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 - The Racing A real quality fleet made the journey this year for the probably the most competitive RS400 Eurocup event held. In Race 1, it was as if the PRO was a little surprised by the speed of the boats as a relatively short course was set with only 2 rounds. However, the race duration of 18 minutes did allow for the Grimms to spend more time upside down than upright and still finish 7th. At the front of the fleet it looked as though Nick Craig and Keith Bedborough sailing �Sola Wetsuits� had managed to come out on top after a close battle with Roger Gilbert and Steve Dunn in �Fat Face�. However, Nick was later scored as OCS leaving the first win of the weekend to Gilbert and Dunn. Tubby O�Brien came in second obviously not slowed down by the previous nights antics of this seasons new crew, Colin �I�m in a� Staite. Maybe Greg�s sensible move to send his crew home in disgrace the night before really had paid off. Phil Jackson and Gerard Barron sailed well to take third place. Particular note must be made of Badger who managed to pop John Callaghan�s cherry and get him to not only start, but also to finish a race for the first time in John�s fourth year of trying in Carnac. Race 2 was again sailed on a relatively short course but with 4 laps required. This time Nick Craig made no mistake on the start line and got away cleanly. John Callaghan�s Racing Snake also made a great start and sailed a brilliant first beat to arrive at the windward mark second. (Surely this sentence is typing error- editor) The front pairing of Nick Craig and Roger Gilbert quickly dispensed with the Snake and built a sizable lead over the rest of the fleet. Once again a hard fought race ensued between the top two but it was Nick and Keith who came out on top. The Snake battled hard to keep everyone behind him but Phil Jackson and Gerard Barron sneaked though to take another third. A late snake gybing error even allowed the Grimms through into fourth just before the finish. Day 2 on the water and the weather was beginning to play up a little. An oscillating 5 to 10 knots promised us a long day but with the sun still shining at least we could work on the tan. In race 3 either a drifting windward mark or just a bizarrely set course meant the course involved a large square followed by both the 400�s and the 200�s sailing around a sausage little bigger than a team racing course. Coupled with a wind shift turning it into one fetch and one reach it was less of a tactical battle than a competition to see who could stop themselves from getting too dizzy. This takes nothing away from Phil Jackson and Gerard Barron who were always the only winners. A great start and sustained boat speed meant that Phil and Gerard continually pulled away from the fleet to win by a considerable margin. (Phil and Gerard win a real light wind race, surely some mistake � editor) Stephanie Pilkingston and Martin Gunn also sailed well to arrive at the windward mark second maintaining their position till the finish with Mark and Sam Littlejohn coming in third. Roger Gilbert suffered a broken spinnaker halyard but was lucky in that fact that Nick Craig was unable to capitalise on his absence only managing a 5th place. race 4 eventually got underway it was John Cooper and Becci Wigley who made the best of the shifting wind up the first beat to arrive at the windward mark first. Normal running was soon resumed as Nick Craig and Roger Gilbert finished first and second again. Cooper and Wigley sailed a brilliant race to hold onto third followed by Tubby O�Brien and Colin �I�m in a� Staite who took their second Fourth of the day. During race 5 the wind got lighter and even shifter but this did not stop the now almost predictable result of Nick Craig winning followed by Roger Gilbert in second. In the race for third place it was the turn of Dobbin Kenwood and Toby Lewis sailing Proctor Masts to show the rest of the rest of the fleet the way home. Ideal sailing conditions returned for the last day with the wind back up to a steady force 4 and the sun still shining - Although the high proportion of sunglasses indicated that these conditions were probably not considered ideal for some in the fleet. The racing in the 400�s was what these boats were designed for; close boat to boat tactics at high speed with never more than a hundred yards between the front and back of the fleet - Although this lack of distance was mainly due to the fact the curtains never opened on the Snake van all day. There must have been a very ill badger inside. Race 6 and it was Mark and Sam Littlejohn who got off the line fastest and after picking up a good shift on the right hand side came into the windward mark first. There was no stopping Nick Craig though as he passed the Littlejohns to lead the fleet home to take his fourth bullet of the weekend. Dobbin Kenwood and Toby Lewis continued from where they left off the day before sailing well to take second with Mark and Sam coming in third. Going into the last race and it was still open with Specy on 9 points and Roger on 11. They both got away well but it was Roger who lead Nick at the windward mark and they quickly turned this into a potential 1, 2 again. The Grimms were also going well and after being second-to -last at the windward mark managed to work their way up to third by the start of the last leg. Roger sailed on to take the win but on the last run Nick Craig lost ground playing with Dobbin and let the Grimmsters through to take second. Nick managed to hold on to third and it looked like he�d tied the event up on count back with 4 bullets. Unfortunately he managed to show his stupidity by forgetting to sign off and thus incurring a 2- point penalty. This handed the overall win to Roger Gilbert and Steve �did I really drink that much� Dunn. Phil Jackson and Gerard Barron took third place overall after some excellent sailing and very consistent results.