RS800 European Championships at Yacht Club de Carnac - Days 1 & 2
by Luke and Emma McEwen 29 May 2018 08:57 BST
26-29 May 2018
RS800 European Championships at Yacht Club de Carnac © Christophe Le Bohec
After two out of four days of racing scheduled for the RS800 European Championship at YC de Carnac, it's still all to play for. There are three previous RS800 European Champions racing as well as multiple champions from other classes in this highly competitive fleet.
The crews that came out early for an extended holiday have been enjoying sunshine and breeze, exploring the beautiful location on their bikes, frequenting the creperies and tucking into the local Breton cider.
Most teams arrived on Friday and made it on the water for a short sail in light breeze and sunshine with the afternoon sea breeze fighting the NE gradient.
Thunderstorms and torrential rain greeted the fleet on the first day of the Championship so racing was postponed by an hour. Luckily the weather improved and an eight-knot northeasterly settled for the start, then clocked round to east, favouring the right hand side of the first beat and making the rest of the race something of a procession. Luke and Emma McEwen were closely followed by Steve and Sarah Cockerill, with Christina and Andrew taking a well deserved third place at the head of the chasing pack.
After racing the sun came out to dry everyone's kit out nicely and we sat around socialising as the Yacht club welcomed us all with free drinks and tasty snacks.
The day ended with the Exit Bar close to the beach establishing itself as the gathering point for the latter part of the evenings.
Day two of racing had a perfect forecast of F3 and sunshine. With a civilised start time of midday, the effects of the night before had time to clear and everyone had a bit more time to relax and settle in to their holidays. The fleet launched at low tide into slightly tricky waves breaking on the beach but all made it out OK. The first race started on time with Phil and John leading the whole race until the last run where Joe and Will briefly overtook both them and Luke and Emma before falling into a hole in the wind. Luke and Emma managed a sneaky overtake on the tight spinny reach to the finish stealing the first from Phil and John closely followed by Joe and Will.
The second race saw all but Phil and John and Luke and Emma bang the right side of the first beat but it turned out the left paid and Phil and John extended their lead to win by a comfortable margin. Luke and Emma held off Dan and Debbie for second.
The third race again favoured the left but this time it was Jean-Louis and Camille who consistently spotted the gains and came out ahead with Steve and Sarah also sailing a good tactical race to take second. Andy and Alison were right up there but became victims of the abundant seaweed as places changed with the tight racing. Phil and John fought back to third with Dan and Debbie having another good race taking fourth.
It's close on points after four races with many teams yet to show their full potential. The forecast for the final two days looks lighter so anything could happen.