Inaugural RS100 World Championship at Circolo vela Bellano, Lake Como

RS100 World Championships on Lake Como © Enrico Civeriati / www.enricociveriati.com

RS100 World Championships on Lake Como © Enrico Civeriati / www.enricociveriati.com

Lake Como was popular with the Milanese gentry and soon began to attract other Europeans, (especially the English) during the 17th century. Queen Caroline of England visited Lake Como in 1816 and stayed in Cernobbio (just north of Como), an area known for its beautiful gardens. To date Lake Como remains as one of the main tourist destinations with many celebrities purchasing property along the lakeside.

But for a few days only the rich and famous have been usurped by the 'A' listed RS100 sailors and perhaps a few 'B' & 'C' listers and a band of followers known mysteriously only by the initials 'RS'.

Boats from across the world have been flown in, notably from Australia, Ireland, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Wales, England and of course the home grown talent of Italy.

A three day event has been meticulously planned by Heather Chipperfield (International Class Secretary) and the Committee of the Circolo vela Bellano.

And so to the racing...

Day one

Cloudy, chilly, not much wind... not the Como that many of us have seen in years gone by. A light southerly breeze, perhaps up to 8 knots and more consistently around 5-6 knots and occasionally less! For the first time the 8.4s and 10.2s had different starts with Huw Powell and Colin Smith dominating the 10.2s with Colin Having the balance of firsts at the end of day one.

In the 8.4s there were some great results for individual races but only Jack Holden 2nd, 5th and 1st and Mark Cotgrove with 5th, 4th and 4th were consistent with Simon Greenslade close behind in 3rd.

At the end of day one the fleet retired to a welcome reception held in the Parasole and Pizzas all round with many hoping for much more wind tomorrow.

Day two

Heavy overnight rain and a flat calm greeted the 38 RS100 sailors on day two – the locals were of the opinion that racing would not be possible. Everyone sat around waiting until a black line appeared on the water a mile or so to the south... LAUNCH came the instruction and within a few minutes a healthy 12-14 knots of breeze had miraculously appeared against everyone's expectations.

In the 10.2 Huw Powell had a resounding three bullets, although he had to work hard to keep Colin Smith at bay who was never far behind. In the 8.4s Antonio Tamburin continued to show consistency however Al Dickson dominated the proceedings with 2nd, 1st and 1st to close the gap. With protests being held over until the final day the results could be affected although Al Dickson's results are safe.

Going into the final day only three point separate the first four boats in the 8.4s and only two points in the 10.2s separate two boats so everything is up for grabs!

Day three - The final day

The contenders:

In the 8.4's:

• Alistair Dickson, good in windier conditions, dismal in the light stuff, ginger haired
• Antonio Tamburin – Italian, local favourite, young, temperamental!
• Jack Holden – new to the fleet, favours lighter airs, vertically challenged and another ginger...!
• Greg Booth – Been around the block, good in strong winds, Welsh!
• Mark Harrison – Doesn't shout much, likes strong winds, avoids confrontation
• Mark Cotgrove – fluent in French, very consistent so far, possible outsider to win

• Huge Powell – like Greg he has been around, expected to win, hates the light stuff, smelly wetsuit boots, fell off slipway!
• Colin Smith – Not vertically challenged, a little bit moody, recent Nationals winner, favours light airs!

• Slight postponement waiting for the thermal to fill in... sure enough 1pm arrived with a
• decent force 3 occasionally 4. The hooter sounds... LAUNCH!

Two races were held back-to-back and the first to choke was Greg who capsized on the first downwind leg of the day – out of the running. Mark Cotgrove had his worst result and was almost out of it. Al Dickson won the race with Mark Harrison 2nd and local favourite Tamburin 6th. On paper is was all square with a winner takes all final race.

The final race started and soon Mark Harrision was exchanging views with another sailor – Mark was proved to be in the wrong (surely not!) – and the subsequent penalty put him out of the running finishing 11th in that race. Tamburin then choked getting buried on the start line, a position from which he was never to recover finishing 15th. Jack Holden had a poor race finishing 9th leaving the door open for either Cotgrove or Dickson to win the Inaugural Rs100 8.4 Worlds. As it happened Cotgrove never got over the start after he picked up the mooring line of the pin end boat – chance gone.

That just left Al Dickson standing and he grabbed the chance eagerly finishing the regatta with four firsts and thus proving light wind performance does not really matter. Congrats to Alistair for an outstanding two days of sailing and a worthy champion.

Special mention to Giles Peckham who sailed very consistently in all conditions to finish 7th overall and to Mario Dullia who has improved enormously from a year ago to finish 8th overall.

10.2's – How it all unfolded

Huw just sailed away from Colin in both races and won the Regatta with a race to spare. Well done Huw for winning your match racing duel. Huw has talked about a winter diet and perhaps purchasing an 8.4 mainsail... bring it on! Congrats to Huw – European and World Champion in the same year.

And so another Italian Job came to a close with high speed dashes back to the airport after loading all the boats – hopefully Greg Booth will make it back to England before the next event in November.

Overall Results: