Redwing Nationals at Fishguard Bay Yacht Club

The Redwing nationals are once again hosted by Fishguard Bay YC © Rick Mabey / FBYC

Fishguard Bay YC once again welcomed back the Redwing Class for its 2008 nationals with an unsettled weather forecast promising plenty of breeze, the fleet was not to be disappointed.

After a briefing by Principal Race Officer, Mark Giles on Sunday morning the fleet of 12 Redwings took to the water for the first of a series of six points races for the championships prize.

Race 1

Wind SW Force 4.

The first race of the championships (Plymouth Hoe Challenge Cup) got away at the first attempt for all but Mark Carnell & Francis Marshall in R226 who were well over and had to return and re-cross.

The beat, as was to prove common over the rest of the week, favoured heading left toward the cliffs and the Roman fort and R245, R205 & R244 maintained close contact with each other as they pulled away from the rest of the fleet, at the first windward mark the positions settled as Rowland Squibbs & Tommy D’Ortez in leading and pulling away from R205 & R245 and positions remained like this for the next lap with R266 noticeably emerging from the pack and charging up toward the leading pack.

At the end of the Third beat the PRO unexpectedly for the competitors shortened the race and finished the race one lap short of full distance a rather small flag causing some consternation amongst the top four as by now R245 and R226 had taken a more right handed course and were able to take advantage of the skewed line, R244 was unaffected as they had sufficient lead to round as normal and indeed continued on the reach until pursued by a Rescue Boat and informed that they had won.

The finishing positions were R244(Rowland Squibbs and Tommy D’Ortez), R226(Mark Carnell and Francis Marshall), R245(Ben and John Crabb) & R205(Peter Kinver and Francois Gavin)

Race 2

Initially sailed on Monday but abandoned by the Race Officer when wind speeds hit 32 knots, Race 2 (The City of Plymouth Trophy) was re-sailed on Tuesday inside the relative safety of the harbour in winds that gusted to Force6 at times. After a clean start, R226 chose to play the shifts up the port side of the course but suffered a knock down in one of the many heavy squalls coming down off the land. This left her in 5th at the 1st windward mark. Defending champion Ben Crab in R245 rounded 1st followed by Tenby man Rolly Squibbs in R244 eager to make it 2 wins in a row. Positions remained unchanged during the downwind legs, however the next beat to windward saw Mark Carnell with crew Francis Marshall leapfrog to 1st place with blistering speed to windward in the heavy conditions. This was aided in part by a rare capsize to windward by R245 in a massive backer. Conditions were truly gnarly with even the most experienced helms getting caught out on occasion. Good downwind speed and careful boat handling saw the lead extended as some of the boats behind took it in turn to test the water temperature. Positions at the finish were: R226 (Mark Carnell & Francis Marshall), R245 (Ben Crab & John Crab), R205 (Peter Kinver & Francois Gavin)

Race 3

Sailed back to back with Race 2 on Monday afternoon in 20-30knts, Race 3 (The Chris Crockford Memorial Cup) was again set inside the shelter of the harbour. R245 (Ben & John Crabb) led R226 (Mark Carnell & Francis Marshall) for most of this 2-horse race. There was only a couple of boats lengths to separate them for most of the race, but both held a commanding lead over the rest of the fleet. R226 displayed the same speed to windward that she’d shown in race 2 but was being frustrated from taking the lead by the close covering tactics employed by Ben Crab in R245. This all changed on the final beat to windward, when a small tactical error by Ben enabled R226 to wriggle free from the cover. Now sailing in clean wind, with good speed she took full advantage of 2 right hand wind shifts to extend her lead to 10 boat lengths at the finish. Positions were: R226 (Mark Carnell & Francis Marshall), R245 (Ben Crabb & John Crabb), R244 (Rolly Squibbs & Tommy D’Ortez)

Race 4

Race Officer Mark Giles decided to set the course outside the harbour in a 15knt breeze. R226 had a good start near the pin end and was able to sail her own race. Utilising her speed to windward in the powered up conditions, she sailed hard left to take the knock near the land before tacking and lifting up to the windward mark. Positions were unaltered at the start of lap 2. Having also established the favoured route to windward R244 & R245 also played this left hand advantage on successive rounds but were unable to bridge the comfortable gap between themselves and R226. Final positions were: R226 (Mark Carnell & Francis Marshall), R245 (Ben Crabb & John Crabb), R244 (Rolly Squibbs & Tommy D’Ortez)

Race 5

This was R166 Richard Vasey & Jake Gavin moment to gate crash the top boats private party as they rounded the first mark in second place behind R226 and in front of R244, they maintained this excellent pace for a couple more laps but as the wind died somewhat Mike Stace and Deanna Morton in R195 came charging through from the pack and looked likely to take the lead but then the wind increased slightly again and the held position but now lacked the extra pace they had shown in the middle lap.

Elsewhere the rapid and substantial windshifts that had all but capsized R226 and R245 on the first beat continued to shuffle the pack as the fleet tried to pick their way up the beat through the shifts and Rowland & Tommy managed to emerge at the front of the fleet on the second beat hotly pursued by R195 they managed to maintain this lead including a couple of minutes of near dead calm on the last laps run whilst the wind swung around 90 degrees and back this had the effect of bunching the first four boats but did not change the place order as they started the final beat and they finished R244, R195, R245, R226 with R166 gradually overhauled by the top four to finish 5th.

Race 6

Race 6 (Looe Sailing Club Challenge Trophy) got underway in 15knts of breeze that swung more to the south after the start. Having an un-assailable lead on points Mark and Francis stayed ashore for this race and it became a battle between Rolly Squibbs and Tommy D’Ortez, R244, and Ben and John Crabb, R245 for the runners up position. Various tactical battles ensued that eventually let R245 break away and take first place followed by R244 in second and R205, R200 and R195 taking the next 3 places. Further down the fleet there was a coming together between R166 Richard Vasey and Jake Gavin and R183 Geoff Godbolt and Richard Ham at the windward mark that resulted in both boats capsizing. At one stage they were locked together with the centreboard of one boat jammed through the rigging of the other. When all was untangled R166 retired and R183 limped on but was unable to recover and finished in last place behind R221 Alex and Helen who had been previously been bringing up the rear.

FBYC provided a great championships week both on and off the water with the catering for hungry sailors being absolutely top notch.

Overall Results:

1st R226, Mark Carnell and Francis Marshall (Looe SC)
2nd R244, Rolly Squibbs and Tommy D’Ortez (Tenby SC)
3rd R245, Ben and John Crabb (Looe SC)
4th R205, Peter Kinver and Francois Gavin (Looe SC)
5th R195, Mike Stace and Deanna Morton (Tenby SC)
6th R200, Colin Crabb and Dominic Lowzynski (Looe SC)
7th R166, Richard Vasey and Jake Gavin (Looe SC)
8th R228, Bill and Nan Dowell (Tenby SC)
9th R243, Simon Cole and Ollie Faulkner (Looe SC)
10th R246, Cecil DuValle and Hedley Martin (Looe SC)
11th R183, Geoff Godbolt and Richard Ham (Looe SC)
12th R221, Alex Macdonald and Helen Williams (Tenby SC)