Results / RS400 Eurocup YC Carnac - 27/07/2009

When the French people presented the Statue of Liberty to the Americans in 1886 in celebration of their centenary of independence it was inscribed with a sonnet by Emma Lazarus. In part this ran “ …Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me …”

In a remarkable reversal of roles the French in the form of the good citizens of Carnac found themselves welcoming the RS 400 fleet for the Eurocup from the 20^th –24^th July. Most of the 400 fleet could honestly be said to fall into one of the above categories (particularly the storm tossed bit after Hayling) and quite a few of them into every category, especially “poor”.

In the event the fleet enjoyed an awesome 5 days sailing in a variety of wind strengths and directions in which everyone at one time or another could be said to be enjoying “their” conditions. The hospitality and organisation by the Carnac Yacht Club was excellent and fair and exciting racing provided by Tony O’Gorman and his race team.

Thanks to Heather for providing the first days report which has been unashamedly plagiarised below – who said copying from one source was plagiarism and two sources research.

The 400’s continued from where they left off in Hayling in breezy ( F4-5 conditions) showing again they could not count to quatre with the majority trying to finish a lap early in the 4 lap first race. Louise Hosken could count though getting her helm Howard Farbrother to a race win in race 1. Andy and Ian Ritchie could also count taking advantage of the rest of the fleet taking an un-needed dogleg to the finish line to move from mid fleet to second. Alex Fleming and Roger Gorman who up until the last mark had been leading came in third proving the old adage that if you have the boat speed and go the wrong way it’s further to come back.

Mark Reddington and Colin Staite won a shorter( 2 lap) second race from Ian Robson and Sandy Johnson recovering from an uncharacteristic swim in the first race. John Cooper and Becci Wigley were passed on the last downwind leg to drop them to third, their last result for three days due to the dreaded Carnac virus contacted by John – who said from a dirty beer glass ?

Day 2 and lighter winds – a nice force 2-3. Farbrother/Hoskins got the result with some stunning down wind speed and no need for recourse to competitors sailing the wrong way with Robson/Johnson sailing a conservative race to second  place. For along time Fleming Gorman looked good for third but a wide last mark rounding and a leg in the slow lane saw them finishing sixth allowing Bill and Lynda Handley to take third despite a 1 metre square tear in the kite.

Next race and this time Fleming/Gorman made no mistake leading from start to finish to record their first win of the event narrowly holding off the Handleys nursing their ripped spinnaker to what was their best result of the series – what does this say about our spinnaker design ? Farbrother/Hoskins put in a third to build on what was becoming a very consistent series.

Day 3 and the wind returns with upper gust strengths above that of the first day and most of the fleet opting to sail the downwind leg with just one gybe unless for some reason ( usually miscalculation) a couple of extra gybes were taken. Fleming/Gorman were untouchable leading from start to finish in both races with the only thing more impressive than their upwind speed being their downwind speed. In the first race Robson/Johnson put their considerable weight reserves to good effect for second and Ben and Richard Willows taking third.

For the second race with Fleming Gorman up and gone it was left to the second and third boats from the first race to have a rematch for the runner up position with role being reversed and the Willows coming out second with Robson/Johnson third.

Day 4 less wind but not as little as the second day and sure enough another form horse moves to the front. Enter Reddington/Staite who emerging from the bunch on the first beat simply sailed away from all other boats on every point of sailing finishing so far in front that the race office put away the watch and got out the calendar to time in the rest of the fleet. Sally and Martin Styles led home the rest of the fleet for second with the Willows third.

In the second race things weren’t quite so easy for Reddington/Staite having to wait until the last downwind leg to haul through Robson/Johnson, the early race leaders, to take first place from them. Third were Farbrother/Hoskins showing a return to form after a couple of indifferent results (for them) in the previous two races.

This left a tight situation going into the last day with four points covering the first four boats and everything to play for. In some part this was due to the day four performance of Fleming/Gorman turning in only a fourth and fifth following a vigorous mornings boat tuning before the racing (presumably trying to improve on their previous day’s results of two firsts !!) Unsurprisingly the settings went back to where they were for day 5 and the racing got underway.

Day 5 dawned light and fluky and for a long time it looked as though no racing would be the call. Just as even one race was looking in doubt the wind filled in from the south and a two lap race in a force 1-2 wind was got underway. Fleming/Gorman made no mistake with their de/retuned boat hitting the left hand corner of the first beat, rounding in first and never looking back. Farbrother /Hoskins again showed great downwind speed to pull through from a mid fleet position to get second and the Styles grabbing third at the final mark rounding from the Handleys and Neil Peacock and Alan Sign who were involved in their own personal match race for fifth place in the series.

The race Officer decided enough was enough and flew AP over A and the fleet headed for home. Truth to tell a couple headed for home while the others sailed around saying “ I can see he has postponed but why has he got a diver down” eventually everyone got the idea and boats headed for the shore.

So overall Alex Fleming and Roger Gorman had just enough to take the series despite their boat tuning efforts from Howard Farbrother and Louise Hoskins who all week had shown that these races can be won downwind as long as you go fast enough. Mark Reddington and Colin Staite achieved a well deserved third with the other competitors just grateful that the devastating boat speed they produced on day four was not evident for the whole week.

So the circus moves on to Mounts Bay and the Nationals two weeks this weekend. Great sailing, great socials and great company to do it in – enter now.