Contender European Championship at Highcliffe Sailing Club - Day 4

by Sarah Desjonqueres 8 Sep 2016 21:30 BST 3-9 September 2016

Be careful what you wish for

We all wanted some wind, something to get our sailors' motors running, a bit of 'champagne sailing', to quote Mr Tagoe, well we got that in spades today. The 13knots that we launched in were up to 20-25knots by the time the course was laid and the millpond the roving reporter was dangling her legs into off the RIB yesterday was now trying to imitate the Southern Ocean.

The race officer wanted to catch up on yesterday's abortive effort and get 3 races run in quick succession. So going straight to a black flag start for the first race, the fleet were off and flying almost bang on time for the first scheduled race.

Aside from the odd sailor who fancied a swim, most boats made it fairly unscathed out to the windward mark, with virtually all choosing the same tack out. The reach across the top was a little hairier, not only did everyone have to contend with some meaty gusts but also deal with a fairly sizeable swell hitting them side on, at speed.

With all the boats bearing down on the gybe mark, we had a plan to count the granny tacks undertaken but we lost count and concentration at 5 and became more involved with deciding which upside down boat to keep an eye on.

Not that any of this bothered Simon Mussell who was trying to put at least one leg length between him and whichever boat was trying to keep up with him and was already on the beat as the last few boats attempted to round the gybe mark the right way up.

So, race 5 was taken by a ridiculously fast Simon Mussell, coming second was Ben Holden who has improved from 61st and 50th place in the last 2 races and taking 3rd was Jesper Nielsen.

Race 6 was started as quickly as the race team could make the course a tiny bit shorter and again it was Mussell round the windward mark first with a massive smile on his face.

The 2 reaches across the top and down to the leeward mark were a dream for big wind fanatic and delivered exactly the tonic needed to recover from a limp couple of days. The clubhouse after was awash with exuberant superlatives (all peppered with colourful language) springing forth from wide, beaming faces.

Race 6 was again owned by Mussell, followed home by Jesper Nielsen who posted a 3,2 for the day with Jan Von Der Bank taking 3rd place. Clearly racing well today was Holden who finished in 4th, posting a 2,4 for his efforts. Impressively Highcliffe SC's Gary Langdown, a self confessed fan of lighter winds and who has just gone to bed twice this week at the top of the leader board was also holding his own in the conditions and was not far off the top 10 in both races posting 16th and 15th places.

On the course the wind was not subsiding and the waves were becoming steeper and steeper with the incoming tide, the knock on effect of this simply making the gybe mark more and more treacherous.

With the tail-enders of the fleet struggling on the reach of race 6 and with both races having to effect an actual rescue or 2, the race officer took the decision to err on the side of caution and call it day after 2 races.

So after 6 races completed, todays heroic displays recorded and the application of a discard, the leaderboard now sees Jesper Nielsen sitting in the top spot, with Germany's Jan Von Der Bank in 2nd and Highcliffe SC's Gary Langdown staying in reach of the trophy in 3rd place.

Results after day 4:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1st	2352	Jesper Nielsen	18	2	‑29	7	3	2	32
2nd	2507	Jan Von Der Bank	8	3	12	‑33	7	3	33
3rd	2439	Gary Langdown	9	5	2	4	‑15	14	34
4th	2582	Rene Heynen	3	7	‑26	6	9	15	40
5th	488	Max Billerbeck	1	(OCS)	4	1	16	19	41
6th	40	Luca Bonezzi	2	1	1	20	‑33	21	45
7th	2420	Simon Mussell	26	6	‑54	15	1	1	49
8th	2465	Stuart Jones	4	18	‑23	14	10	10	56
9th	384	Marco Ferrari	10	19	‑22	9	12	6	56
10th	720	Graham Scott	‑25	17	7	5	24	11	64
11th	2619	Mike Murley	15	12	11	13	13	‑22	64
12th	2607	Carl Tagoe	19	‑23	14	3	18	13	67
13th	2503	Tim Holden	22	11	25	‑27	5	7	70
14th	9	Paul Verhallen	40	14	8	‑41	6	8	76
15th	2378	Thomas Herbst	20	13	9	10	29	‑35	81
16th	678	Tommy Hooton	17	4	15	‑31	21	25	82
17th	713	David Evans	6	22	5	19	34	‑45	86
18th	2561	Antonio Lambertini	35	(OCS)	16	8	25	9	93
19th	326	Daniel Chiesa	‑49	8	28	2	26	33	97
20th	2618	Nick Noble	14	(DNF)	39	16	11	17	97
21st	2315	Ben Holden	27	15	‑61	50	2	4	98
22nd	2484	Nick Grace	31	9	21	‑34	27	18	106
23rd	2438	Markus Maisenbacher	16	27	18	18	‑39	27	106
24th	2449	Robert Smith	33	16	27	‑37	8	26	110
25th	2510	Jörg Schlienkamp	30	34	‑49	38	4	5	111
26th	2572	Ed Presley	7	20	52	(OCS)	14	20	113
27th	2527	Dirk Muller	29	(OCS)	19	35	20	12	115
28th	691	Peter Noble	38	24	13	11	‑41	32	118
29th	2603	Michael Koch	5	36	‑41	23	30	29	123
30th	2203	Adrian Smith	11	31	32	17	‑37	36	127
31st	595	David Adams	24	30	6	25	43	‑44	128
32nd	2522	Chris Boshier	23	29	‑36	36	19	24	131
33rd	589	Keith Paul	21	28	10	12	DNF	(DNC)	136
34th	13	Jérôme Porée	12	26	33	22	46	(DNC)	139
35th	528	Mark Reynell	13	10	24	21	(DNC)	DNC	141
36th	242	Richard Batten	45	25	‑50	39	32	16	157
37th	2383	David Davies	28	37	42	(OCS)	22	31	160
38th	2476	Stefan Heising	41	(OCS)	20	32	35	37	165
39th	2407	Richard Buttner	‑47	45	43	30	23	28	169
40th	2612	Joachim Harpprecht	36	35	3	24	(DNC)	DNC	171
41st	2422	Neil Ferguson	57	40	‑68	43	17	23	180
42nd	630	James Spikesley	39	21	40	40	48	(DNC)	188
43rd	416	Frank Richter	‑53	52	37	28	44	30	191
44th	2491	Pete Barr	46	51	30	‑52	28	41	196
45th	652	Nicholas Curry	‑48	41	35	42	38	40	196
46th	900	Utz Müller	42	32	38	‑47	47	43	202
47th	2584	Robert Wiedemeijer	50	58	‑64	29	40	38	215
48th	716	Richard Franks	34	OCS	34	26	DNF	(DNC)	227
49th	2458	Joerg Glaescher	‑63	54	51	55	31	39	230
50th	712	Rodger White	55	33	17	56	(DNC)	DNC	234
51st	2496	Tony Brooks	32	39	47	53	DNF	(DNC)	236
52nd	2361	Tom Coley	‑59	56	55	58	36	34	239
53rd	2500	Henning Wermuth	44	38	45	45	(DNC)	DNC	245
54th	666	Bill Hooton	58	47	31	48	DNF	(DNC)	249
55th	56	Claus Litzinger	37	44	48	51	(DNC)	DNC	253
56th	2318	Alan Mollatt	56	42	59	44	DNF	(DNC)	266
57th	697	Malcolm Hall	62	55	‑66	62	45	42	266
58th	2637	Cees de Gruijter	43	46	44	OCS	DNF	(DNC)	268
59th	2477	Chris Howe	52	43	63	46	DNF	(DNC)	269
60th	2432	Jerry Hone	60	48	58	49	DNF	(DNC)	280
61st	2459	Kerstin Schepanski	51	59	56	54	DNF	(DNC)	285
62nd	2599	Tony Cook	54	53	62	57	DNF	(DNC)	291
63rd	2376	Peter Giffen	64	DNF	60	59	42	(DNC)	293
64th	2639	Ralph Drew	61	50	53	64	DNF	(DNC)	293
65th	1764	Mark Jackson	65	49	57	60	DNF	(DNC)	296
66th	445	Paul Green	67	57	67	63	DNF	(DNC)	319
67th	92	Jacqueline Rüfenacht	(DNC)	DNC	46	65	DNF	DNC	322
68th	675	David Gautier	DNF	(DNC)	65	61	DNF	DNC	333
69th	315	Ole Pahnke	66	OCS	69	OCS	DNF	(DNC)	338
70th	2505	Peter Dives	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	365
70th	2493	Karsten Kraus	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	365
70th	2602	Michael Pulin	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	365