505 Open at La Rochelle
by Simon Lake 16 May 2008 07:05 BST
10-12 May 2008
Saturday was overcast with a building wind mainly force 4-5 occasionally 6, at late start meant that only two races were sailed a long way offshore.
Race 1 the first 6 boats quickly separated from the rest of the fleet
Philippe Boite and Fabrice Toupet leading from Ben Iliffe and Simon Lake,
and the Australian pairing of Earle Alexander and Ian Gregg. Quite a bit
of place changing went on behind the leading boat, especially with
Bertrand Loyal and Xavier Detappe demonstrating very fast downwind speed.
Terry Scutcher and Christian Diebitsch pulled through to 2nd.
Race 2 Iliffe/Lake led from soon after the start but could not locate the
gybe mark letting Alexander/Gregg take the lead followed by Loyal/
Detappe.Iliffe/Lake regained the lead on the second beat but failed to
cover on the final run letting three boats of Loyal/Detappe, Boite/Toupet
and Alexander/Gregg through to finish 4th. Scutcher/Diebitch went hard
right on the final run but failed to make any gains.
The sail home was a very long beat to windward and there were many tired
sailors on shore that night.
On Sunday 4 races were held, after a delay of over 2 hours, in winds of
force 2 to 3. Boite/Toupet dominated the day leading from start to finish
in each race. Scutcher/Diebitsch sailed consistently throughout the day
until they missed the tide change on the final run of the last race
dropping 4 places to 8th at the finish. Day 1 contenders, Alexander/Gregg
& Iliffe/Lake were buried in the middle of the fleet all day.
Monday dawned with very little wind and the race officer once again
postponed the racing on the shore. A number of the British boats had to
pack up and leave so missed the final two races which were held in
force 1-2 winds. Again Boite/Toupet dominated the day and in doing so won
the regatta, followed by Scutcher/Diebitch with a consistent 2nd and 3rd,
enough to comfortably secure 2nd place overall. Richard Williams & John
Davies consistent sailing across the wind range earned them a well
deserved 5th place overall.
Overall Results: (8 races, 7 to count)
1st FRA Philippe Boite/Fabrice Toupet 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
2nd GBR Terry Scutcher/Christian Diebitsch 2 5 5 3 2 8 2 3
3rd FRA Etienne & Emmanuel Boyer 10 6 8 2 3 14 2 3
4th FRA Bertrand Loyal/Xavier Detappe 3 1 19 5 5 3 8 13
5th GBR Richard Williams/John Davies 5 7 2 12 6 12 17 4
Other GBR and AUS:
13 GBR Stuart Turnbull/Jason Lunn 7 14 10 6 4 13 dnf dnf
20 AUS Earle Alexander/Ian Gregg 4 3 20 23 22 17 29 dnf
21 GBR Ben Iliffe/Simon Lake 6 4 25 19 15 16 dnf dnf
24 GBR Jim Berry/David Barnes 21 12 24 21 20 23 dnf dnf
30 FRA/AUS Daniel Nouraud/Pip Pearson 30 ocs 29 28 29 30 25 27