Atlantic Watersports Games at Roadford Lake Sailing Club
by Roadford Lake Race Committee 4 Aug 2011 11:44 BST
23-28 July 2011
After an extended period of uncertainty, during which the ownership of the 2011 Atlantic Watersports Games had to be relinquished by Wales and picked up at short notice by North Devon, competitors finally started arriving in what many thought was typical English summer conditions. The rest of the UK may have been basking in a belated summer; however the North Devon coast was shrouded in a chilly mist and drizzle. Worse, the wind forecasts for the week were for predominantly light breezes along the coast, for the dinghy sailing and windsurfing regatta at Roadford Lake the concerns of completing any sort of series were very real indeed. With teams from many French regions joining those from Spain, Portugal, Wales, Cornwall and host Devon, the gathering had a real international flavour with many expecting the very strong Brittany and Pays de La Loire teams to dominate the results
But the time the interesting multilingual briefing had been concluded, the weather Gods had decided to finally smile on the event as the sun broke through and the breeze started to build to the point when racing could commence. First out were the Lasers, both Radial and 4.7, followed by the Optimists. After another delay for the wind to settle down in direction, the fleets finally started and from the outset the front runners made their intentions known. In the Laser Radial Girls, Valentine Croise from Brittany posted two bullets, whilst her teammate in the boy's fleet, Mael Robric started equally strongly with a pair of 2nd places. However, the boy's fleet showed that this would be one of the places to find close competition as Robbie Robinson and Alex Hutchings, both representing Devon, each took a race win.
In the 4.7 fleets, Devon's Emma Philips looked strong with a 1, 2 first day scoreline, results that were matched in the boy's fleet by Alex Jardine from Wales.
In the highly competitive Optimist fleets, Mila Monaghan from the Wales made the task of winning all the harder by being caught OCS in Race 1. Mathilda Thibaud from the Pays de La Loire was to take advantage of this and to finish the day with a points advantage over Mila and Devon's Bella Fellows. In the boy's fleet Day One saw the start of a cut throat battle between Alexandre Demange and Gwendal Nael from the Pays De La Loire Team that would run until the end of the regatta. These two made the top two places their own; no one else would get a look in!
In the windsurfer fleets, Lucie Belbeoch from Brittany and fellow team member Romain LHuillier each took two bullets – in these fleets these two young sailors were a class apart and no one would come close to catching them
Day Two saw a day that tested the patience of competitors and race teams alike. Huge shifts of 80 - 100º, along with big holes and sudden gusts resulted in the Committee Boat scouring the lake for some stable wind, but as time and the delays dragged on, concerns over the young sailors dehydrating became very real indeed. Eventually the dinghies were sent ashore after completing just one of the 3 scheduled heats and the windsurfers came back out to flap their way around. Lucie and Romain continued their uninterrupted progress towards a perfect set of scores, whilst in the 6.8m" fleet Cornwall's Lucy Grayston was warming to het task with a handy pair of second places. As the afternoon wore on, the breeze continued to steady and finally the dinghies came afloat again to sail another heat, but by now the extended time ashore had frayed a few nerves and there were some rather unsavoury incidents concerning not just Rule 42, but breaches of Rule 2 as well. At times the on water Judges seemed oblivious to some distasteful team tactics, with Lasers from one region sitting on Oppies from another. This behaviour was a shame as in most other ways, the sportsmanship was as good as the sailing skills on display. With 4 races now complete it was still tight at the top of all the dinghy fleets but with a lot of sun – but no wind, forecast for the final day, there were still no clear winners.
Day 3 again dawned to a lake covered in mist and until midday the forecasters looked to have made a good call. Finally though the best wind of the week arrived allowing the windsurfers first go out on the water. Romain LHuillier and Lucy Belbeoch completed the event unbeaten, in the 6.8m" class Chloe Goas held on for a narrow win from Cornwall's hard charging Lucy Grayston who took both races on the day; for the boys, Clement Guevel had it all wrapped up by the finish of Race 5.
In the girls Laser Radial, Valentine Croise made it look easy with two last day wins but in the boys fleet it was all happening. Robbie Robinson set up a barnstorming finale by winning Race 5, only to get caught OCS in Race 6 and loose his chance of overall victory. Brittany's Mael Robic looked strong but was destined to loose his score for the final race in the Protest Room, but with Robbie scoring BFD Mael just had enough in the bag to ensure overall victory. Mention must go to Ollie Smith from Wales who had a comfortable lead in the last race only to roll his Laser to windward, past the point of no return. For the spectacular capsize that followed Ollie got the Committee Boat "what the **** did he do that for" award (the prize for which is the non publication of the pictures!). The result in the 4.7 Girls went to countback, with Laura Trastoy of Galicia just beating Clemence L'Hostis on the result of the final race. The big success for the home teams came in the boys 4.7, with Alex Jardine from Wales showing a remarkable composure and maturity to round out his series with a 1, 3. With the third place being his lowest score, Alex showed a consistency that was sadly missing from some other front runners and must be congratulated for not just his sailing skills but for avoiding some of the troubles that would colour results in this fleet on the last day!
The Oppie Girls title went to Mathilda Thibaud who took 1, 2 to pip Mila Monaghan from Wales's score of 1, 3. Alexandre Demange continued his winning ways at the top of the boy's fleet, beating his arch rival Gwendal Nael by 4 wins to 2 in the 6 race series.
Given the trying conditions on the Lake, the competitors did very well in the circumstances and showed some great skills and race awareness. The pumping and Rule 2 niggles aside, the event was run in a good spirit but was not without its controversy, as when some of the French Coach Boats had to be barred from the lake for displaying needlessly stupid and reckless behaviour. Other coach boats found themselves the subject of redress claims after impeding competitors, the situation could have been worse had it not been for the eagle eyed policing out on the Lake by staff from the Roadford Watersports Centre. The Centre Staff also provided mark boats, which given the shifty winds was not the best job to be landed with, yet they all worked tirelessly to assist the Race Team to ensure that the event ended up as a notable success. The Race Team from Roadford Lake SC kept their nerve when waiting for the wind and for a small club have to be congratulated for putting on a big league show. Thanks must also go to South West Lakes Trust, all the helpers from the Centre and the Club, the many sponsors for the event and North Devon Plus without whose help the Games could not have been the success it was.
