent day, followed by the Jeffries', Hivey/Barlow, Date/Wincer after a strong recovery and Barton/Feibusch.

The final race of the day brought in the second discard closing up the points at the top with Saxton/Littlejohn one point clear of Date/Wincer, themselves one ahead of Hivey/Barlow.

With two more races to finish the regatta tomorrow it will be a great finish, with Date/Wincer in a strong position with two fourths as discards and Barton/Feibusch able to challenge for the podium with a good day. Lets hope for the same sun and wind as today!

Results from all classes can be found at on the Fraglia Vela Riva website.