Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit SCYC, Abersoch - 30/04/2005

RS 400 Fat Face Circuit � Abersoch The RS400 fleet rolled up to Abersoch for the first of many visits this to the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, venue for the 2005 National Championships. If the conditions on Sunday are anything to go by, and you can only make one event this summer.....! On to the sailing... With much of the fleet avidly checking WindGuru all week it was a little surprising to wake up on Saturday morning to find a light breeze blowing down from St. Tudwal's Roads, however it proved to be stable enough to set a course on and after a couple of abortive attempts by the 200 fleet to get away, the 400's had a chance. Stuart Hudson, reunited with crew Adam Healey led the fleet to the windward mark, pursued by Tom Halhead and Chris Bishop, and Craig Burlton / Andrew Bonsey. Once again the tight racing for which the 400's are renowned was evident with numerous place changing throughout the fleet, but the finish saw Hudson / Healey take the bullet, with Halhead / Bishop just sneaking ahead of Mark and Sam Littlejohn at the last mark. At this point the breeze decided it had enough for the day and despite a few splutters from various directions, never really stabilised and eventually decided to send a fog bank over the fleet. Fortunately Bill Handley put some of his blizzard navigating skills (honed over 107 consecutive days of skiing!) to use and had taken a bearing to the SCYC bar, which marked the end (or the start?!!) of the days proceedings. Sunday marked a return to form for WindGuru, with 15-20 knots across the course, and the sun out. Four races were scheduled, with PRO Barrie McGill and his team doing a fantastic job in getting them out in rapid succession. Burlton and Bonsey showed that their new boat is at least as quick as the old one with a solid win in the first of the day, with Paul Hilliar and Toby Ashton enjoying the increased breeze somewhat more in second, and Chris Jennings / Ed Nicklin in third. These positions were reversed in the second, with Jennings / Nicklin taking the win, Burlton / Bonsey in second and Hudson / Healey in third. The 3rd race saw something of a startline crackdown as Jennings, Littlejohn and 400 legends Mike Budd / Mark Greaves fell victim to the black flag. Burlton / Bonsey took this one with Hilliar / Ashton finishing strongly in second, and Chris Gowers / June Riley in third. The final race of the day saw the black flag out again, and after one recall it was Jennings / Nicklin who took another win, with the Littlejohns in second and Hilliar / Ashton in third. So all in all a great weekends sailing and a fantastic advert for what should be an awesome nationals. Special mention has to go to Fiachra Etchingham and Gerry Mulligan who gave the event an international flavour and brought their boat over from Ireland only to get binned in the last race!