Gilbert and Willan unstoppable

The RS200 Fat Face event at Draycote was won in straight bullets

64 RS200s arrived at DWSC (along with some RS800s for entertainment between races) for the first round of the Fat Face national circuit and were met with a lovely force three breeze and sunshine. That wasn’t going to last for long though!

The first race saw the fleet away at the second attempt under a black flag, with ten boats being a bit eager. There were no problems for Roger Gilbert and Jane Willan though, who led all the way round to take victory, closely followed by James Stewart and Ruth Johnson and Chris Martin and Rachael Harrison.

Race two started with slightly more breeze and only a short delay (to allow Dave Giles to get out of the way in his new RS800). Half way through the race, Gilbert and Willan were well clear, but the sight of a huge black cloud over Windsor castle was ominous. Within a few minutes the fleet were hit by a huge hail squall, making visibility almost nil and seeing the wind gust to 44 knots. This didn’t bother Marshal King and Emma Clarke or Nick Charles and Juliet Kingsnorth though, who stayed upright to finish second and third.

The wind stayed up for the third race, to give some great downwind sailing. Gilbert and Willan completed a perfect day with another bullet, an embarrassing distance ahead, King and Clarke were again second and Stewart and Johnson enjoyed their second top three result of the day in third.

Sunday morning saw the fleet rise to find three inches of snow over the clubhouse and their boats and a blizzard! However, by 09.30 it had stopped snowing. After a short postponement the fleet were called onto the water with many questioning the parentage of the race officer as they looked at the weather station recording -2 with wind chill and only four knots.

A slightly reduced fleet got under way for the fourth race in a patchy seven to eight knots. Roy McCubbin and Kirsty McSeveney looked to have sailed into an impressive lead but Gilbert and Willan steadily eroded this lead to take first place on lap three to win with Eddie Whitehead and Karen Baker third. The wind had slightly built for race five but remained patchy. David Stead and Noelle Vidal led for a period but again Gilbert and Willan powered through to win with Gareth Robinson and Sarah Holland third.

Gilbert and Willan now headed for a warm shower, race six started with the air temperature slowly climbing and the wind building for a very open race. McCubbin and McSeveney, Ellie Martin and Katherine Lovering and Steve Dunn and Rachael Jones all had brief spells in the lead before King and Clarke and Pete Vincent and Tessa Nicholls pulled clear. Charles and Kingsnorth recovered from somewhere in the thirties to nearly claim the win on the final run but King and Clarke clung on to win.

The final leg to the finish was a flat out three sail reach as the sun appeared; well done to PRO Mike Firth and his team for braving the condition to run three good races. McCubbin and McSeveney made the long trip from Scotland worthwhile with tenth overall and winning the silver division ahead of John and Pat Teague and Mike Chapman and Lynne Radcliffe. Paul and Corinne Whitbread won the bronze division from Julian Sawyer and Liz Teague and Sue Spring and Ed Impey.

Round two of the RS200 Fat Face racing circuit is at Draycote in two weeks time with a Mexican theme night, another big fleet guaranteed but can we have some more stable weather.

Results:

Rank	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot	Net
1st	Roger Gilbert	Jane Willan	Frensham Pond SC	1	1	1	1	1	(65.0 DNC)	70	5
2nd	Marshall King	Emma Clarke		7	2	2	-9	4	1	25	16
3rd	Nick Charles	Juliet Kingsnorth	Littleton SC	-9	3	4	4	7	2	29	20
4th	Andrew Peters	Jeraldine Peters	King & Queen YC	10	10	6	5	-17	5	53	36
5th	Ed Whitehead	Karen Baker	Filey/Parkstone	(65.0 BFD)	9	11	3	5	9	102	37
6th	James Hewart	Ruth Johnson	South Staffs	2	11	3	-19	14	10	59	40
7th	Pete Vincent	Tessa Nichols	Bristol CYC	13	6	13	16	-29	3	80	51
8th	David Steed	Noelle Vidal	RYA	-24	7	22	20	2	12	87	63
9th	Matt Jenkins	Emma Jenkins	Sheffield Viking SC	27	17	8	8	8	(65.0 BFD)	133	68
10th	Roy McCubbin	Kirsty McSeveney	Strathclyde Loch SC	22	16	-26	2	12	17	95	69
11th	Sarah Taylor	Lucy Matthews	Locks SC	17	-23	18	7	13	16	94	71
12th	Ian Pickard	Lucy Matthews	RYA	8	12	7	-32	20	30	109	77
13th	John Teague	Patricia Teague	Bristol Corinthian YC	16	-35	25	21	10	6	113	78
14th	Simon Gillow	Adam Page	Chipstead SC	18	-31	14	14	21	11	109	78
15th	Mike Chapman	Lynne Radcliffe	Bexhill SC	14	14	16	12	22	-26	104	78
16th	Gareth Robinson	Sarah Holland	Littleton SC	11	29	-35	17	3	24	119	84
17th	Sue Antonelli	Jo Lloyd	Littleton SC	(65.0 BFD)	13	27	11	18	15	149	84
18th	James Boyce	Sarah Hornby	Papercourt SC	5	-39	9	18	32	22	125	86
19th	Trudie Fell	Graeme Ryder	Burghfield SC	20	-36	10	24	25	21	136	100
20th	Chris Martin	Rach Harrison	Burghfield SC	3	8	5	26	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	172	107
21st	Micky Wright	Claire Wood	Maylandsea Bay SC	15	-47	29	29	31	4	155	108
22nd	Rosie Sands	Andy Williams		12	-48	39	28	15	18	160	112
23rd	Jess Blick	Lauren Spring	Exe SC	(65.0 BFD)	32	33	15	6	29	180	115
24th	Ian Maclean	Helen Wishtman	Royal Forth YC	21	-51	17	25	34	19	167	116
25th	Katrina Gilbert	Jenny Rust	Frensham Pond SC	25	4	20	6	(65.0 BFD)	65.0 DNC	185	120
26th	Steven Greaves	Susanna Bickford	Rickmansworth SC	41	-44	23	13	38	8	167	123
27th	Andrew Gill	Ian Gill	Wembley SC	-36	20	32	22	26	23	159	123
28th	John Gill	Judy Faulds	Wembley SC	28	34	-47	39	24	7	179	132
29th	Rosie Brearley	Tom Brearley	Littleton SC	(65.0 BFD)	26	49	10	28	25	203	138
30th	Sam Tozwer	Katy Nichol	Papercourt SC	(65.0 BFD)	19	40	27	19	34	204	139
31st	Ryan Spring	Leanne Bland	Exe SC	37	-43	30	31	9	38	188	145
32nd	Roger tait	Georgie Hill	Shetland Sailing Centre	23	28	38	(65.0 BFD)	23	33	210	145
33rd	Liz Jaime	Ross McKerchan	Oxford SC	19	25	34	-42	36	35	191	149
34th	Andrew Boyce	Clare Michelmore	Papercourt SC	29	-52	31	38	27	32	209	157
35th	Rob Janering	Marianthe Evangeledis	Wembley SC	4	15	12	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	226	161
36th	Jon Paton	Lucy Preston	Papercourt SC	39	-54	36	45	11	31	216	162
37th	Steve Dunn	Rachel Jones	Wembley SC	(65.0 BFD)	37	15	37	16	65.0 DNC	235	170
38th	Paul Whitbread	Corinne Whitbread	Burghfield SC	30	30	(65.0 DNC)	33	65.0 BFD	13	236	171
39th	Katharine Lavering	Ellie Martin	Burghfield SC	34	-58	46	40	41	14	233	175
40th	Toby Ashton	Rachel Ashton	Burghfield SC	-47	46	21	43	40	27	224	177
41st	Simon Benson	Janice Higginson	Derwent Reservoir SC	33	21	37	23	(65.0 BFD)	65.0 BFD	244	179
42nd	Martin Vinson	Heidi Vinson	Littleton SC	(65.0 BFD)	50	28	36	30	36	245	180
43rd	Charlie Odell	Karen Falcon	Netley SC	(65.0 BFD)	53	19	34	37	40	248	183
44th	Chris Woodard	Linda Woodard	Deben	43	-55	24	44	33	39	238	183
45th	Hannah Yvill	Wendy Minns		40	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	30	35	20	255	190
46th	Stephen Janering	Jane Hill	Wembley SC	6	5	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	271	206
47th	Julian Sawyer	Liz Teague	BCYC	48	49	-51	35	39	37	259	208
48th	Sue Spring	Ed Impey	Exe SC	42	45	42	(65.0 BFD)	45	42	281	216
49th	Emma Johnson	Penny Johnson	SCSC	45	-59	53	47	44	41	289	230
50th	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan	Netley SC	54.5	41	50	46	43	(65.0 DNC)	299.5	234.5
51st	Nigel Harniman	Kathryn Sharman	Wembley SC	44	22	43	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	304	239
52nd	Iain Horlock	Edward Pearce	Exe SC	46	(65.0 DNF)	65.0 DNF	41	65.0 BFD	28	310	245
53rd	Patch Fillery	Sarah Skirton	Littleton SC	35	18	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	313	248
54th	Wes Kanours	Jo Munizo	BCYC	53	(65.0 DNF)	65.0 DNC	48	42	43	316	251
55th	Phil Sowden	Jim Sowden	Highcliffe SC	26	33	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	319	254
56th	Trevor Rawlins	Barry Rawlinns	Littleton SC	32	27	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	319	254
57th	Andy Blackwell	Ross Howell	Littleton SC	(65.0 BFD)	24	45	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	329	264
58th	Phil Waind	Sonya Waind	Wembley SC	31	38	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	329	264
59th	Tony Wakeling	Kate Wakeling	Wembley SC	52	40	44	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	331	266
60th	Paul Smalley	Claire Usherwood	CVLSC	51	42	48	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	336	271
61st	Paul Lewis	Felicity Pearson	Burghfield SC	38	(65.0 BFD)	41	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	339	274
62nd	Paul Goodwin	Jo Holden	Draycote Water SC	50	56.5	52	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	353.5	288.5
63rd	James Bayliss	Lucinda Hasll-Jones	Littleton SC	49	60	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	369	304
64th	Paul Weedon	Lany Gibson	Queen Mary SC	54.5	56.5	(65.0 DNC)	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	65.0 DNC	371	306