Volvo RS Feva Grand Prix and Bart’s Bash at Northampton SC

by Debbie Darling on 23 Sep 2014 Northampton Sailing Club hosted the RS Feva Volvo Grand Prix and Bart’s Bash event on September 20/21, with 39 competitors from around the country. The event was the final RYA UK Junior Squad selector, so added an extra pressure to some of the sailors.

Saturday saw an overcast, drizzly start to the morning. The first start got away, all clear, in six knots of breeze despite a starboard line bias. Iain Bird and Jake Hardman were first round the windward mark, closely followed by Henry and Rupert Jameson, with Daniel Lewis and Tristan Payne in third. The top three pulled away in the light downwind conditions. By the second windward mark, Iain and Jake held onto the top spot, but Daniel and Tristan snuck into second place; with Jack Lewis and Lucas Marshall hot on their heels in third. The Race Officer shortened the course with Iain and Jake taking the win; Daniel and Tristan second; Jack and Lucas third.

The breeze dropped to 4-5 knots for race two with no sign of the sun breaking through the low cloud cover. Two boats OCS, but both returned and restarted. A port lift on the first beat helped Rory Odell and Josh Bonsey lead at mark one, second Fin and Dan Armstrong; third Emma Tardrew and Isobel Clark. By the leeward gate Rory and Josh hold onto the top spot with Emma and Isobel up to second, third Fin and Dan. Positions stayed the same for the next lap. Again the course was shortened so Rory and Josh finish first, Fin and Dan second; Emma and Isobel third.

The course was changed due to a shift in the breeze for race 3 with the wind still 5-6 knots. The race got away all clear but another shift made the beat biased so the decision was made to abandon the race. After a successful restart the wind steadied and at the first windward mark it was Matthew Caiger and Niamh Davies, second Tom Holliday and Ollie Dennis, third Jack and Lucas. But all change at the leeward gate as Jack and Lucas get ahead, with two pairs of brothers after that; the Jamesons in second, and the Armstrongs in third. Positions they held to the finish.

Day two heralded beautiful conditions with sunshine and a steady breeze of 10-12 knots.

Bart’s Bash was the first of the three races. A clear start to Bart’s Bash with the fleet spilt going up the beat. Matthew and Niamh lead at first windward mark, second Fin and Dan, third Henry and Rupert. At the first leeward mark, Matthew and Niamh hold onto first place but Jack and Lucas sneak into second with Fin and Dan in third. By the second leeward gate Daniel and Tristan fly downwind leg to round it in second, Fin and Dan hold onto third. Next time round Jack and Lucas climb to third but by the finish Daniel and Tristan took the gun from Matthew and Niamh; third Jack and Lucas.

Lovely warm sunshine, clear skies, great breeze. Perfect conditions for Bart’s Bash….Bart would have loved it.

The breeze picked up to 12 gusting 15 knots in race 5 and it was girls in front at the windward mark. Freya Black and Hattie Cage first, Daniel and Tristan second, Jack and Lucas third. By the second leeward gate Rory and Josh pulled through to lead, Daniel and Tristan second, Jack and Lucas third. By now it was good planing conditions, tight fleet racing, with plenty of opportunity to pick up a few places in the shifts. At the final windward mark Rory and Josh stayed in front and held the lead to the finish; Jack and Lucas moved up to second; Freya and Hattie were in third but were overtaken at the finish by Matthew and Niamh.

The final race saw a very well behaved fleet, and amazingly the black flag had remained in the box all weekend which must be a first! Charlotte Ormerod and Maddie Wylie led at the windward mark; Jack and Lucas in second with Louis Wright and Jamie Allen in third as the breeze shifted and increased to 15 gusting 18 knots. By the leeward gate the girls are still in the lead with the Jameson boys climbing up to second; Louis and Jamie in third. Thereafter, there’s carnage as boats avoid those capsizing! On the next windward mark Daniel and Tristan have fought through to second; and Rory and Josh to third. But there are ‘thrills and spills‘ to come, so the race is far from over. By the gate Rory and Josh pull up to second but by the final windward mark Matthew and Izzi have taken the lead whilst Charlotte and Maddie drop to second, the Jamesons are in third. But by the finish it was ‘birthday boy’ Henry Jameson and brother Rupert taking the gun from Matthew and Izzi whilst Charlotte and Maddie had to settle for third.

The close battle in the final race resulted in Rory and Josh finishing on equal points with Jack and Lucas but taking the win on discard.

Results as of 13:50 on September 21, 2014

Overall

Sailed: 6, Discards: 1, To count: 5, Entries: 39, Scoring system: Appendix A - RS Feva Series Tie

Rank	Sail Number	Helm Name	Crew Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	2510	Rory Odell	Josh Bonsey	Northampton SC & HISC	(9.0)	1.0	4.0	4.0	1.0	5.0	24.0	15.0
2nd	4945	Jack Lewis	Lucas Marshall	Draycote Water	3.0	6.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	(28.0)	43.0	15.0
3rd	5626	Matthew Caiger	Niamh Davies	Sevenoaks School / Bewl Valley SC & Burn	6.0	(8.0)	6.0	2.0	3.0	6.0	31.0	23.0
4th	5450	Daniel Lewis	Tristan Payne	DWSC & HISC	2.0	(9.0)	8.0	1.0	5.0	8.0	33.0	24.0
5th	5763	Henry Jameson	Rupert Jameson	HISC	7.0	7.0	2.0	7.0	(23.0)	1.0	47.0	24.0
6th	5029	Iain Bird	Jake Hardman	HISC	1.0	4.0	7.0	8.0	(10.0)	4.0	34.0	24.0
7th	4890	Fin Armstrong	Dan Armstrong	RTYC	8.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	9.0	(14.0)	41.0	27.0
8th	5161	Matthew Leckie	Izzi Bristow	LLSC	(13.0)	5.0	5.0	6.0	12.0	2.0	43.0	30.0
9th	5000	Charlotte Ormerod	Maddie Wylie	Oxford Sailing Club & Ripon Sailing Club	4.0	10.0	12.0	(17.0)	6.0	3.0	52.0	35.0
10th	4631	Freya Black	Harriet Cage	HISC & Thames SC	5.0	18.0	(20.0)	11.0	4.0	9.0	67.0	47.0
11th	5517	Liam Willis	Arran Mills	Lymington Town SC	11.0	15.0	(22.0)	16.0	7.0	10.0	81.0	59.0
12th	3638	Alice Edmonds	Louis Gibbs	Chew Valley Lake SC	14.0	11.0	9.0	(24.0)	11.0	18.0	87.0	63.0
13th	5494	Emma Tardrew	Isobel Clark	HISC	17.0	3.0	(40.0 DSQ)	12.0	25.0	7.0	104.0	64.0
14th	5775	Tom Holliday	Ollie Dennis	Emsworth Sailing Club	12.0	17.0	15.0	9.0	(20.0)	13.0	86.0	66.0
15th	51	Toby Mizzi	Tom Callan	Littleton SC	18.0	19.0	10.0	14.0	8.0	(24.0)	93.0	69.0
16th	4963	Louis Wright	Jamie Allen	HISC	(20.0)	16.0	11.0	13.0	14.0	15.0	89.0	69.0
17th	2508	Jess Jobson	Caitlin Webster	RTYC	15.0	13.0	16.0	15.0	15.0	(19.0)	93.0	74.0
18th	5537	Pierce Harris	Alfie Cogger	Windermere School	16.0	21.0	17.0	(27.0)	18.0	12.0	111.0	84.0
19th	4530	Michael Dyer	Samuel Dyer	Herne Bay Sailing Club	22.0	22.0	13.0	(30.0)	13.0	23.0	123.0	93.0
20th	5732	Toby Atherton	Matthew Bamber	RVYC&Ryde School	10.0	14.0	24.0	20.0	(35.0)	32.0	135.0	100.0
21st	4766	Lisa Rose	Lily Lewington	Aldeburgh Yacht Club	(36.0)	32.0	28.0	10.0	19.0	16.0	141.0	105.0
22nd	922	Chris Conlan	Josh Relph	Bowmoor	19.0	12.0	19.0	26.0	(32.0)	30.0	138.0	106.0
23rd	4385	Jude McFarlane Bond	Eric McFarlane Bond	Baltic Wharf Sailing Club	26.0	(27.0)	26.0	22.0	22.0	11.0	134.0	107.0
24th	4635	Lorelei Bates	Felicity Allen	Bowmoor & CBYC	21.0	23.0	27.0	21.0	17.0	(35.0)	144.0	109.0
25th	1664	Peter Baddeley	Lily Ellis	HISC & Gunard	28.0	(33.0)	18.0	25.0	28.0	17.0	149.0	116.0
26th	3792	India Edwards	Fin Maciver	Shorpshire & Chester	27.0	20.0	14.0	(34.0)	31.0	25.0	151.0	117.0
27th	3774	Flossie Tanner	Ollie Perry	SilverWing Sailing Club	23.0	26.0	21.0	23.0	24.0	(27.0)	144.0	117.0
28th	5627	William Caiger	Caitlin Atkin	New Beacon School / Bewl Valley SC & Dow	25.0	(28.0)	25.0	28.0	27.0	20.0	153.0	125.0
29th	4989	Charlie Howden	Marcus Hobson	Bewl Valley	31.0	25.0	23.0	(33.0)	30.0	22.0	164.0	131.0
30th	4984	Anna Zuurmond	Philomena Ala	Mengeham Rythe Sailing	24.0	29.0	32.0	(36.0)	21.0	29.0	171.0	135.0
31st	2046	Ethan Gerrell	Alex Ellis Thomas	King George/ WRC	29.0	(34.0)	31.0	19.0	26.0	34.0	173.0	139.0
32nd	3357	Tallulah Atkin	Anna Rowe	Island Barn RSC	(34.0)	30.0	30.0	32.0	29.0	21.0	176.0	142.0
33rd	5630	Thomas Bale	Amy Bale	South Caernarfonshire Yacht Club	30.0	24.0	29.0	31.0	36.0	(37.0)	187.0	150.0
34th	5631	Ewan Luke	Daisy Lee-Brown	Rydal Penrhos School/Llandudno SC & Ryda	32.0	(40.0 DNC)	40.0 DNC	18.0	40.0 OCS	26.0	196.0	156.0
35th	4625	Dermot Gannon	James Gent	Burghfield S C	(40.0 DNC)	40.0 DNC	40.0 DNC	29.0	16.0	33.0	198.0	158.0
36th	5175	Edward Elmore	Henry Petty Mayor	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	33.0	31.0	33.0	(35.0)	34.0	31.0	197.0	162.0
37th	982	Zac Blomeley	Fraser Williams	Rydal Penrhos	(38.0)	37.0	35.0	38.0	33.0	36.0	217.0	179.0
38th	2093	Lelia Peckham	Emily Topliss	Redesmere Sailing Club	35.0	36.0	34.0	37.0	37.0	(38.0)	217.0	179.0
39th	1	Paula Folino-Juanola	Nia Seenan	Rydal Penrhos	37.0	35.0	36.0	39.0	(40.0 DNC)	40.0 DNC	227.0	187.0

For more results, click here.

A huge thank you to Northampton Sailing Club for proving excellent hosts; thanks to Volvo Cars UK for their continued support of the UK RS Feva Class.