RS European Championships Day 1 overall

by David Smart on 27 May 2015 RS European Championships – Day 1 - After Giles Peckham's butlers had unpacked his boat, the fleet of 20 boats from six nations was ready to set sail. The wind wasn't playing ball, so a postponement of an hour was called to allow the wind to fill in from the West.

The first race was started in a Force two to three with a starboard bias line. Jon Holroyd and Mark Harrison quickly tacked right into pressure and a right hand shift. Others who went right also fared well. Holroyd and Harrison led at the first mark followed by Giles Peckham and Clive Eplett with Huw Powell and David Smart in hot pursuit. The next leg on the trapezoid course was a tight reach where to set or not to set was the question. The leading boats hoisted but could not lay the mark and had to drop. Smart went high and hoisted half way down the reach, overtaking Peckham and Eplett. Down the run Peckham picked off Eplett. Up the second beat Smart went left and found pressure to take him up to second behind Holroyd, but down the run he found a hole to let Powell and Harrison through.

Holroyd took the gun with a very disgruntled Powell getting no signal across the line because he'd been OCS, allowing Harrison to take second with Smart third Al Hall fourth and Clive Eplett fifth.

After one false start with a big hole stopping everyone getting to the line, the second start was port biased, but it paid to tack off early for pressure on the right. Jon Holroyd showed high speed in the lighter breeze and pulled away with Clive Eplett using his light wind pond expertise to great effect. They led round the windward mark by miles. The following group was the Isle of Wight duo of Mark Harrison and Giles Peckham. All went hunting pressure downwind, but there were few place changes until what turned out to be the final beat with a shortened course. Holroyd and Eplett went right, with Harrison and Peckham up the middle, which turned into another big hole. Smart and Cunningham from the back of the fleet banged the left corner and found pressure, getting even Holroyd and Eplett worried, but they held on with Holroyd taking the gun again with Eplett second, Cunningham third and Smart fourth. Behind was Harrison with Tim Le Mare sixth until he hit the finish mark. Lots of encouragement from Harrison meant Le Mare went round again to finish behind Powell and Giles Chipperfield.

Day two
Sunday dawned with very light winds and an hour's postponement until the sea breeze kicked in around force three building to four.

Race three saw the ever fast Holroyd fly off the line with Peckham showing impeccable shift selection to round the windward mark second. Next was Cunningham with Smart on his transom. On the long white sail reach Smart squeezed past Cunningham while Powell nipped past Cunningham on the inside. Powell was revelling in the stronger breeze and got past Smart on the run and try to catch Holroyd. At the bottom mark, Peckham's main trimmer got the main sheet twisted around the spinnaker halyard leading to a painfully poor drop seeing Peckham lose six places.

The trimmer was sacked from Peckham's crew with the remaining team trying their best to make up for lost time. Otherwise the front end remained unchanged until the final reach to the finish when Cunningham was again passed by the Wight due of Harrison and Peckham and the fast finishing Alberto Zamo.

Race four
The slightly starboard biased line had Holroyd start mid-line but still show everyone a clean transom. Powell worked his way through the fleet for another second place while Smart again Rolled Cunningham on the reach to take third ahead of Cunningham, Harrison and Zamo who was enjoying the stronger breeze.

Race five
In his infinite wisdom, the race officer lengthened the first beat for the tiring sailors by about 250m favouring those with lots of stamina. It made no difference to Holroyd who sped away from mid-line to lead again, with Powell in close company. Behind them was a close battle between Cunningham, Harrison, Smart and Angus Jolly. Places changed both upwind and downwind with each taking third spot at various stages, but Cunningham showed most stamina to take third from Harrison with Smart just squeezing inside Jolly at the final Mark.

After two days Jon Holroyd leads with four points, followed by Powell (12), but sweating on his OCS, Smart (13), Harrison (15), Cunningham (17), then Zamo, Hall and Jolly in the late 20's.

Race six
The first attempt at the race was abandoned towards the end of the first beat with the wind dying.
The second attempt got away into a dying breeze which came in from the left, which was where Jon Holroyd was along with Clive Eplett, Michel Rotach, Angus Jolly and Neil Harris. The next beam reach turned into a run and then a beat causing some consternation and spinnakers going up and down faster than a whores drawers. After rounding the reaching Mark and bearing away to a run, the leading boats were enjoying the romp, but with the suspicion that the wind may do something odd at any stage. The course was shortened to finish at the top of the beat, with the sea breeze filling slowly from the left. Smart followed Al Hall, who had also spotted this, and used a get out of jail free card to sail left and around the majority of the fleet to finish fifth behind the relieved Harrison, with Al Hall grabbing second.

Race seven
The sea breeze kicked in from the West making for perfect sailing conditions in a steady force four. Al Hall got a peachy pin end start and crossed the fleet, but Harrison was positively revelling in the conditions and beat Holroyd to the windward mark, amazing the first time anyone had rounded a mark ahead of Jon. They were followed by Hall, Peckham, Cunningham and Smart. Smart rolled Cunningham on the reach and went left on the run to round the bottom Mark second behind Holroyd. Unfortunately Harrison had failed to secure his spinnaker sheets. What ensued was a complete unravelling of spinnaker sheets which flew out of the blocks leaving Harrison without a kite. The air was blue with phrases like 'why does it only b****y well happen when your winning?' The lead almost changed again when an RS500 attempted a gybe drop and nearly capsized on Holroyd who dodged then sped away to take yet another bullet with Smart second and Powell third followed by Peckham, Cunningham and Rotach who was enjoying the breeze.

Race eight
The sea breeze was in full swing at the top end of force four. Powell and Holroyd flew off the centre of the start line to take an unassailable lead with Cunningham in a comfortable third. Behind them, places changed on every tack, with Alberto Zamu, Harrison, Chipperfield, Jolly, Peckham and Smart all in the mix. Holroyd took his eighth straight win from Powell then Cunningham, with Rotach fourth showing that the tough get going when the going gets tough.

With two races to go, Holroyd finds himself in the enviable position of winning the Europeans with two races to spare. Behind him are Powell on 17 points with two bad discards making it sneaky bum time for the final two races with Smart on 20 and Harrison and Cunningham both on 20 points and ready to pounce.

Full results