Results / RS600 Eurocup YC Carnac - 27/07/2009

Having been lured to Carnac with the promise of a reliable sea breeze and interesting waves, the 600 fleet were not disappointed.  The fleet was also pleased to welcome some newcomers to the class, especially Gil who had travelled from southern France to sail with other RS600s for the first time.

Day 1

Day 1 was hot and sunny with a 20 knot breeze and a short, steep chop.  The opening race of the event saw the fleet being a tad line-shy, with nobody crossing the start until at least 20 seconds after the gun.  Andy Heissig revelled in the Solent like conditions and led start to finish, winning by a large margin.  James Sainsbury capsized on lap 2 allowing the fleet to pass, but fought back to third with Dave Annan finishing second.

In race 2 the fleet managed to start on time.  Sainsbury attempted a port end flyer but was forced to cross behind the fleet.  Annan reached the windward mark first closely followed by Heissig.  Annan and Heissig swapped places several times with Annan winning by forcing Heissig to gybe outside him at the final mark.

The evening saw all the fleets together for the welcome buffet at the yacht club.  Setting the trend for the week, much beer was consumed and a good time was had by all.

Day 2

The wind had dropped to a more manageable 8-12 knots allowing the newcomers to the class to join in more than the previous day. 

In race 3 Sainsbury showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet and led start to finish.  Annan fell over on the run allowing both Heissig and Giles Chipperfield past to take second and third respectively.  In the middle of the fleet James Nuttall and Paul Dacey were also having a good fight.

Annan and Sainsbury started race 4 at the pin end with the rest of the fleet at the committee boat.  Annan reached the windward mark first and led to the end.  Sainsbury and Heissig had a very tight battle on the run almost resulting in swims by both.  Heissig finished in second just one length ahead of Sainsbury.  Nuttall sailed a solid race beating both Chipperfield and Dacey to finish fourth.

That evening Annan’s rudder pintle was looking like it was about to become detached from the boat.  With the help of the LDC boys the boat spent the night standing on two chairs with its nose in the air while a repair was done.  Naturally wanting to check on the boat, Annan and Nuttall returned to the boat park at about midnight having had one or two beers only to be thrown out by the security guard who was not taking any messing about!  On their way back to the campsite, they were then stopped by the police for not having lights on their bikes.  Nuttall used the universal excuse when you are in trouble in France – “Je suis Anglais!”

Day 3

The wind picked up again for day 3.  The forecasters were warning of 60 kph winds due to arrive ‘sometime in the afternoon’.  The fleet set up for big breeze and headed out to the race area.

Race 5 saw Annan and Heissig battling it out in the lead.  As the fleet approached the downwind mark, the 200 fleet suddenly charged off the start having had a recall.  Annan and Heissig passed in front of the 200s and got away from the pack who became entangled with the 200s.  On the last beat, it was the leader’s turn to mix with the 200s.  Annan capsized amidst a mass of 200s giving Heissig the win and allowing Sainsbury to catch up.  Annan rounded the last mark with Sainsbury right behind him and putting the pressure on.  Being totally focussed on the flat out reach to the finish, Annan mistook Sainsbury’s screams for pleasure and thought he had been beaten, only to turn around and realise that Sainsbury had capsized two boat lengths from the finish.  Sainsbury watched as both Chipperfield and Nuttall sailed past before managing to right his boat and cross the finish. 

The next few minutes where highly entertaining as the fleet watched, and heard Sainsbury have a ‘sense of humour failure’ and throw his water bottle out of the boat in disgust.  He then decided he was thirsty and spent the next 10 minutes trying to recover it!

Annan and Heissig resumed their duel in Race 6.  The whole way round there was never more then a few boat lengths in it.  Annan held the advantage upwind, and Heissig downwind.  Heissig rounded the final mark just ahead, only for Annan to blast underneath him on the final reach to take the win.  Needless to say, after such a close race in big breeze and waves, both were totally exhausted!

On returning to shore, Nuttall realised that his wing was about to break and the shroud u-bolt – a potentially regatta ending breakage.  After a quick brainstorming session which involved ideas such as couriering out a new wing from the UK and using a broken 800 bowsprit, Gil Potie proved to be the hero at his first 600 event by obtaining a piece of old Laser mast that was used to patch the wing back together and keep Nuttall on the water.

Day 4

The breeze dropped to just 10 knots for day 4, but the sun was still shining!

Sainsbury led to the windward mark in Race 7, followed by Annan, Heissig, Chipperfield and Dacey.  Annan lost out to all three on the run, then proceeded to capsize on lap two to fall back to sixth.  Meanwhile Sainsbury sailed off into the distance followed by Heissig.  Chipperfield finished third and Annan recovered to fourth after a very tight battle with Nuttall and Dacey on the final run.

Having spotted a big lift on the right of the course, Annan started race 8 at the committee boat end of the line despite a fairly large port bias.  He immediately tacked and headed out to the right, taking advantage of the lift.  The rest of the fleet headed left.  Annan reached the windward mark with an unassailable lead and won.  The rest of the pack had a close race resulting Sainsbury finishing second and Heissig third.

With one day to go, Annan topped the leader board with a narrow two point lead over Heissig.  With the second discard coming into play, the gap in the fleet closed up and everyone had the potential to change places on the last day.

Day 5

It would be fair to say there were a few nerves on Friday morning amongst some of the fleet.  Having narrowly missed out on winning the Eurocup on several occasions, Annan was trying to focus and was doing his best to ignore all the attempts by certain others to wind him up.  Was history about to repeat itself?

The fleet headed out in less than 4 knots of breeze.  After a wait of over an hour, enough wind filled in with only enough time left for one race.

Annan and Heissig started at the pin end with Sainsbury at the middle of the line and tacking early to head for the right hand side of the course.  Sainsbury got to the windward mark first closely followed by Annan and Heissig.  At the end of the first lap Sainsbury had started to build a lead, Annan was second with Heissig just one boat length behind.  On the second beat, Annan and Heissig became overly focussed on their own battle, allowing Nuttall past into second place, which he held on to score his best result of the week.  Heissig squeezed past Annan to finish third with Annan fourth.  Well done to Declan Clamp who showed steady improvement all week and scored his best result of the event.

This left Annan and Heissig on equal points at the end of the event, exactly as it had been two years earlier at the Eurocup in Travemunde.  This time though, it was Annan who had the advantage on count-back to win the 2009 Eurocup.