Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit Aldeburgh YC - 03/07/2004
The RS400 fleet was greeted with confusing weather conditions on arrival
at Aldeburgh Y.C. on Saturday morning. Failure to take advantage of the
sunshine to rig the boat resulted in a soaking from one of the frequent
rain squalls.
The fleet set out from a calm windward shore with the intention of doing
3 races. At the bottom of the course it became apparent that a miner's
lamp and torch were to be the order of the day.
Race 1 started and shortly afterwards was stopped with the, now
customary, general recall to check whether the OOD has put all of the
flags in his box. Black flags then followed for the rest of the weekend.
After a successful second start and breezy first beat Paul Hilliar/Toby
Ashton lead at the first mark from Craig Burlton/Andrew Bonsey and Chris
Gowers/ June Riley with the remainder of the pack in hot pursuit. The
course soon became littered with capsized boats including Chris
Jennings/Ed Nicklin sailing Harken who decided to check the effectiveness
of their cleats while tacking� The precise order of the buoys appeared to
be open to debate with the majority of the fleet doing an alternative
course to the correct one. The results stood however and Burlton/Bonsey
won their race by a country mile, causing the OOD to miss them when the
course was shortened. Later lobbying got them reinstated to first,
followed by Old Nick/Bedborough 2nd and Hilliar/Ashton 3rd
Racing was then abandoned for the rest of the day due to devastating
squalls. The beach then became a scene of potential carnage and
insurance claims, which were avoided by some excellent team work from the
fleet and club members to recover boats safely.
The evenings entertainment unfortunately did not include Elvis this week,
he had left the building. However Old Nick was definitely in the building
and the evening finished with "doughnuts", "shopping trolleys" and a game
of "pile on", come back Helen�.
Sunday was a new day and seemed to be a more settled conditions. How
wrong first impressions can be. Conditions changed throughout the day and
at times would rival the Japanese monsoon season. Many people were later
thinking about jumping into the water in order to be less wet.
Race 2 sailed in a very pleasant force 3-4? was won by Jennings/Nicklin
following a text book start at the pin end and a leaders dream of a one
sided course comprising a fetch and reach. Craig/Bedborough followed
astern to take 2nd followed by Stewart Hudson/ Claire Cummins 3rd with
the Burlton/Bonsey partnership recovered well from a shocker of a start.
Race 3 was sailed in the best conditions of the day a supreb force 3-4
and was again won by Jennings/Nicklin who had a text book start at the
committee boat end. Gowers/Riley went well up the first beat, but Craig/
Bedborough were top dogs at the Windward mark. Jennings/Nicklin took an
inside line down the first part of the run and after an exchange of gybes
ended up first at the leeward mark. A close second lap saw
Craig/Bedborough and Burlton/Bonsey catch and pass Jennings/ Nicklin,
however an equipment failure or crews strike saw Craig/Bedborough's kite
stay in the shute. Jennings/Nicklin were able to take the most advantage
and carried on to win from Burlton/Bonsey and Hudson/Cummins.
The weather now turned potty after a huge rain cloud stayed overhead for
the rest of the day. Race 4 started in sloppy conditions, Force 0. The
fleet got away but the wind filled in 90� to the right. The course then
became 2 laps of beam reaching, Craig/Bedborough headed the procession,
followed by Burlton/Bonsey and Jennings/Nicklin.
There was now everything to play for as the top 3 boats all had 5 points
going into the last race. Race 5's course was adjusted to take account of
the 90� right shift. However shortly before the start the wind shifted
back 90� to the left. Again a beam reaching contest ensued, with the
added obstacle of a ferocious tide. The wind dropped to a Force 0 and the
torture of trying to make the 2nd mark saw the fleet bunch up and drift
painfully down tide while Nick Bell sailed around the fleet to get to the
mark first. The wind gradually filled in and Burlton and Bonsey went on
to take the win and the event overall. Craig/Bedborough after some first
mark shenanigans sailed a course of sorts and took a highly disputed 2nd.
Jenning/Nicklin took 3rd.
1. Craig Burlton 1 4 2 2 1 10 4
6 1
2. Nick Craig 2 2 4 1 2 11 4 7
2
3. Chris Jennings 8 1 1 3 3 16 8
8 3
4. Stuart Hudson 5 3 3 6 6 23 6
17 4
5. Paul Hilliar 3 7 6 4 8 28 8 20
5
6. Chris Gowers 4 6 5 10 7 32 10 22
6
7. Gavin Marshall 10 5 8 11 9 43 11
32 7
8. Lloyd Walker 27 8 7 16 5 63 27 36
8
9. Simon Sydenham 7 13 10 7 27 64 27
37 9
10. Martin Browne 6 15 9 9 27 66 27
39 10
11. Nick Bell 14 10 18 12 4 58 18 40
11
12. Steven Joslin 18 9 22 5 11 65 22
43 12
13. Stephen Tubby 13 12 17 27 10 79 27
52 13
14. Matt Fairless 12 14 14 14 27 81 27
54 14
15. Tery Fellowes 11 16 20 8 27 82 27
55 15
16. Adam Oliver 16 17 12 22 12 79 22 57
16
17. Ian Robson 20 11 11 20 27 89 27 62
17
18. Chris Ritchie 15 19 16 19 13 82 19
63 18
19. Toby Mace 9 18 23 17 27 94 27 67
19
20. John Elder 19 22 13 15 27 96 27 69
20
21. Graham Bridge 27 24 15 13 27 106 27
79 21
22. John Hallas 27 20 21 18 27 113 27 86
22
23. Andrew Harris 27 21 19 27 27 121 27
94 23
24. Alex Cooper 17 26 27 27 27 124 27 97
24
25. Michael Marriott 27 25 27 21 27 127 27
100 25
26. Nick Fribbens 27 23 27 27 27 131 27
104 26