RS400 Fat Face Racing Circuit at Aldeburgh Yacht Club

The RS400 fleet was greeted with confusing weather conditions on arrival at Aldeburgh Y.C. on Saturday morning. Failure to take advantage of the sunshine to rig the boat resulted in a soaking from one of the frequent rain squalls.

The fleet set out from a calm windward shore with the intention of doing 3 races. At the bottom of the course it became apparent that a miner's lamp and torch were to be the order of the day.

Race 1 started and shortly afterwards was stopped with the, now customary, general recall to check whether the OOD has put all of the flags in his box. Black flags then followed for the rest of the weekend. After a successful second start and breezy first beat Paul Hilliar/Toby Ashton lead at the first mark from Craig Burlton/Andrew Bonsey and Chris Gowers/ June Riley with the remainder of the pack in hot pursuit. The course soon became littered with capsized boats including Chris Jennings/Ed Nicklin sailing Harken who decided to check the effectiveness of their cleats while tacking… The precise order of the buoys appeared to be open to debate with the majority of the fleet doing an alternative course to the correct one. The results stood however and Burlton/Bonsey won their race by a country mile, causing the OOD to miss them when the course was shortened. Later lobbying got them reinstated to first, followed by Old Nick/Bedborough 2nd and Hilliar/Ashton 3rd

Racing was then abandoned for the rest of the day due to devastating squalls. The beach then became a scene of potential carnage and insurance claims, which were avoided by some excellent team work from the fleet and club members to recover boats safely.

The evenings entertainment unfortunately did not include Elvis this week, he had left the building. However Old Nick was definitely in the building and the evening finished with "doughnuts", "shopping trolleys" and a game of "pile on", come back Helen….

Sunday was a new day and seemed to be a more settled conditions. How wrong first impressions can be. Conditions changed throughout the day and at times would rival the Japanese monsoon season. Many people were later thinking about jumping into the water in order to be less wet.

Race 2 sailed in a very pleasant force 3-4? was won by Jennings/Nicklin following a text book start at the pin end and a leaders dream of a one sided course comprising a fetch and reach. Craig/Bedborough followed astern to take 2nd followed by Stewart Hudson/ Claire Cummins 3rd with the Burlton/Bonsey partnership recovered well from a shocker of a start.

Race 3 was sailed in the best conditions of the day a supreb force 3-4 and was again won by Jennings/Nicklin who had a text book start at the committee boat end. Gowers/Riley went well up the first beat, but Craig/ Bedborough were top dogs at the Windward mark. Jennings/Nicklin took an inside line down the first part of the run and after an exchange of gybes ended up first at the leeward mark. A close second lap saw Craig/Bedborough and Burlton/Bonsey catch and pass Jennings/ Nicklin, however an equipment failure or crews strike saw Craig/Bedborough's kite stay in the shute. Jennings/Nicklin were able to take the most advantage and carried on to win from Burlton/Bonsey and Hudson/Cummins.

The weather now turned potty after a huge rain cloud stayed overhead for the rest of the day. Race 4 started in sloppy conditions, Force 0. The fleet got away but the wind filled in 90º to the right. The course then became 2 laps of beam reaching, Craig/Bedborough headed the procession, followed by Burlton/Bonsey and Jennings/Nicklin.

There was now everything to play for as the top 3 boats all had 5 points going into the last race. Race 5's course was adjusted to take account of the 90º right shift. However shortly before the start the wind shifted back 90º to the left. Again a beam reaching contest ensued, with the added obstacle of a ferocious tide. The wind dropped to a Force 0 and the torture of trying to make the 2nd mark saw the fleet bunch up and drift painfully down tide while Nick Bell sailed around the fleet to get to the mark first. The wind gradually filled in and Burlton and Bonsey went on to take the win and the event overall. Craig/Bedborough after some first mark shenanigans sailed a course of sorts and took a highly disputed 2nd. Jenning/Nicklin took 3rd.

Overall Results: