Another victory for Pindar Radii

The final round of the 18ft Skiff European Grand Prix has come to a close

The final day of the European 18ft Skiff Grand Prix in Carnac provided a fitting end to this event and the European season. After a glassy calm met the teams early in the morning, the sun finally stirred up a thermal breeze that allowed two races to be run before the end time limit for racing. The race officer Jack Ramecourt yet again put in a flawless display running both races, and indeed the rest of the regatta, with perfect courses and not afraid to move the marks around to suit the shifting breeze.

In the overall standings, it was for Pindar Radii to just put in a good performance to consolidate their dominant position so far. One more good result would sew it up for them. The battle was very much for second place, with all to play for and only four points seperating the next five teams going into the last day.

Race one saw on form Bodotex (DEN) take an early lead clearly revelling in their new found speed and the tactical input of current 505 world champion Jan Saugmann - this team will be the one to watch in the 2008 season. UTI (SUI) were fighting hard for second place overall as well and did themselves no harm chasing hard on the heels of Bodotex - these two held their positions to the end. Pindar Radii (GBR) pulled through to third after a mediocre start, but this was enough for them to take the event title with a race to spare, and confirm them as European Grand Prix champions for 2007. Gill Wet and Wild (GBR) hung onto fourth place to keep their overall result hopes alive while PICA effectivelly put themselves out of the running for the runner up spot with an uncharacteristic eighth place.

So it was down to the final race to fight it out for second overall, also potentially second overall in the Grand Prix series as Gill Wet and Wild could pip GE Commercial Finance (GBR) at the post if they could secure the runner up spot in this event. The wind by now had got up to a healthy ten knots, but an ominous bank of fog started to form upwind on the Quiberon peninsula. With that the air temperature dropping and the wind increased in strength to provide the teams with a great finale three stringing all the way round the course.

For the first time in the whole event, the race officer put a hint of port bias in the line, and Pindar Radii were the first to spot this and pulled off an audacious port tack start, clearing most of the fleet and heading off to the favoured right hand side of the course. The rest of fleet were pre-occupied with the fight for the second overall, and this left Pindar Radii to sail off into the distance. The race itself was a close one - in the increased breeze, PICA showed of its big wind speed to hang onto second place round the first lap closely followed by Bodotex and their countrymen GP Covers. The fog, however, was going to have a final say in the event - within minutes a thick blanket of mist dropped down onto the course cutting visibility down to 100m and teams were left to do a bit of dead reckoning to get the the next windward mark - all a bit surreal as the breeze stayed in, 18ft skiffs shooting around in top end of the number one rig breeze is fun enough but throw in some fog and it makes it very interesting. The race officer, quick thinking as ever, summoned his race team to the top mark to shorten the race, and the mist briefly lifted to allow the teams to spot the finish - all that is except Bodotex who overshot the mark and would have trailed in last - they scored DNF but luck had done enough in the previous race to secure second overall as Gill Wet and Wild could only manage to get up to fifth in the last race.

So Pindar Radii had a convincing win sewing up this event and the Grand Prix series overall, with GE Commercial just haging onto the runner up spot after a late season charge by Gill Wet and Wild. At the prizegiving, Andy Richards the helm put their winning ways down to a strong team and meticulous boat preparation, and playing each event race by race. So after five events, this brings to the end another very successful European 18ft Skiff season, with participation as healthy as ever and racing closer that it has been for years. All bodes well for 2008, with a number new teams arriving on the circuit and new builds rumoured around the dinghy park - details of next years circuit will be out in the next couple of months - see you all there!

Results:

1-Pindar Radii (GBR) Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley, Dave Richards, 10pts
2-Bodotex (DEN) Saugman Broendum, Jan Saugmann, Martin Friderichsen, 22pts
3-Gill Wet & Wild (GBR) Ed Browne, Mark Addison, Graeme Oliver, 24pts
4-UTI (SUI) Stephan Rueger, Ueli Marti, Res Schurd, 24pts
5-PICA (GBR) James Mears, Simon Hiscocks, Stewart Mears, 26pts
6-GP Covers (DEN) Flemming Clausen, Thomas Ebler, Soren Clausen, 29pts
7-GE Commercial Finance (GBR) Mason Woodworth, Ding Brown, Si Hamilton, 35pts
8-Wet Protect (GER) Werner Gieser, Jan Dicks, Max Freidrich, 49pts
9-G18 (SUI) Pierre Yves Pfirter, Patrick Peyrot, Raphael Pieroni, 60pts
10-Space Model (GER) Dennis Gehulein, Latzi Meissuer, Thomas Eggersclarfer 63pts