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

The 8 boat entry list disguises just how competitive this event was. There were 5 different race winners after the 7 races with both the first and second placed guys having to count a 6th place. The conditions couldnt have been better and provided a decent mix of strong, medium and light airs. Saturdays racing was held in F4-5 winds so staying upright in a choppy sea was going to be the aim. Andy Irons led race 1 but after sailing to the wrong leeward mark dropped back being replaced by Alex Newton-Southon who led to the finish with Nigel Walbank 2nd. Race 2 was held in similar winds with Jerry Wales this time showing best form to take the gun just ahead of Andy with Alex in 3rd. There were many stories to be discussed from the day over the hog-roast and hopes for more of the same. Sunday was going to be a tough day with aches and pains from Saturday already taking their toll. Jerry pulled out of the event with a severely swollen knee. The winds had eased, perhaps too much, as we were left with a F1-2 which was pretty fickle. Race 3 should have been postponed but we raced rather processionally round 3 laps withDemo Dave taking line honours from Tony Freer and Irons. Well done Demo for loosing your RS 'cherry' and winning your first race. Race 4 saw the best racing of the day as a steadier F2 filled in. Andy had good pace in this stuff and sailed to the gun closely persued by Nigel who had good downwind speed, Tony was 3rd. Race 5 was just painful. The breeze had dropped and every effort had to be made to keep the boats moving. Andy and Tony were maurooned on the wrong side of the course as the right hand side of the beat picked up slightly more pressure, however better times were to come. On the final beat the fleet was creeping along well spread across the course. Irons and Walbank headed out to sea where a dark patch of breeze on the horizon was slowly heading inshore. The bet paid off with the two outer boats picking up the breeze first and reducing the gap between front and back to almost zero. A frantic final run saw Demo take the gun with Alex 2nd and Irons clinching 3rd. Mondays conditions were a replica of Saturday, F4-5 with a choppy sea and the sun still shining. Race 6 saw Alex dominate using his superior upwind speed to build a useful gap, Irons was in hot pursuit pushing hard down the first run only to capsize round behind Alex at the leeward mark. Tony took advantage and held on ahead of Irons for 2nd with Alex taking the win. Overall at this point, Alex and Andy were on exactly the same points and same discard. It was between these two who would win the open. I wish I had had a camera for the start of race 7!...it would have made for very amusing viewing. Irons was queing for the start with approximately 1 minute left to run. An RS600 just to leeward and ahead got stuck in irons (quite literally), so with a 600 forestay firmly caught underneath his 700 front wing bar he couldn't move. Next to join the party was Alex who couldn't avoid the rafting, his wing bar locking through Irons's on the other side, result; 3 boats all totally locked together and 3 helms initially very aggrieved but this giving way to amusment. The mess took 6 minutes to separate by which time the start line had closed. Tony won race 7 with Buzz Keck securing 2nd. Overall then Alex won by virtue of more first places with Irons 2nd, Demo Dave 3rd and Tony Freer 4th. Once again Carnac provided some great early season sailing for those who made the long trip down to Brittany.