VX One Riva del Garda Eurocup - Overall
by Charlie Chandler 9 Sep 2019 14:54 BST
6-8 September 2019
VX One Riva del Garda Eurocup © Charlie Chandle
Day 1
Day 1 started with heavy rain and a massive thunder storm. Once thunder storm passed we launched in about 5 knots of breeze wondering if it would be too light to race. Then for a change the wind went ballistic for 30 mins and blew 35 knots! Then it dropped off to a nice but slightly patchy f3 blowing from the north and we finally started racing. The water felt very warm and the wind was really cold - were we at Garda??
When the rain finally cleared there was a stunning view of snow on top of the mountains!
Three races were run with positions being very close in the shifty breeze. I think everyone finished the first race within 1 min 30 of the leader.
Day 2
The rain had finally stopped and the sun was even threatening to come out as the fleet launched with the race officer aiming to run four races.
The first race started in a patchy northerly f2. The right of the course was the only way to go and those who went up the cliffs were punished very badly - so much so that the race officer got board with waiting for the last boat to finish and removed the finish line as he got ready to start the next race (poor team Tickle...)!
Before the second race could be started the morning breeze switched off and we bobbed about waiting for the Ora to arrive. Eventually a light Ora arrived and a second race was ran. While the cliffs paid upwind there was some strange holes downwind which caught teams out along with the patches of weed.
The wind then switched off and that was it for day 2, it was time for beer and pasta.
The race results were very mixed with some teams that had a good day on day 1 crashing on day two. This resulted in the German team extending their lead while placed second to sixth were only separated by 5 points - it was all to play for on the final day.
Day 3
Who could believe it, it was raining again! Wish I had bought some proper winter kit... As we sailed out to the start line Garda gave a true demonstration of how hard it can rain, I felt like I was dissolving as Riva disappeared behind the intense rain.
While it was a bit damp the wind more than made up for it; the first race was a F4 and gave full on blasting while the final race was a good F5 with teams hitting over 20 knots downwind - this is what VX One sailing is about! Despite the speeds the racing was exceptionally close with the first four boats finishing within 20 seconds in the first race with the final gybe drop being the deciding moment.
Overall
Despite the rain it was a great event with nearly 30 sailors from across Europe. Team Germany took the well deserved win, but with the results being very close with four different boats taking race wins.
Overall Results: (top five)
1. GER Benedict Northoff, Holger Jess, Richard Watson
2. GBR David Chandler, Charlie Chandler, Keith Lockley
3. GBR Mike Tustin, Paul Watson, Emily Watson
4. GBR Simon Hawkes, Paul Birbeck
5. SUI Steffen Beat, Kuenzli Andreas, Giesbrecht Andreas