Bristol Corinthian for RS 200s, 300s and Vareos

Reports and results of the racing

RS200 Fat Face Racing Circuit at Bristol Corinthian YC – the summer heat wave in March.

The 2003 RS200 Fat Face Racing Circuit kicked off with a very healthy entry of 45 boats, lots of new boats and weather we would have been delighted to have in June. Saturday saw a puffy force 4 from the Northeast, which, unusually for BCYC, was quite stable, and bright sunshine. Sunday produced really strong sun and tans but the wind gave PRO Rhys Lankester nightmares as it could not make up its mind if it wanted to come from the south east or north east; at times it was coming from both directions on different parts of the lake with not a lot in between. With the RS300s and Vareos also racing the wind did not stay constant enough over the 15 minute start sequence for the start line and windward leg to stay true; the race teams did very well to get three decent races in under such conditions. Obviously the inventors of the snakes and ladders board game had sailed at BCYC on such days as wind strengths varied from force 2 and 4, and 90 degrees in direction at least twice each beat.

In Race 1 Pete Vincent/Louisa Fewtrell just led at the end of the first run closely followed by old crew Trudie Danbury/Laurie Dunn and Steve Sargent/Karen Garlick, part of the epidemic of new boats from Wembley. Vincent/Fewtrell liked the close reaches on the trapezoid second lap and pulled well clear to win with Danbury/Dunn very chirpy in second. Lee Sydenham/Anne Vaudrey then really found forward gear to win the next two races; the third by a huge distance. The Danbury/Dunn team showed Doris power had really arrived with an excellent second place in the third race to claim second place overall overnight ahead of the consistent Dave Giles/Fiona Clark and, far more importantly, Ugly Vincent.

First race on Sunday saw the overall situation really open up. Vincent/Fewtrell were given OCS by a blind race officer, both Sydenham and Giles had recorded their worst results and Jon Lewis/Camille Parsons came right into the frame with a convincing race win with Cliff/Bec Milliner second. Race 5 proved eventful and the turning point of the weekend. A big shift and drop in wind in the last 90 seconds before the start left the majority of the fleet too close to the committee boat unable to get down the other end. This was compounded 30 seconds after the start when any boat near the pin tacked onto port in two forces more wind. Sydenham/Vaudry were in exactly the right place at the right time and stormed away in fresh breeze from the NE. Any boat in the middle or right looked dead and buried including David Giles who was a dot in a whole world of trouble until he played his huge get out of jail card and suddenly tacked onto new breeze from the SE giving him a huge starboard lift and into the top ten at the first mark. Lee and Anne had already gone round the mark and had a race long big lead until the final run. Stuck in gentle breeze they had to fight hard to get across to new breeze bringing the chasing pack ever closer. A very relieved Lee just held on to beat Giles at the finish with the first 4 boats covered by less than 4 boat lengths. Giles scored a vital second with Josh Gebhard/Simon Evans an impressive third.

Race 6 and John/Chris Blundell in their first RS200 event topped an excellent day by leading at mark 1. Giles and Vincent in 6.7 gybed first into new breeze to move to 1.2 on the first run, positions they held to the finish in a close tussle. Blundell just got the better of Ollie Holden/Sarah Freestone to claim third.

Giles finishing salvo of 1.2 gave him overall victory despite Sydenhams three race wins. A very relieved Vincent just claimed third on discard from the Doris boat, the star performers of the weekend. Charlie Roome/Jodi Dyer, just back from his trip round the world, just pipped Paul Dorer/Ian Robertson for first youth. Perhaps the real story was that it’s only March and already the fleet has red faces, panda eyes and very strange tan lines on their necks from wearing drysuits.

Pete Vincent

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	753	David Giles	Fiona Clark	5	2	3	13	2	1	13
2	854	Lee Sydenham	Ann Vaudry	6	1	1	23	1	12	21
3	777	Pete Vincent	Louisa Fewtrell	1	9	7	OCS	13	2	32
4	357	Trudie Danbury	Laurie Dunn	2	13	2	9	6	16	32
5	754	Jonathan Lewis	Mad Milly Parsons	8	3	13	1	18	10	35
6	809	Ralph Singleton	Oliver Singleton	14	24	9	5	7	5	40
7	771	Marshall King	Heather King	7	5	27	11	8	9	40
8	805	Cliff Milliner	Bec Milliner	10	4	8	2	23	21	45
9	787	Charles Roome	Jodi	16	11	14	12	5	8	50
10	695	Paul Dorer	Ian Robertson	3	10	20	6	15	23	54
11	848	Ian Pickard	Lucy Matthews	11	8	4	19	16	18	57
12	739	Jane Robertson	Helen Rollinson	13	19	15	8	28	7	62
13	788	Andy Robertson	Squirt	17	14	6	20	11	22	68
14	743	Andi Riley	Julie Marsden	23	7	18	18	14	15	72
15	741	Oliver Holden	Sarah Freestone	DNC	18	5	3	OCS	4	75
16	844	J Blundell	C Blundell	38	35	32	4	4	3	78
17	820	Josh Gebhard	Simon Evans	25	25	11	29	3	20	84
18	840	Martin English	Bridget Cooke	18	6	19	27	33	14	84
19	535	Simon Gillow	Tracey Hill	24	12	16	OCS	20	13	85
20	581	Mike Chapman	Geraldine Marks	22	26	31	10	24	11	93
21	732	Sue Antonelli	Jo Lloyd	29	15	28	15	10	26	94
22	839	Stephen Sergeant	Karen Garlick	4	22	24	25	21	DNC	96
23	808	Sarah Taylor	James Stewart	9	OCS	12	7	25	DNC	98
24	722	Ann Jackson	Alan Skeens	15	OCS	10	17	12	DNF	99
25	846	Jeremy Stephens	Jane Sutor	30	17	23	32	17	17	104
26	609	Chris Brann	George Arkwright	26	DNF	21	28	26	6	107
27	345	Jaemi Gebhard	Karen Baker	20	28	30	14	31	19	111
28	815	Matt Davies	Melissa Pattison	12	27	26	26	36	27	118
29	392	Ben Alexander	Liz Alexander	19	20	22	24	34	34	119
30	359	Christian Humphrey	Michelle Maynard	21	16	17	21	DNF	DNC	120
31	702	Mike Dencher	Anna Harding	27	21	29	22	30	28	127
32	744	Carolyn Doherty	Joanne Wotton	37	DNC	25	OCS	9	24	140
33	498	Matt Ambrose	Ruth Baker	31	31	33	33	19	DNC	147
34	780	Paul Teague	Elizabeth Teague	40	29	37	35	22	25	148
35	863	Alan Perry	Marcelle Newbold	34	32	40	16	32	37	151
36	383	Paul Goodwin	Kate Gillow	28	23	34	OCS	37	32	154
37	464	David Sweet	Jackie Ireland	33	33	38	30	29	31	156
38	420	Simon Howell	Guiseppe	32	36	36	OCS	27	30	161
39	652	Mitch Webb	Sam Rowe	35	34	39	31	35	33	168
40	826	Chris Reid	Tess Reid	36	37	35	34	39	36	178
41	697	Toby Peacock	Sarah Peacock	DNC	30	DNC	OCS	38	29	187
42	411	Will Rhodes		DNC	DNC	DNC	37	42	35	204
43	728	Competitor 59		DNC	DNC	DNC	36	40	38	204
44	842	John Callaghan	Jules Haskell	39	DNC	41	38	41	DNC	204

RS300 Fat Face Racing Circuit at Bristol Corinthian YC

Ideal conditions greeted competitors for the RS300 Fat Face sponsored circuit event on 15/16 March.

The 3 races on Saturday were run in a force 3-4 in bright sunshine. In race 1, Steve Bolland picked the shifts up the first beat and was never headed. Steve Cook finished 2nd with Nick Bolland recovering well from an incident on the first beat to finish 3rd.
An extremely close second race saw a number of different leaders at various times, Nick Bolland eventually finishing ahead of Chris Mason and Steve Bolland. With the breeze piping up a bit for race 3, Nick Bolland let others make all the mistakes and won comfortably from Chris Mason and Steve Cook.

Sunday saw more sunshine and slightly less breeze. Steve Bolland started his comeback on brother Nick by taking both races 4 and 5 in some of the closest racing of the weekend. Nick kept the pressure on with a 2nd and 3rd with the consistent Chris Mason ever present. Race 5 also saw fleet newcomer Gavin Young showing some of the older hands a clean pair of heels.

With Nick Bolland trailing Steve by a single point going into the final race, a cat and mouse game between the two resulted in a thoroughly enthralling race. Steve initially led Nick and covered carefully before the latter overtook on the 2nd run, antics which meanwhile had allowed Chris Mason to draw clear. The penultimate beat saw Nick turn the tables on his brother with some initial close cover before a favourable shift allowed Steve to pull ahead of both Nick and Chris Mason, a lead which he held to the finish.

Special thanks should go to Commodore Rhys Lankaster who coped admirably with the shifty winds.

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	411	Steve Bolland	1	3	4	1	1	1	7
2	380	Nick Bolland	3	1	1	2	3	2	9
3	481	Chris Mason	4	2	2	4	2	3	13
4	479	Steve Cook	2	4	3	6	5	4	18
5	395	Gavin Young	5	5	DNC	3	4	DNC	24
6	340	David Lapes	6	6	5	5	6	DNC	28

RSVareo Fat Face Racing Circuit at Bristol Corinthian YC

Two days of smashing spring weather awaited the Vareos at Bristol Corinthian YC last weekend, where the Fat Face circuit event was held on a large reservoir with the Mendip hills and Cheddar Gorge as a backdrop. Winds on Saturday were F3-4, with a few gusts for extra entertainment. Winds on Sunday were a more relaxing F2-3, with some big holes and shifts making the races something of a lottery.

Luke Fisher maintained his winning form, gaining first place overall. Martin Barrett deserved a prize just for travelling all the way from Yorkshire, taking around 5 hours; second place and some very close racing with Luke were some consolation. A new face in a Vareo, John Lapes of BCYC, steadily improved his form over the weekend, culminating in wins for races 5 and 6 and third place overall. Another new face was Tim Greenwood of Chew Valley SC who has come from sailing a Laser. His Vareo was easily identified by a striking all black spinnaker, skull and cross-bones are on order!

As Class Rep, it is very encouraging seeing new faces appearing at each event and also the amount of interest that the Vareo is continuing to generate. Pity that I disabled myself from sailing on Sunday by misjudging a port/starboard situation on Saturday and discovering that the corner of a Vareo transom is much harder than my skinny torso! Moral: if in doubt tack.

Graham Cooper

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	210	Luke Fisher	1	1	2	1	4	3	8
2	142	Martin Barrett	5	2	1	2	3	2	10
3	239	John Lapes	6	8	5	4	1	1	17
4	208	Stephen Robertson	8	3	3	3	6	7	22
5	162	Christopher Froehlich	4	9	9	5	2	5	25
6	261	Tim Greenwood	DNC	5	6	8	5	4	28
7	221	Robin Sanders	7	4	8	7	7	8	33
8	161	Simon Chapman	3	7	4	DNC	DNC	DNC	36
9	193	Graham Cooper	2	6	7	DNC	DNC	DNC	37
10	154	Mike Sheehan	9	DNF	DNF	6	8	6	40

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