RS Feva Grand Prix Series Round 4 at Draycote Water Sailing Club

by Andrew Green 29 Mar 06:00 BST 25-26 March 2023

The weekend of 25th & 26th March saw 82 young sailors make the journey to Draycote Water for the first RS Feva Grand Prix of 2023, and the 4th in a 6 race year long Grand Prix series.

The weekend dawned with warm sunshine, but 38knt gusts howling straight along the rather exposed Draycote shoreline. At the time the boats were arriving for registration there were more white horses visible than actual water, which lead to some rather nervous younger sailors, and some very excited older ones!

Given the forecast was due to drop later in the day, the race committee wisely postponed launching whilst the worst of the wind abated. However, after about 2 hours, and significant quantities of sweets, the D flag was raised and the fleet launched.

Watching from the committee boat was an impressive sight, as the entire fleet launched together and then set off on a lightening quick broad reach out to the race area. The wind was still a sustained 20knts, and gusts into the low 30's, so the sailors all arrived on the start line either exhilarated or intimidated depending on how gung ho they were feeling!

Race 1 got off to a fairly frantic start with a number of boats being a bit too keen to get racing underway, and a number of boats being upside down in the start area! However, once racing was under way it was quickly apparent that the conditions were going to lead to massive splits in the fleet. This was definitely a day for the more experienced Feva sailors, with Jac Bailey and Ben Sinfield taking the win from Ffion Bailey and Megan Gowers, then in 3rd Imogen Green and Bob Byne. The leading group of sailors all clearly revelling in screaming downwind, mostly looking in control, but a few significant wipe outs were seen from the shore.

Races 2 and 3 were run in slightly less wind, but with a pattern emerging, with Ben Greenhalgh and Tim Sinfield taking the win in both, and a group of 6 boats behind them that were having a pretty tight battle. This group were starting to move clear of another very large group of about 20 boats who were having tight race long battles, which lead to some really exciting leeward gate roundings where at times boats were 4 abreast at both sides of the gate.

Day 2 dawned colder, greyer, damper and with not a lot less wind, although impressively the energy levels in the fleet didn't seem to have been affected. The wind had swung around nearly 180 degrees, meaning the full force of a cold north easterly was blowing straight onto the club house, which lead to most parents sheltering inside and leaving their kids to do the hard work outside!

When it came to the racing, largely the same pattern continued, with no one having an answer to the sheer speed of Ben and Tom, who finished in the top 3 in all of Sunday's races, which included a further 2 race wins, this gave them a comfortable overall win. Jac and Ben also had another great day, and finished a clear 2nd overall.

Behind these 2 it got very close with 4 boats separated by a single point, but Rebecca Knock and Tom Webb put in an impressive run of results on day 2 including a win in race 6, which eventually pulled them into 3rd spot.

The rest of the prize winners were Ffion and Megan in 4th, Ed Stubbs and Bruno Greenfield in 5th, and Imogen and Bob in 6th.

The Feva fleet also make a point of recognising other boats that are developing through the class, and so Oscar Radford and Max Evans-Alder won the Endeavour award, Flora Evans and Darcy Morgan-Harris won the Feva Fun award, and Ollie Hateley and Mona Nygard won the Fevaship award. The first school boat was George Curtis and Benjamin Bryden from Tonbridge.

Once again we would like to thank the sailors for participating, with the help from parents, guardians, coaches, family and friends bringing you along. To all the volunteers for their support to bring this event together, volunteers help before, during and after the event, we really do appreciate your time, thank you. Thanks also goes to Draycote Water Sailing Club for hosting this event and being accommodating as always. Lastly our Grand Prix sponsor Rooster and to RS Sailing for your continued support.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Helm Club	Crew Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1st	8600	Ben Greenhalgh	Tom Sinfield	PDSC	PDSC	‑4	1	1	2	1	3	1	9
2nd	7615	Jac Bailey	Ben Sinfield	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	1	4	3	1	2	2	‑6	13
3rd	8501	Rebecca Knock	Tom Webb	Port Dinorwic SC	Port Dinorwic SC	(OCS)	3	12	3	3	1	7	29
4th	6264	Ffion Bailey	Megan Gowers	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	2	2	‑8	6	4	7	8	29
5th	490	Ed Stubbs	Bruno Greenfield	Lyme Regis/CCSC	Lyme Regis/CCSC	6	‑9	9	4	5	4	2	30
6th	7190	Imogen Green	Robert Byne	Draycote water Sailing Club	Draycote Water SC	3	7	‑10	5	7	5	3	30
7th	89	Max Rawlinson	Edie Johnson	Roa Island Boat Club	Roa Island Boat Club	8	8	2	7	6	‑9	4	35
8th	6246	Theo Smith	Will Cowley	Draycote Water SC	Draycote Water SC	(RET)	5	17	9	9	13	10	63
9th	8377	Jack Hodgkins	Isabella Barnes	South Staffs & Draycote	South Staffs & Draycote	5	‑20	19	13	12	8	9	66
10th	7052	Ella Jones	Kate Gamble	HISC	HISC	(OCS)	6	7	39	10	6	5	73
11th	8034	Oliver Hateley	Mona Nygard	South Staffs	Draycote water SC	7	12	(DNC)	14	16	10	19	78
12th	7530	Freddie Callaghan	Thomas Roy	HISC	HISC	‑27	16	20	8	8	16	13	81
13th	5763	Louis Hiscocks	Nicola Richards	WPNSA	WPNSA	12	13	5	21	20	‑27	16	87
14th	6351	Flur Pierce	Keira Luke	PDSC	PDSC	11	‑25	11	12	24	11	20	89
15th	7605	Emilia Ripley	Anna Elms	HISC	HISC	10	11	4	10	14	(RET)	DNC	91
16th	6291	George Curtis	Benjamin Bryden	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	9	10	24	15	‑27	19	18	95
17th	502	Charlotte Cooper	Harriet Wood	Elton SC / WLYC	Elton SC / WLYC	14	14	15	‑23	19	17	17	96
18th	7292	Anna Morris	Freya Phillips	HISC	HISC	(NSC)	23	13	26	13	12	11	98
19th	4311	Jacob Knock	Phoebe Greenhalgh	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	Port Dinorwic Sailing Club	(NSC)	15	25	18	11	15	15	99
20th	4056	Scarlett MacLennan	Betsy Luddingtion	Dabchicks/Corinthian Otters	Dabchicks/Corinthian Otters	15	19	16	‑30	21	23	12	106
21st	4347	Mya Fance	Seren Green	Ullswater Yacht Club	Ullswater Yacht Club	21	‑34	26	17	17	14	14	109
22nd	6765	Harriet Temple	Mia Hateley	South Staffs sailing Club	South Staffs sailing Club	(OCS)	21	14	16	28	18	22	119
23rd	5561	Daniel Larson	George Aldridge	MCS	MCS	16	18	23	19	22	22	‑25	120
24th	2376	Alex Standley	Tom Evans‑Allder	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	17	24	6	25	25	26	(DNC)	123
25th	1103	Ruby Callaghan	Lauren Barber	HISC	HISC	18	‑28	18	27	15	25	21	124
26th	4194	Alex Breese	Sienna Mordaunt	Royal Lymington YC	Royal Lymington YC	(OCS)	27	21	22	29	24	24	147
27th	7606	Syvie Carter	Jessica Patterson			23	29	‑35	28	23	21	26	150
28th	8187	Tom Bohannon	Miliie Greenhalgh	PDSC	PDSC	22	17	30	11	30	(DNC)	DNC	152
29th	7076	Hugo Rudd	Jameson Hayward	NBYC	NBYC	(DNC)	22	28	24	18	20	DNC	154
30th	6277	Anton Chernyshov	Benjamin Sheppard	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	13	26	31	20	26	(DNC)	DNC	158
31st	6112	Florence Osborne	Jessica Rainbow	Royal Hospital School/ Thorpe bay Yacht	Royal Hospital School/ Thorpe bay Yacht Club	20	30	29	‑32	31	30	28	168
32nd	5563	Bennett Horner	Lev Balabin	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	28	(RET)	32	36	33	28	23	180
33rd	3788 sticker	Lila Chung	Yana Jaiswal	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	25	33	22	37	32	(RET)	DNC	191
34th	APE	Oscar Radford	Max Evans‑Alder	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre	24	(RET)	37	35	34	32	29	191
35th	6289	William Smith	William Brownsdon	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	19	32	27	31	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	193
36th	4425	Sofia Dewsbury	Daisy Charlesworth	Hamble River Sailing	Stokes Bay SC	(RET)	DNS	33	29	35	31	27	197
37th	6292	Jacob Ayala	Oliver Pattison	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	26	31	34	38	(DNC)	29	DNC	200
38th	5562	Nicholas Coxon	Joshua Harrison	Tonbridge School	Tonbridge School	(DNC)	35	36	34	36	DNC	DNC	225
39th	5172	Alex Vollmer	Rory McGill	Oxford Sailing Club/ Trearddur Bay Saili	Oxford Sailing Club/ Trearddur Bay Sailing Club	(RET)	DNC	NSC	33	37	RET	DNC	238
40th	1002	Flora Evans	Darcy Morgan‑Harris	Royal Southern Yacht Club/HISC	Royal Southern Yacht Club/HISC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	30	240
41st	7056	Trinny Fry	Alexa Fry	QMSC / Royal Thames Yacht Club	QMSC / Royal Thames Yacht Club	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNS	DNC	DNC	DNC	252