RS400 Salcombe Gin Eurocup at Yacht Club de Carnac - Day 2

Salcombe Gin Eurocup at Carnac day 2 © Antoine Dujoncquoy

For those that woke early, Saturday looked like being a sparkling day at the beach, albeit with light winds. But by breakfast at 8am, ahead of a 1100hrs start for day two, things had changed significantly - the fog had rolled in, the temperature had dropped and the breeze had built to several knots more than expected. On the face of it, anyone who had studied and memorised the forecast had wasted their time, Saturday was not panning out as planned - or so we thought.

As the fog refused to lift a postponement ashore allowed crews to spend another morning chatting, tweaking, fiddling and hypothesising.

With the weather forecast now apparently invalid, further evidence that things were unlikely to change quickly could be seen as the fleet of race committee vessels remained tied to their moorings with no one aboard. With this in mind, there seemed little point in getting changed.

And so, the hours rolled by until at 1530hrs we got the call and headed out to the race course for what was to be a tricky session that didn't finish until almost 8pm.

Just two of the three planned races were run, the first in a light 4-6 knot Westerly breeze.

Keeping the boat moving through the awkward chop was the key to arriving at the top mark in good shape. But even if you had managed to keep your momentum, planning your approach through a weird localised tidal effect around the weather mark, while trying to make sense of the turbulent air spilling off the tightly packed group, shuffled the pack just as the first signs of a pecking order had been established.

Once through the banana skins and speed bumps of the top mark the downwind leg delivered some tactical challenges too as the breeze gradually veered, just as the forecast had suggested.

At the front of the fleet Ben and Roz McGrane (1309) were making the best calls and took the first win of the day. Chris Eames and Rachel Tilley (1528) were second and the new lightweight combo of Nick and 13 year old Adam Craig (7481) came in third.

The shifting conditions caused a delay for the second start as the race committee chased the breeze as it continued its clockwise march around the compass. By the time things had settled down and after a postponed/abandoned start, the breeze had built to the point where everyone was hooked into their toe straps for the second race of the day. And while this was a race that was now eating into the evening's social programme, the novelty of being able to hike around the entire course was well received.

Once again it was the McGranes who led the way with Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin (1502) taking second, with Chris Eames and Rachel Tilley in third.

Photos and results from all fleets can be found here...