Results / RS Fat Face Eurocup, France Carnac - 19/04/2003

RS Fat Face Eurocup Event at Carnac, Brittany, 19-21 April 2003 Its Easter, its Round 1 of the Fat Face RS Eurocup and its was going to be awesome. It goes something like this; Thursday afternoon sneak out of work early and make the mad dash for the overnight ferries. A short drive across France is then followed by 4 days of some of the best sailing and partying in Europe. Catch the overnight ferry home on Monday night and arrive back Tuesday morning, just in time to head for the office totally broken after kicking the illegal immigrants out of your boats. There really is no better way to spend Easter and if you throw in the forecast of sunshine and lots of wind, you�ve got the recipe for an amazing weekend. This year proved to be no exception. The 200, 400, 600, 700 and 800 fleets arrived in Carnac to be greeted with near perfect sailing conditions; 25 degrees and a steady force 4. The format for the event allowed those on the correct ferries an afternoon to practice, or time to check competitors boats for illegal speed transducers if you�re a gullible national champion. The weather really did not let us down with ridiculous amounts of sunshine, almost clear blue skies and great breezes on Saturday and Monday. Sunday produced a pathetic breeze but the race team got in 3 races if with one horrible course. It did not seem to worry the fleets too much as the tans were topped up. The first night social was arranged for the Square Bar, featuring a Paddy whisky promotion, oh dear!! Paddy Hats and lighters were issued by Fanny and the other Paddy girls for the now obligatory annual Paddy Hat burning ceremony. Unfortunately if you put as much gel in your hair as John Callaghan then you really did need to take special precautions especially with Nick Craig around. The second night social was hosted by Yacht Club De Carnac and featured an excellent pig roast dinner. Despite the large amount of money offered, the hosts were unwilling to sell the two pigs heads to the Grimms in order to make some masks to make them a little better looking. A move was then made into town to exploit the combined purchasing power of 100 RS sailors by demanding as much free drinks as possible. The evening then gets a little fuzzy but it ended up with the Euro-cup organiser stripped naked on the podium proposing to a local girl. So that�s all that really matters. On the walk home, just as the sun was beginning to rise, it looked like another great day for sailing. For the Sunday night social there was a return visit to the Square Bar. After the previous nights boycott to show them we were serious about our bargaining power, the fleet was tempted back with the promise of 80 litres of free cocktail. The bar was awash with comments of �there�s no alcohol in this� before promptly collapsing on the spot. The cocktail must have had its effect as, when it was finished we�d forgotten that we had promised to stay all night and moved to the disco bar next door on mass except for Ian Pickard who was left as a gibbering wreck outside having drank rather too much of a disgusting Perno alcopop. After completely failing to catch the crowd surfing German girl who half killed herself on the DJ booth, the RS dancing team again impressed the French with an awesome display. So much happened but highlights have to include Speccy throwing away victory in the RS400�s because he cannot write his name; the as yet unidentified 600 exoceting the Andy Irons/Alex Newton-Southon last race show down for overall victory, the pig roast and John Callaghan, our glorious leaders, attempts to chat up a young French lady only to be blown out by his crew. A great weekends sailing was had by everyone and although no return visit to Carnac is planned for next year I�m sure it�ll not belong before the RS�s are back. The journey home proved quite eventful for some. Obviously hit by the financial demands of the weekend and a lack of demands for boat delivery, Team JUGS decided to pick up some other form cargo on the way home. The poor unfortunate Illegal Immigrant that had decided he fancied his chances of a cross channel trip hidden in a 200 must have had no idea what he was letting him self in for. Rest assured though that as soon as Jubby and Ugs realised he couldn�t pay his share of the ferry fare or do cheap fibreglass repairs, he was put straight to work unloading boat before being carted off by the police. RS200 Fat Face Eurocup Event at Carnac, Brittany, 19-21 April 2003 The 200�s had the largest fleet in Carnac and with many leading teams making the trip the racing was stupid tight at times. A good force 4 for the first day, although a little shifty, was just what the doctor ordered. Lee Sydenham and Anne �only a little French� Vaudrey were off to a fast start. Ian Pickard and Lucy Matthews were having none of it and motored through on the third beat to win from Lee/Anne with James Stewart/Fiona Clark third. Sarah Taylor/Jane Sutor in the power boat led race 2 but Pete �human trafficker� Vincent/Louisa �do you speak French� Fewtrell blasted through on the close reach and then rather rudely disappeared to win from Anne/Lee Sunday brought sunshine but a rather feeble wind. Race 3 featured a bizarre course with a huge opening beat, massive reach and then a real small outer loop with a fetch and reach. Lee and Anne thought it was great, particularly when the whole of the 400 fleet became totally intermingled with the chasing pack leaving their only difficulty remembering how many laps they had sailed as they became dizzy. Race 4,and everyone went right because of tide/more pressure on the right/the wind was following the sun etc. Of course it paid left and Gary Fry/Sasha Knowles led from the light weight girls, Sarah and Jane; well clear of the rest. Sarah/Jane took over the lead and clung on to win their first race at an RS Circuit event from the fast finishing Lee/Anne. Gary/Sasha hung to a great fourth in their first RS event. Race 5 and Pete Vincent having received an ear bashing from his crew (not in French) about starting got a great start to just lead from Jon Greenland/Pippa Williams. As the wind faded and shifted Jon and Pippa found ballistic boat speed and cruised through to a big win. Some how Lee and Anne recovered from a poor start (they had an engine) to pull through several boats to collect their fourth second place. Monday and it was back to proper wind with a good force 4-5, not surprisingly the Bristol pie eating team found these conditions much more to their liking compared to the rubbish of the previous day. Chief pie muncher Pickard and the slim Lucy won by race 6 by a big margin with beer gut Vincent and the also slim Louisa (well someone has to balance up that pair) comfortable in second. Lee and Anne couldn�t drop their kite at the end of the first run and scored an 8th. Suddenly what had looked all over bar the shouting was now a much more open contest. A very good final race saw Lee and Anne always in the leading boats and heading for overall victory. Ian and Lucy had a great tussle with James and Fiona swapping the lead. As the pair went into the left hand corner on the final run James gained the advantage but then the pair realised that Lee/Anne were rapidly closing in more pressure inside them. The trio arrived at the final mark together and after a barrage of hoists and drops on the final reach James just won from Lee yet again in second, Ian and Pete. Lee/Anne had a comfortable overall victory in the end with a mighty fine record of a first and 5 seconds. Behind though it was stupidly tight with one point covering second to fifth; Jon/Pippa beating James/Fiona on most number of seconds whilst the victory in the Bristol pie munchers battle went to Ian/Lucy with one more race win.