Fat Face RS700 Eurocup at Riva del Garda, Lake Garda, Italy

by Ian Nolan 2 Aug 2006 09:09 BST 24-28 July 2006

Another record entry of 36 RS700’s gathered at Riva for the inaugural 2006 European Championship. Hot favourite for the title after his win at the Nationals was Paul Bayliss. The real question was whether the classes other heavy weather experts could really put together a significant challenge.

The fleet launched excitedly for the practise race on Sunday as the Ora built on schedule. Unfortunately a thunder cloud marched menacingly down the west side of the lake forcing an abandonment as most of the fleet were flattened by the westerly squalls which had completely overridden the southerly Ora.

Day 1 of the racing promised to be a classic Garda day. The legendary Matt Stark started his championship well by port tacking the fleet and leading the charge to the windward mark. Alex Southon lead around the top mark followed by Andy White and Paul Bayliss, Bayliss took the lead as Southon and White capsized on the first gybe and sailed on to a convincing win. Andy held second place until rounding the wrong hook mark which let Alex in to take second with Jerry Wales third and Andy fourth.

The second race of the day resulted in a much larger contingent trying the port tack starts, preferring to take some sterns in order to get right to the cliffs as soon as possible. Bayliss lead from the start followed by Southon and White. The day finished with a classic RS meal and disco at the club along with the other RS fleets.

Day 2 started with a seminar by Paul Bayliss where he shared his 6 tips for success even before the race starts. Once again Garda served up a classic Ora breeze which allowed Dave Geal to monster the first beat and lead at the first mark. Unfortunately he had to slow down to avoid some 800’s on the first run which allowed Paul Bayliss to take the lead which he held to the finish followed by Steve Butcher who sailed a convincing race with Southon 3rd followed very closely by Jerry Wales.

Race four Bayliss took the lead and had a convincing win, with White and Alex Koukourakis battling for second, Andy got 2nd on the line Koukourakis was 3rd and Leigh Albrecht 4th. The day ended with an excellent RS700n fleet meal at the Grand Hotel with a great turnout of friends and families.

Day 3 saw the fleet out on the water early waiting for the breeze. The Ora kicked in late and there were further delays as some of the other fleets decided to play general recall with the race committee. The race posed some different questions for the fleet as we were on the middle race course rather than the cliff side. Do you gybe immediately or does it pay to go down the lake first. Classically cliffs paid once again as Bayliss dominated the race from start to finish with White 2nd and Wales 3rd. Andrew Peake worked through the fleet to secure a well deserved 4th.

The Carabinieri launch rolled up and advised the race committee of some impending bad weather which saw the second race of the day cancelled. This resulted in the spectacular sight of more than 200 RS boats of various types hoisting their kites and sending it down the lake in the rising wind. Memorable!

Thursday started with an excellent seminar on reading the weather by Mark Littlejohn. Paul Bayliss now looked to be in an unassailable position for the championship barring some disaster. The real question was whether anyone could finish ahead of him on the water and break his string of first places. Racing started in classic Garda conditions. Bayliss once again lead around the top mark followed by Butcher and southon. Southon spectacularly collided with an upwind RS800 which took him out of the running for the race. This let Koukourakis battle with Steve Butcher for second. Butcher capsized on the last gybe letting White through to 3rd.

Friday’s seminar was insightful talk on boat preparation and maintenance by RS guru Alex Southon. Paul Bayliss did not actually need to sail the last day but went out anyway. This is Garda after all and sailing these high performamce boats here is always a pleasure. The race for the positions was still definitely on with Andy White, Alex Southon and Jerry Wales all in with a shout. Paul Bayliss led the charge to the cliffs but it was Andy White sailing higher who was able to tack onto his hip and lead at the first mark. Having taken the lead Andy immediately tried to throw the race by losing sight of the leeward mark, over standing it by some distance and letting Paul through to lead up the second beat. However Andy was not so easily beaten, breaking through again to take a well deserved race win with Andy Peake coming through to take second. Alex Southon recovered from a mediocre start to take fourth in the race and third overall as Jerry Wales had an unusually bad day at the office. The final race of the day was cancelled as thunder clouds gathered over Riva cancelling out the Ora.

Paul Bayliss took home the spectacular new European Championship trophy having completed the double this year. The next event for the RS700’s on the Fat Face circuit is Weston on 12th August. See you there!

Special awards went to Mike Dencher and Peter O’Nions fior chosing Garda as their first ever open event in the RS700.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	GBR 875	BAYLISS PAUL	-1	1	1	1	1	1	1	-3	6
2	GBR 900	WHITE ANDREW	-5	3	(ocs)	2	2	3	2	1	13
3	GBR 927	SOUTHON ALEX	2	2	3	-7	6	(dns)	4	4	21
4	GBR 888	WALES JERRY	4	5	4	-6	3	5	6	-21	27
5	GBR 92	PEAKE ANDREW	-9	6	5	10	4	-8	5	2	28
6	GBR 951	BUTCHER STEPHEN	-14	10	2	-24	5	4	3	5	29
7	GBR 939	ALBRECHT LEIGH	3	8	-9	4	7	-13	7	6	35
8	GBR 913	KOUKOURAKIS ALEX	(raf)	7	dsq	3	-9	2	9	7	36
9	GBR 776	TANNER GRIFF	7	4	(dsq)	12	-15	7	12	8	50
10	GBR 966	WALBANK NIGEL	8	9	dsq	9	-12	6	-15	10	51
11	GBR 933	HUMPHREYS MATT	12	(dsq)	6	8	11	(dns)	16	12	65
12	GBR 760	MARSHALL STEVE	6	11	7	13	18	(dns)	14	-22	69
13	GBR 961	GEAL DAVE	-26	12	10	5	(dns)	18	10	20	75
14	GBR 854	POLGLASE TIM	11	14	14	-15	14	11	11	-23	75
15	GBR 963	POLLINGTON MARK	-19	18	8	14	-19	17	13	9	79
16	GBR 944	CUMMINS DAVID	10	(dns)	(dns)	ocs	8	9	8	11	83
17	GER 959	BRANDT CHRISTIAN	15	(dns)	15	18	10	12	17	-28	87
18	GBR 941	CHAPLIN ROB	13	15	11	19	-20	14	19	-26	91
19	GBR 765	HAYDEN PAUL	-23	16	17	17	16	16	(dns)	18	100
20	GBR 868	CONNER MATTHEW	16	17	18	11	-29	19	24	-28	105
21	GBR 934	STARK MATTHEW	17	19	21	16	-22	21	18	-27	112
22	GBR 840	AZZOPARDI DAN	18	22	20	-27	-25	20	22	17	119
23	GBR 861	GATEHOUSE EDDIE	20	24	24	(dns)	23	10	-25	19	120
24	GBR 902	GORRINGE DAVID	(dns)	(dns)	13	20	13	23	dns	16	122
25	GBR 893	LILLEY RICHARD	(dns)	13	12	25	21	15	(dns)	dns	123
26	GBR 960	NOLAN IAN	25	23	22	-30	-27	24	20	14	128
27	GER 792	KREUZER ACHIM	24	20	19	21	-28	26	26	-30	136
28	GBR 890	SWANN IAN	22	21	(ocs)	-28	24	22	23	25	137
29	GBR 741	MCNULTY NED	21	(dns)	25	22	26	(dns)	dns	13	144
30	GBR 9	LOWE NICK	(dns)	(dns)	16	23	17	dns	dns	15	145
31	GBR 940	SMITH HOWARD	(dns)	(dns)	23	29	dns	25	29	32	175
32	GBR 908	DENCHER MIKE	(dnc)	(dnc)	dns	dns	30	27	28	31	190
33	GBR 945	CAMERON JONATHAN	(dns)	(dns)	dns	26	dns	28	27	dnf	192
34	GBR 880	EDWARDS HOWARD	(dns)	(dns)	dns	dns	dns	dns	21	24	193
35	GBR 859	O'NIONS PETER	(dns)	(dns)	dsq	dns	dns	dns	dns	dnf	222
35	GBR 896	LEESON ROBERT	(dns)	(dns)	dns	dns	dns	dns	dns	dns	222