Bayliss shows his form again

A report from the RS700 Fat Face Eurocup event at Fragelia della Riva, Lake Garda

A strong fleet of RS700s made the long trip to one of the Worlds great sailing venues - Riva del Garda on the northern shores of Lake Garda, and were treated to a classic week of true Garda conditions. Sun, wind and great sailing made for a truly enjoyable week, expertly organised by the RS Class Assocation (sponsored by Fat Face) and the Fraglia Vela Riva del Garda.

Reigning national champion Paul Bayliss has had a very quiet season by his standards due to family commitments and Sunday's practice sail saw some dismal boat handling, plenty of capsize practice, and a few smirks on the faces of his fellow competitors.

However, Bayliss seemed to be getting them out of the way as once the competition started it was business as usual as he set about the very serious business of keeping the boat upright and winning races… and the regatta with straight bullets to count.

A comfortable second place was taken by Dave Geal, who scored a first, and no less than five second places but never really looked like challenging for the overall top spot. Jerry Wales was going very fast in some races and with some awesome boat handling looked comfortable in the breeze, and took the only other race win to take third overall by some margin.

Buzz Keck came into the class just over a year ago and has been learning with each event, and he brought this to fruition at Garda with five top five positions for the week consolidating a solid performance to come fourth. Just half a point separated the next three positions with Steve Butcher pipping the German sailor Christian Brandt on count-back, with these two edging out Nigel Walbank by just half a point.

Overall, a fantastic week racing and a good warm up for the Nationals to be held in Weymouth later on in August.