Gill RS100/800 Europeans & RS200/400 Eurocup at Lake Garda Day 1

Gill RS Europeans and Eurocup at Riva del Garda day 1 © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Gill RS Europeans and Eurocup at Riva del Garda day 1 © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Gill RS100 European Championships

Lake Garda was formed by a glacier that flowed down from the Dolomites, cutting through and gouging out the valley. Eventually the ice glacier melted, resulting in the stunning freshwater lake it is today. It was created in the Ice Ages 1.5 million years ago... just before our UK and Australian class chairmen were born...!

Sailors from as far afield as Australia, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Wales and England joined the local Italians for an event to rival the RS100 Cowes week which has some even older entries.

Two courses were laid with one up against the cliffs in the usual Garda spot and one towards the eastern side of the lake.....the RS100s shared their course with the RS800s on the cliff course windward leeward race track.

Day 1

Monday dawned... cloudy but hot... no chance of the best ORA after a few days of thunderstorms but at 2pm a steady force 4 settled in... 15 boats had a massive start line and the fleet divided evenly between four at the pin, a few mid line and half a dozen at the committee boat end.

Huw Powell (Wales), Andre Blasse (Australia), Mark Cotgrove (currently France but becoming Spanish next week) and Alberto Zamo (Italy) got to the windward mark first. No-one from the committee boat end did well. Downwind saw some place changing with the cliffs not the best place to be and Powell rounded ahead of Cotgrove and Zamo. Al Hall (England) made ground as the heavyweights slowed as the wind started to ease slightly.

The final beat saw Powell extend to win by a good margin with Cotgrove (second) and Zamo (third) separated by two boat lengths.

And then the wind died and everyone rocked home to a RS social of free beer and pasta. An amazing dry lightning storm ensued with lightning every two or three seconds, followed by gale force winds and torrential rain. What more can you expect in Riva Del Garda!

Gill RS800 European Championships

After all 40 teams from France, Germany and the Uk had made their journey down to Lake Garda with varying degrees of success and failure - team Saxton, the boat park was bustling with enthusiasm as the cloud and rain cleared over the weekend to leave the lake sparkling for the Championship opener on Monday afternoon.

Gill RS Europeans and Eurocup at Riva del Garda day 1 - photo © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

The fleet was greeted by a twitchy 12-18 knots as they sailed toward the race area. After half an hour or so while the race officer tweaked the course to suit, the teams limbered up ready to charge for the cliffs. In the bar the previous night it had been discussed that inline with previous events there was any number of boats that could take the title let alone lead the fleet round the race course.

True to for it was Team Jeffries (Andy and Ally) that were first to the cliffs taking a few transoms across the start one to get there. James Date and Toby Wincer won the pin from Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch followed by Dave Hivey and James Barlow. However it was important to get back to the cliffs Date and Wincer spotted their escape route and made their own charge for the cliffs.

Andy and Allyson Jeffries found a route through on port and won the race to the cliffs, stretching the fleet as they lead round the first windward followed by Date and Wincer and Hivey and Barlow. The race was on and the breeze was up as once again the crews charged back in towards the cliffs to find the pressure, this time with the kites up. Tim Saxton and Sam Littlejohn plus Dave and Louise Steed led the chasing pack battle with Luke and Emma McEwan in close attendance.

As they round the leeward mark the pressure began to drop and it was key to get heads out of boats to search for the breeze. As the breeze started to disappear near the cliffs, the left looked good with more pressure, until the right finally came good at the end, but now it was anyones guess where the next pressure or big hole in the breeze would be. Date and Wincer found breeze but also got wrapped up in 6ft of bamboo shoot, despite this they managed to clear their breeze and get on the inside of the wind bend to get round the windward mark inside Andy and Ally. Date and Wincer lead down the run with the breeze dropping to single trapezing conditions and big holes plus changes in pressure starting to make things a bit nervy for the leaders.

Team Jeffries split at the next leeward mark, while Date and Wincer held on towards the cliffs for a bit longer. This proved a gamble too far as the left came good with Andy and Ally extending into the lead followed by Hivey and Barlow, Barton and Feibusch, Dave and Louise, and Luke and Emma. Date and Wincer found a little right hander to sneak back into 3rd by the top mark. The last run got really funky, with the fleet completely becalmed within touching distance of the finish line. After leading for the majority of the race Andy and Ally got the very raw end of the deal, as it was one of those races that was impossible to lead. Seeing the leaders becalmed, Date and Wincer broke out right toward the middle of the lake and sailed around the stranded pair of Andy and Ally, Hivey and Barlow. Hivey and Barlow however found the final bit of breeze as it died next to the cliffs to sneak across the finish line and take the bullet, followed home by Date and Wincer, then the McEwans. Dave and Louise pulled out a well earned fourth and Halhead and Jagger completed the top five.

That was it for the breeze and so the fleet headed to the bar to watch the storms roll in... Dark and stormy!

Results after Day 1:

RS100

RS200

RS400

RS800