Gul B14 Europeans at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club - Days 2 & 3

Light winds in beautiful Padstow Bay

Apologies for those waiting for the day 2 report... it turned out your author didn't escape day 1 unscathed as he thought!

Day 2 dawned with a light southerly that quickly turned to a 5-10 knot northerly as the fleet headed out. With a bit of left over swell and the race officer pushing the course right out past the headlands it was to be a day of tide and left over lumps.

Race 4 and a big committee boat end pile up saw Day1 1st/2nd place tangled with a bunch of boats. Somehow GBR 771 "Blue Badge" Mike Bees/Ferret managed to extract themselves, pull on their wizard hats and go on to take the bullet. No-one is quite sure how and there are even rumours they went invisible for a bit. 2nd was a charging GBR 785 "Demelza" Peter Knight/James Wilkinson who was to show great pace all day. Rounding out the race were GBR 681 "White Stilettos" Paul/Josie Gliddon who as the winds dropped started to turn on their light wind prowess.

Race 5 and this time it was the turn of GBR 791 "Flying Donkey" Mark Watts/Chris Bishop to take up the charge and build a lead from GBR 788 "Seavolution" Mark Barnes/Chin Scar from the super fast French team of FRA 773 "Cadre Brothers"Alain/Francois Cadre who continued to buck convention with their super flat sail setup allowing them to scare anyone nearby with there devastating pointing ability. In a nervy final run full of pot holes these three held on.

Race 6 and the breeze had settled into the pattern of 5-10 knots and with increasing tide and the windward mark under the cliffs making the final approach tricky. It was the race for "White Stilettos" who led round the first mark from "Flying Donkey" and then shot off down the run and were never seen again, despite all sorts of sheet under the pole antics to slow themselves down and give the rest of the fleet a chance. The turning point for the race was the second leeward gate where "Flying Donkey" and "Seavolution" took the left hand gate and promptly looked on in horror as "Blue Badge" and a gaggle of others took the other gate, hooked into a big shift and disappeared off! At the end "White Stilettos" took a commanding win from "Blue Badge" and "Demelza"

Race 3 (re-sailed from yesterday) and it is all a bit fuzzy after a tough day mentally on the water. "Demelza" strung together the minefield and used their speed to take a well earned win from "Blue Badge" sealing a strong set of results for the day 2nd and taking a strong overnight lead. Third were "Cordon Blue" who finished off a solid day.

So to the evening and the much anticipated surf competition! There was no surf but this didn't stop the fleet taking to the boards and setting up the evening ready for a fleet meal in the Waterside restaurant where all enjoyed some very British Roast Beef! Much to the amusement of the visiting French teams. Winners off the water were the teams last seen ordering take out dark and stormy's in paper coffee cups to head off and and hit the town in rock! What happened next is a mystery!

Day 3 dawned with the wind turbines mostly stationary and keen fleet seen walking their boats out the estuary much to the confusion of the local beach dwellers as the fleet then parked up in the shallows at the end of the estuary looking at a millpond.

The wind began to fill and the race officer set a short course in the estuary for some informal beer races. Of course this prompted the wind to fill and the Crews were denied their chance to show the helms the way to do it!

Race 7 kicked off on a large wind-shift with a starboard biased line and what turned out to be a nearly 1 tack beat. The leaders at the top were FRA 776 "Hydrotherapy" Walther Ducastenier/Jean-Bapiste Perie but as the race unfolded the usual suspects ground through to the front with "Seavolution" taking their first win of the event from "Flying Donkey" and "Blue Badge" who finished nearly line astern!

Race 8 and as the breeze settled into a beautifully sunny 5-10 knots the fleet were treated to a great race course with plenty of opportunities for place changes and some ridiculously close racing. "Flying Donkey" took the lead on lap 2 only for Fra 773 to do as the form predicted and ignore the tide, go hard left and come in for the lead.. Down the final run and those that went left gained with Flying Donkey taking the win from what looked like a disaster waiting to happen as 7 boats arrived at the gate together. "Seavolution" just kept their nose clean to get second with "Demelza finding their form again and emerging from the shouting third!

Race 9 and with a slowly building breeze GBR 620 "F-Bomb" Scott Gray/Charlie Coulborn hit the right corner and came out leading from "Flying Donkey" who got pinned out middle left and flew back into second from "Blue Badge". Down the next run "Blue Badge" pulled on the wizard hats again and shot through to take the lead from "Flying Donkey" and a close pack of boats. On the next run "Demelza" hit the opposite and slotted in to take second. At the finish Blue Badge took the win from Demelza and Flying Donkey.

So as Day 3 draws to a close and the fleet are transformed into a weird menagerie of weird cartoon characters and head for the bar Blue Badge have their disabled parking space next to the trophy but with breeze forecast for tomorrow and a new direction it is too soon to rule out "Flying Donkey" or even "Seavolution" for the title!

Results after Day 3: (top five)

1st Blue Badge, 12pts
2nd Flying Donkey, 15pts
3rd Seavolution, 19pts
4th Demelza, 21pts
5th Cadre Brothers, 27pts