RS Fat Face Circuit in weymouth

RS200's, 400's, 800's and Vario's battle for victory

Weymouth and Portland sailing academy played host to the most recent round of the Fat Face RS racing circuit.

RS200

Saturday’s racing was totally dominated by current National Champions Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudrey with two wins plus a second, and 2002 National Champions Tom and Jo Hewitson with two seconds and one win. The only other boats to score three top ten results and remotely live with this pace were Jon Lewis and Katy Nicholl and Ian Pickard and Sarah Taylor.

Sunday, and Dave Derby crewed by daughter Emma dominated race four whilst Steve Dunn and Noelle Vidal, ending their stream of Saturday disasters, finished second ahead of Sue Antonelli and Jo Lloyd. The family theme continued when Phil Sowden crewed by 11 year old son James got the better of early pace setters Cumley and Jones to win from the Derby’s.

By race six, the two leaders from Saturday had the same points. The Hewitsons had the better first beat and were with the leading group, eventually getting the better of Dunn and Vidal to win the race and the event. Remarkably they became the seventh different winner of the seven Fat Face Circuit events so far this season. Cumley and Jones won the silver division whilst Micky Wright and Howie Enkal scored what could prove an important second place in 15th overall. Joanna Wotton and Nigel Harniman just beat Alan Tarrent and Dale Phillips to win the bronze division.

Class Rep Trudie Danbury and Karen Baker are now two points clear of Pete Vincent and Tessa Nicholls with Dunn and Vidal and Pickard and Taylor only three points further behind in the Fat Face Circuit overall. With two events left Sydenham and Vaudrey could take control with one more good result. Matt and Emma Jenkins are in the lead overall in the silver division but will have to watch Wright and Enkal coming up fast on the rails. The bronze is going to go right down to the wire. Pete Craggs and Phil Nelson are now two points clear of Paul Goodwin and Anna Row but could be caught if Wotton and Harniman score another top thirty result.

RS400

Race one saw Tom Halhead and Christian Humphrey leading the fleet around the windward mark only to suffer a slight navigational faux pas. Saner heads prevailed and Nick Craig and James Stewart sailed through to take the win from Craig Burlton and Andrew Bonsey and Chris Jennings and Ed Nicklin. Craig and Stewart lead from start to finish taking a large win in a monster race two, followed by Jennings and Nicklin and Chris Gowers and June Riley. A lap was chopped off for the final race of the day with Jennings and Nicklin taking the bullet to leave them with a third, a second and a first for the day, sadly this was all they had time for and legged it home on sat night. Craig and Stewart were showing ominous consistency with a second, and Burlton and Bonsey in third.

Race four on Sunday got away in about five knots of building breeze, and light weather specialists Rob and Jan Martin made the most of the conditions to take a commanding lead at the windward mark. Despite being put under pressure by Burlton and Bonsey late on they took a well deserved win with Burlton second and Steve Venables and Rich Brown third. The breeze had built to marginal planing conditions for the second race of the day, which the Craig and Stewart team made the most of for another win, whilst Chris Gowers and June Riley’s choice of the left hand side of the course was rewarded with a second, Burlton and Bonsey rounding out the top three. The final race of the day saw Craig and Stewart take an early lead only to be passed by Burlton and Bonsey at the final leeward mark, with Paul Hilliar and Toby Ashton in third. This gave the event to Craig and Stewart, who, despite claiming they’re sailing the boat very little, are showing worryingly good form in the run up to the Nationals.

RS800

37 crews ventured to their next Fat Face Circuit event, and were rewarded with excellent race management, including good start lines and well set courses.

Races one, two and three were dominated by Steve Irish and Martin Gotrel ( Magic Marine), who having rounded the first windward mark just behind Chris Haworth and Stuart Aston, took the lead and never looked back. Haworth and Aston finished second with the improved form of Spod and Jane Olive ( Harken/Sola) third. The first two finishing positions remaining the same in all three races with close racing for third to 12th positions with much place changing amongst the Olives, Paddy Gamble and Fiona Lockwood, Andy Jeffries and Alyson Ody, David and Fiona Sayce and others.

Sunday’s first race was again taken by Irish and Gotrel, although it was close racing for second to fifth places, with the newly arrived Ben and Jenny Vines taking second, Haworth relegated to third but with David and Fiona Sayce, Ben Schooling and Tim Hirst, and Justin Deal all in the “hunt”.

In race five, Irish and Haworth were both OCS, and a close race saw Olive steal the race from Jeffries on the last run with Andy Cornah and Owin Murray recording their best result of the weekend to finish third. In race six the Irish and Gotrel's “luck” finally deserted them and they finished second, allowing Haworth to win with Gamble and Lockwood third, and Batchella and Hayward fourth.

Although Irish and Haworth seemed destined to finish first and second from the outset, several new teams emerged in the top 15 with very close racing, many place changes and improved performances and consistency from several teams boding well for future events.

RS Vareo

The Vareo’s revelled in the perfect Force four to five breeze which allowed exhilarating off wind sailing.

Saturday was dominated by Richard Kemp-Salt who had the best upwind speed in the fleet and won all three races convincingly. Mark Williams couldn't hold Richard upwind but had good downwind speed and scored three seconds. Nigel Tinkler, David Fewings and Nick Crickmore battled out for the other top five places. The lighter weight helms struggled in demanding sailing conditions however the whole fleet came ashore very tired but elated.

Sunday’s lighter breeze turned the overnight predictions of the top three places on its head with Richard dropping to tenth and Mark only managing a fourth. Light wind maestro Chris Froehlich won the race with Tinkler second and Paul Craft third.

Race five, in increasing wind, and Tinkler posted a bullet with Williams stealing a second at the last mark. Kemp-Salt now needed a win to get into the top two positions and led race six closely followed by Williams. He then hoisted his kite for the reach, but the leg was far too tight and he was jumped by half the fleet. In the end Williams comfortably won the race with Paul Craft finishing off a good day with a second. The Merit Prize was won by Ken Miles for being brave enough to attend his first Open even though he had only sailed the Vareo four times.