RS Feva Hill Head Open

by Debbie Darling on 23 Oct 2008 The RS Feva Hill Head Open was the first breezy event since the summer and was a triumph for Eilidh McIntyre and Vicky Payne. Also performing superbly were Tim Norris and his new crew Mollie Knowlden who beat Hugo Jones-Warner and James Poyner on a tie break for second.

The wind had settled in at an average 22-25Kn from the southwest for the day by the time the first race started. The race team has set a fairly short inner trapezoid course with multiple loops of the inner sausage to get to the desired race time. The hot 3 sprang out of the traps together with Will Lowes and Hugo Tucker.

Eilidh got to the windward mark first followed by Will. Here the wave practice from Whitstable came in useful as Will streaked past Eilidh. Ultimately though Hugo beat them both to the leeward mark with Tim trying to close the gap on the leading 3. Will got undone though by his tiller extension parting company from the tiller in what it universally known not to be a fast move. Eilidh took advantage to ignite the afterburners and smoke off into the distance for a whopping win with Hugo second and Tim third.

The conditions were sufficiently fierce to force some boats to retire and this attrition continued all afternoon. In the second race Eilidh & Vikki motored for the horizon again with a repeat performance leaving Hugo/James & Tim/Molly to also repeat their first race results.

By now tiredness was getting to everyone. This ‘flatoutwarpfactoradrenalinepumping’ sailing seems to have an endurance side effect.

This time Tim and Molly sailed out of their skins to win with Hugo and James very frustrated about getting bad knot in the kite to record a third. The third was battling though and it was a phenomenal performance in the circumstances to rescue that result. But in a 3 race, no discard series we all know it ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Eilidh & Vicky might have thought they could hear her warming her voice up given that they had 2 wins and were in second place 30 yards from the finish BUT... At 20 yards from the finish their mast broke spectacularly whilst flying with kite up.

From the shore people were anxiously bobbing up and down to see if they could make the line. Vicky was trying to act like a human sail. The tide was still sluicing to the west. Lucky the finish was also to the west but the line was only some 30 yards long! Eventually they drifted trough the line to record the first ever finish by a Feva without a rig (We’ve done backwards and upside down before).

A great maiden victory then for the dynamic girls from HISC and ESC. Hugo and James but should be proud of the salvage job in race 3. Tim and Molly ecstatic that this heavy weather malarkey is to their taste.

Will and Hugo should be pleased for sailing one and a half races without a tiller extension in big waves and 22+ knots. Everyone else did a great job in difficult circumstances and should be looking ahead to a great season finale at Draycote next weekend.

Hill Head should also be proud of the job they did to produce excellent racing in what is always one of the friendliest clubs to visit. Many thanks.

Hill Head SC RS Feva Open - Final overall results

Sailed:3, Discards:0, To count:3, Entries:23, Scoring system:Appendix

Rank	SailNo	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1st	3030	Eilidh McIntyre	Vicky Payne	Hayling Island SC	1.0	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0
2nd	655	Tim Norris	Mollie Knowlden	Warsash SC	3.0	3.0	1.0	7.0	7.0
3rd	936	Hugo Jones Warner	James Poyner	Hayling Island SC	2.0	2.0	3.0	7.0	7.0
4th	2609	Paul Fisk	Jack Fisk	ESC/ESSC	4.0	7.0	4.0	15.0	15.0
5th	2837	Alexandra Orton	Stephanie Orton		5.0	6.0	7.0	18.0	18.0
6th	3001	Charlier Warren	Sophie Andrews	Hayling Island SC	6.0	4.0	12.0	22.0	22.0
7th	1847	Suzannes Peters	Emily Peters	Hayling Island SC	8.0	8.0	8.0	24.0	24.0
8th	365	Amber Brown	James Brown	Burghfield SC	7.0	9.0	9.0	25.0	25.0
9th	843	Steph Webber	Meadhbh Hogg	Hill Head Sc	10.0	11.0	6.0	27.0	27.0
10th	774	Stuart Denyer	Ben Hoddy	Dell Quay SC	9.0	12.0	10.0	31.0	31.0
11th	2416	Alice Masterman	Iona Williams	Hayling Island SC	24.0 DNF	10.0	5.0	39.0	39.0
12th	2509	Cameron Stewart	Oliver Cutbill	Hayling Island SC	24.0 DNF	5.0	11.0	40.0	40.0
13th	2587	Adam Kay	Lisa Kay	Warsash SC	11.0	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNF	59.0	59.0
14th	1286	Georgia Hughes	Madge Poynter	Arun YC	12.0	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	60.0	60.0
15th	34	Deianie Rutter	Islay Grant	Emsworth SC	24.0 DNC	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	571	Lily Summers	Molly Peel	Emsworth SC	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	2890	Charly Capon	Olivia Buckland	Hill Head Sc	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	1226	Will Lowes	Hugo Turner	Whitstable YC / Emsworth SC	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	2012	Pheobe Warren	Tabitha Peel	Emsworth SC	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	1660	Steph Harding	Katherine Colvin	Hollowell SC	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNF	72.0	72.0
15th	2480	Emily Hine	Georgie Houston	Hayling Island SC	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	2600	Ruth Allan	Tessa Allan	Emsworth SC	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0
15th	2574	Jim Sowden	Jamie Tarant	Highlffe SC	24.0 DNF	24.0 DNS	24.0 DNS	72.0	72.0