Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit Paignton SC - 21/06/2003

Over the weekend of the 21/22 June the RS 400 fleet headed to the south coast again for Round 5 of the RS Fat Face Racing circuit expertly hosted by Paington Sailing Club. With a large contingent arriving on the Friday night to sample Torquay�s particularly special brand of nightlife, many of the competitors didn�t seem too upset with a light force 2 and clear blue skies on Saturday morning. A highly competitive 400 fleet gathered on the start line for the first race and with the wind building slightly to a force 3 it looked as though we were in for some great sailing. Roger Gilbert and Richard Brown sailing Fat Face made the best of the start and beat to arrive at the windward first followed by Tom Halhead and Chris Priest. Despite massive amounts of team racing and match racing experience between them, Tom and Chris still decided it would be a good idea to arrive on the port lay line and tack round the mark in front of Nick Craig and Keith Bedborough. This was quickly followed by some spins and then a slow and painful drift back down the fleet. A close battle for second place ensued between Nick Craig and Keith Bedborough, Chris Jennings and Ed Nicklin and Stuart Hudson and Adam Heely. However nobody saw Tubby O�Brien and Colin Staite coming, as they gradually clawed their way from 8th to take second place behind Gilbert and Brown. Hudson and Heely came out on top of the rest to take a very credible third. By the start of the second race at least half the fleet had figured out that the lobster pot half way down the line wasn�t actually the pin end, which just left the other half of the fleet wondering why there wasn�t a general recall. Hywel Roberts and Melissa Storey made no mistakes though as they popped out of the mele� at the starboard end and shot up the beat to arrive first at the windward mark. As the wind gradually dropped, Hywel and Melissa showed excellent boat speed and held their nerve to take the win despite being pushed hard by Gilbert and Brown in second and Craig and Bedborough in third. Hudson and Heely continued their consistent performance to take fourth. By the start of the third race the whole fleet had now found the pin end but this didn�t mean they had spotted the wind shift as most started at the starboard end again. This left the way for a small pack lead by Robin Kenyon and Toby Lewis to fly out of the port end and cross the fleet�s red faces. Gilbert and Brown arrived at the windward mark first followed by Kenyon and Lewis in Proctor Masts and a chasing pack of O�Brien, Woods and Craig. With the threat of a calming wind a smaller course had been laid for the last race and this lead to some very tight racing in the chasing pack. Gilbert and Brown sailed away to take the win whilst Kenyon and Lewis found their form to come out on top of the rest and take second. Craig and Bedborough came in third with Woods finally making his mark in fourth. With all the RS fleets gathered together for an evening at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club the usual entertainments soon ensued. A later move to one of Torquay many salubrious night spots involved a large amount of girls� trousers to blokes� shorts swapping as the ever scruffy 200 fleets tried to blag their way past Torquay�s mild mannered bouncers. I only feel sorry for the poor girl who happens to be the same shape as Pete Vincent. Although there are a few expectant mothers in the fleet! The effort was well worth it as Torquay�s most beautiful ladies were more than happy to entertain certain sections of the fleet. Due to the Paignton-Torquay marathon being run on the Sunday morning a particularly early start was planned, however the weather had other ideas. The fleet was greeted with a millpond like Torbay and the prospects of a long day. After a 2 hour postponement and the wind showing signs of filling in the PRO sent the fleet to sea. However a steady wind continued to prove illusive. With the on set of rain and miserable faces in the fleet the PRO took the only sensible decision and called it a day. This meant that Gilbert and Brown won the event with an excellent 4 points from three races. Craig and Bedborough took 2nd and Roberts and Storey sailed well all weekend to take third. Woods and Fletcher�s gradually improving results earned them fourth overall.