RS Feva Grand Prix at Northampton SC

by Debbie Darling on 9 Oct 2012

2012 Bolle RS Feva Grand Prix Debbie Darling

The Bolle RS Feva Grand Prix was hosted by Northampton SC on October 6/7. The event was the second GP in the national series and the final selector for many of the winter squads. RS Feva Class Secretary, Debbie Darling, learned to sail at NSC and was happy to take on the role as PRO for the weekend.

Some families arrived on the Friday evening and had to endure torrential rain keeping them awake in their campervans and tents, but Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny with a light NW 4 – 8 knots of breeze. With a forecast of no wind for Sunday the fleet was advised that four races may be sailed.

After a short 10 minute postponement the 45 boat fleet got away. There were big shifts across the course and at times the boats on either side of the course were looking good and laying the windward mark. In the end it was Robbie King + Will Bedford leading at the first mark only to be overtaken by Max Matthews + Guy Rivington by the leeward mark. These positions held to the finish with Arthur Brown + Niamh Davies climbing to third.

The line stayed heavily port biased for the second start and with the majority of the fleet wanting to take the port end a recall came into play. A right hand shift just before the restart left one boat black flagged whilst the rest of the fleet tried to pick their way up the tricky, shifty, patchy course. At the windward mark it was Jamie Jobson + Eve Gadd leading from fellow RTYC sailors Ben Hopper + Larissa Connabeer with Wills Murray + Will Ormerod third. The ‘snakes + ladders’ conditions continued with new leaders by the top of the second beat. Arthur + Niamh in first, then Jamie Smith + Piers Nicholls second with Jamie + Eve third. By the finish Arthur + Niamh had extended their lead with Harvey Martin + Will Ward climbing to second.

With the wind becoming even more patchy, and rafts of boats getting ‘stuck’ at the windward mark, the Race Officer pulled the windward mark further away from the shore, this shortened the course and allowed for time for a fourth race, if possible. Race 3 started all clear with many boats trying to get over to the right to find the breeze, only to find the wind had filled from the left. Confident in the tricky conditions were Arthur + Niamh who lead at the windward mark from Tom Darling + Will Dolin, with Wills + Will in third. By the end of the second beat Arthur + Niamh had extended their lead from Tom + Will who battled to keep ahead of Wills + Will when their pole rope broke and they could not fly the kite. At the finish it was Arthur + Niamh with a huge lead; second Tom + Will with Wills + Will in third.

For race 4 it was Robbie + Will leading at the first mark from Flynn + Henry in second , with Libby + Harriet in third. Wills + Will flew into the lead downwind, ahead of Libby + Harriet in second whilst Arthur + Niamh climbed through to third then up to second on the next beat. Race 4 was won by Will + Wills; second Arthur + Niamh with Libby + Harriet third.

Sunday arrived foggy and calm. When the sun broke through it was clear that the forecast of zero knots would hold true and racing was abandoned for the day. This gave overnight leaders Arthur and Niamh the overall win with four points. Harvey Martin and Will Ward sailed consistently to take second place from Robbie King and Will Bedford.

Results as of 9:51 on October 8, 2012

Overall

Sailed: 4, Discards: 1, To count: 3, Entries: 46, Scoring system: Appendix A - RS Series Tie

Rank	Sail No.	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	1486	Arthur Brown	Niamh Davies	Royal Burnham Sailing Club / Burnham Sai	(3.0)	1.0	1.0	2.0	7.0	4.0
2nd	1883	Harvey Martin	Will Ward	Ogston Sailing Club	4.0	2.0	4.0	(11.0)	21.0	10.0
3rd	4734	Robbie King	Will Bedford	RLYC / Spinnaker SC	2.0	(23.0)	9.0	4.0	38.0	15.0
4th	5045	Wills Murray	Will Ormerod	Oxford Pirates	(23.0)	12.0	3.0	1.0	39.0	16.0
5th	2508	Jamie Jobson	Eve Gadd	RTYC	6.0	3.0	8.0	(9.0)	26.0	17.0
6th	5028	Will Taylor	Matt Taylor	Alton Water Sports Centre	7.0	6.0	6.0	(8.0)	27.0	19.0
7th	2047	Flynn Davies	Henry Jameson	Burnham Sailing Club / HISC	10.0	(22.0)	5.0	6.0	43.0	21.0
8th	4890	Max Matthews	Guy Rivington	Tudor SC	1.0	(26.0)	16.0	5.0	48.0	22.0
9th	4037	Libby Askew	Harriet Lucas - Clements	HISC	11.0	9.0	(22.0)	3.0	45.0	23.0
10th	4945	Rebecca Lewis	Immi Slinn	Draycote Water SC	(29.0)	4.0	14.0	10.0	57.0	28.0