Gill RS100/800 Europeans & RS200/400 Eurocup at Lake Garda Day 3
by RS Class Association 31 Jul 2014 10:40 BST
28 July - 1 August 2014
Gill RS100 European Championships
Not quite a classic Garda day but almost as good. An amendment to the sailing instructions posted last night meant an early start at 11am. The fleet ventured out in a Northerly (Pela) force 4 and racing started promptly on a trapezoid course under the Western Cliffs.
Whilst Mark Cotgrove slept (not knowing about the early start), Andre Blasse powered upwind and rounded first followed by usual suspect Powell and Hall third. Blasse went for the hyper space button only to find he couldn't lay the outer loop mark. Powell quickly took control with Hall in hot pursuit.
The second beat saw Blasse and Boyde power past Hall upwind with Powell holding a commanding lead to take the bullet and Blasse and Boyde holding station.
Race 2 saw carnage at the pin end with Cotgrove and Blasse getting involved. Boyde took advantage to power upwind closely followed by Powell and Hall. Blasse closed the gap at the windward mark but downwind Powell overhauled Boyde with Hall maintaining third. The final beat saw Blasse powering upwind to close the gap on Powell but all to no avail as Huw extended downwind, Blasse second and Hall third.
Race 3 saw the Pela wind slowly begin to diminish and Powell, Boyde and Hall were the unlucky trio when the race was abandoned on lap three with the finish a tantalising 400 metres away.
Race 3 revisted: The southerly ORA then settled in very quickly at the top end of a force 4. The pin end was favoured with Powell leading at the windmark followed by Cotgrove and Hall. Downwind the cliffs were calling as Powell extended and Zamo, Boyde and Blasse gained significantly with Hall losing out. Positions were maintained until the final run with Powell finishing ahead by a huge margin, Cotgrove second and Hall cleared three boats on the last run to finish third.
Gill RS800 European Championships (from Dave Hivey)
The fleet launched early on Wednesday to take advantage of the gradient breeze forecast for the morning. It was certainly not the sunny Ora that we had come to Garda to see, but the Northerly breeze did not disappoint (for a while).
Race three started in 13-15knots, in pouring rain with a pin end bias, which Jeffries / Jeffries used to their advantage, port tacking the fleet. Most of the contenders bar Hivey / Barlow were at this end and worked their way up the left by the cliffs. Hivey / Barlow started at the boat and tacked to get the greater pressure on the right of the course. The fleet were split, but in the end it was the right hand side that paid and Hivey / Barlow had a sizeable lead at the windward mark. The racing behind was extremely close as usual, with places changing regularly. On the third lap Date and Wincer extended from the bunch, played some blinding shifts up the difficult last beat and caught right up to Hivey / Barlow who were ruing going round the wrong leeward mark. A tight gybing battle down the last run saw Date / Wincer take the race win. Third was Barton / Feibusch who also sailed a blinding last lap.
The breeze built for race four with the same dilemma facing the fleet: go for the shift by the cliff or the greater breeze on the right? It was tight at the top mark until Hivey / Barlow managed to gybe into a gust large enough to build a healthy lead over the next three laps and in the process surprise the race officer, who initially didn't think they were coming in to finish! Behind a bunch of five boats were continually changing positions in the gusty and very shifty conditions. At the finish Barton / Feibusch again illustrated their savvy tactics to take second place with Date / Wincer placing third.
Race five started in the same Northerly breeze but it was starting to moderate. Again the battle between the shift and the breeze was the decision for all bar Saxton / Littejohn who shot off the line like a bullet to take a healthy lead at the first mark. Unfortunately on the last beat the wind flipped 180 degrees and the race was abandoned with only a few minutes to go to the finish.
With the new (and much warmer) southerly breeze established we started race five again in just under 15 knots. All the usual suspects were at the front again apart from Date / Wincer who unfortunately found a hole in the breeze by the cliffs. A tight race saw the places changing constantly with all the boats were trying to avoid the large holes in the wind and stay in phase with the 25 degree shifts. Down the last run it was Saxton / Littlejohn and Boatman / Brown who unfortunately managed to find holes and lost their top three positions. Halhead / Jagger sailed the perfect run, staying in the pressure to take the bullet. It was a photo finish on the line between Hivey / Barlow and Date / Wincer finishing in that order. A great comeback for Date / Wincer again.
Wednesday night saw the Auzzie themed social at the Riva bar. It may not be the latest of nights however as we are starting at 11am again in the morning, with a 0945 launch to the starting line.
Results from all classes can be found at on the Fraglia Vela Riva website.