Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda

Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda - Final report

by Toby Wincer, James Date, Dave Hivey on 6 Aug 2014

Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda 2014 Paul Wyeth

Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda - Day four - As everyone reached the committee boat, the Ora (the Southerly thermal wind) came in and soon built to 13-15 knots, almost as if it was planned! We finally had the weather Garda is so famous for, sun and wind!

Off the first start the fleet headed inshore on the left towards the cliffs on the Torbole side of the lake. All except Tim Saxton and Sam Littlejohn who made their intentions clear, and took a risk by heading for the cliffs on the far right of the beat.

As the two sides came back together at the windward mark, Tim and Sam had a slight lead ahead of Dave and Lou Steed, James Date and Toby Wincer.

Saxton-Littlejohn held their lead to the finish, whilst Date-Wincer and Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch had an intense battle down the final run with Date-Wincer eventually sneaking second place meters from the finish line. The Steed's and Dave Hivey and James Barlow rounded out the top five.

Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda 2014 © Paul Wyeth

The second race began in a similar fashion to the end of the first with the fleet racing towards the cliffs on the hard right of the beat, with gusts pushing towards 20 kts. After clear starts Saxton-Littlejohn and Date-Wincer rounded the first mark in that order and extended to the finish. Barton-Feibusch and the Steed's again took third and fourth respectively with James Green and James Trewick showing great pace to round out the top five.

A small left shift before the final start of the day meant that the boats starting towards the pin, and crossing early on port had the advantage. Hivey-Barlow made the most of this to lead round the windward followed by Andy and Allyson Jeffries and Luke and Emma McEwen. However, Saxton-Littlejohn sailed a great run and second beat to lead round the next windward after Hivey-Barlow tacked just under the starboard lay-line and had to do an extra two tacks.

Saxton-Littlejohn again held out to the finish to round off an excellent day, followed by the Jeffries', Hivey-Barlow, Date-Wincer after a strong recovery and Barton-Feibusch.

The final race of the day brought in the second discard closing up the points at the top with Saxton-Littlejohn one point clear of Date-Wincer, themselves one ahead of Hivey-Barlow.

With two more races to finish the regatta tomorrow it will be a great finish, with Date-Wincer in a strong position with two fourths as discards and Barton-Feibusch able to challenge for the podium with a good day. Let’s hope for the same sun and wind as today!

Day five

The final day of competition was all set up for a grandstand finish, with the northerly dying off early and scorching hot temperatures, the signs were good for a big Ora day to finish off the week.

The first race of the day was led from the off by Andy and Allyson Jeffries with a trademark through the fleet on port start to lead the race to the cliffs in a building 18 knots of breeze. In second and revelling in the conditions were Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch. Also in the mix were the podium contenders with Dave Hivey and James Barlow leading Tim Saxton and Sam Littlejohn, with James Date and Toby Wincer in hot pursuit.

Date-Wincer managed to get involved down the run with a nicely timed gybe on Saxton-Littlejohn at the leeward gates nearly sending them swimming and pushing them back a few places. Whilst Andy and Allyson and Barton Feibusch extended at the front, Date-Wincer set about chasing down Hivey-Barlow. Despite catching to within a couple of boat lengths at the finish, the race finished in that order, with Saxton-Littlejohn recovering well to come in fifth.

And that set up a truly scintillating finale, Saxton-Littlejohn, Date-Wincer and Hivey-Barlow all tied on points, with a couple of nasty discards hanging over the heads of two of the boats, it was all to play for, but any resurrection of university team racing skills was out of the question. It was a final race showdown to decide the title!

To add to the occasion, the Ora decided to ramp up a few knots to be pushing and perhaps exceeding 30 knots at times. This was going to be a war of attrition, and what a way to finish the regatta.

And there is only one word to describe this final race. Epic! With nothing worse than a fourth on their scorecard, Date-Wincer went for a more high risk approach starting on port through the fleet. This went badly and resulted in swimming. Perfectly executed starts from Saxton-Littlejohn and Hivey-Barlow saw them first and second around the top mark. Barton-Feibusch were in the mix as usual, with Martin Boatman and Andrew Brown and James Green and Jamie Trewick also enjoying the conditions and putting in their best showing of the week.

And that was surely it, a straight out battle for the victory at the front between Saxton-Littlejohn and Hivey-Barlow with Date-Wincer spectating from the side lines praying to the Ora god that both of them ended up worse than fourth. This wouldn’t have been exciting enough for the script so Hivey-Barlow duly obliged by falling in the water on their gybe set. Date-Wincer powered past in full catch up mode before binning it spectacularly at the gybe at the cliffs. Saxton-Littlejohn merely had to hold it together for the victory, but that would have also been too simple, so a quick trawl of the kite and a swim at the next windward really threw everything up in the air again. Boatman-Brown were now out in front followed by Barton-Feibusch and Green-Trewick with Hugh Watson and Andy Watkins having a great race, and Luke and Emma McEwan also keeping it upright and fast.

Gill RS800 European Championships, Riva del Garda 2014 © Paul Wyeth

Lap two and it was looking good for Date-Wincer with Hivey-Barlow in sixth and Saxton-Littlejohn in seventh, a result that would have seen the European title retained. With the breeze really ramping up and the carnage increasing, it would all go down to the last run. Boatman-Brown swam at the windward mark leaving Barton-Feibusch to power away to a great victory, continuing their habit of winning the last race of every regatta they do. Saxton-Littlejohn had a fantastic last beat and run to move through into second. Green-Trewick took a superb third showing they are really getting to grips with the 800 and finishing the event on a high. Hivey-Barlow took two boats down the last run to move into fourth, just passing the McEwans within sight of the finish line.

So, Saxton-Littlejohn very deservedly crowned European Champions by two points having sailed a superb week, with Hivey-Barlow doing the enough on the last run to pip Date-Wincer on count back to complete the podium.

Another classic RS800 regatta with six different race winners and a final race showdown of truly epic proportions, there cannot be a better class to be racing in at the moment. The chat in the Occa bar on Friday night after a great prize giving hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva was all of the Nationals in a few weeks’ time, and yet again, we have no idea how that story will unfold.

The fleet would like to thank all involved in putting together another great trip to Riva, which despite its best efforts the weather did not manage to dampen, and we can’t wait to go back in two years’ time.

Final Results

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	GBR 1203	Tim Saxton, Sam Littlejohn, Grafham Water SC	19,0	(6)	1	(9)	3	5	1	1	1	5	2
2	GBR 1211	David Hivey, James Barlow, RYA	21,0	1	(20)	2	1	2	5	(12)	3	3	4
3	GBR 1195	James Date, Toby Wincer, Port Dinorwic SC	21,0	2	3	1	(4)	3	2	2	4	4	(dnf)
4	GBR 949	Peter Barton, Chris Feibusch, HISC	23,0	(8)	(18)	3	2	4	3	3	5	2	1
5	GBR 1129	Luke McEwen, Emma McEwen, Royal Lymington YC	45,0	3	5	4	(12)	6	(15)	10	6	6	5
6	GBR 1212	Andy Jeffries, Allyson Jeffries, Eastbourne Sovereign SC	48,0	(10)	9	5	6	9	9	7	2	1	(dnf)
7	GBR 1180	Tom Halhead, Stu Jagger	49,0	5	(16)	6	7	1	8	8	7	(12)	7
8	GBR 1154	David Steed, Louise Steed, Netley SC	54,0	4	2	8	10	7	4	4	15	(18)	(16)
9	GBR 1138	Martin Boatman, Andrew Brown	60,0	(28)	6	7	8	8	6	9	(13)	7	9
10	GBR 1133	Hugh Watson, Andy Watkins, Emsworth SC	83,0	(20)	8	12	(21)	18	7	16	8	8	6
11	FRA 897	Gilles Peeters, Jean Rouillon, YC Carnac	87,0	16	11	10	5	10	14	(33)	11	10	(21)
12	GBR 1163	James Green, James Trewick, Beer SC	91,0	(21)	7	17	14	16	16	5	(20)	13	3
13	GBR 868	Joel Walker, Sarah Crossman, Lancing SC	94,0	7	4	16	11	13	(25)	18	14	11	(24)
14	GBR 1135	Ella Morland, James Morland, Warsash SC	99,0	9	(19)	(18)	13	12	11	14	10	16	14
15	GBR 1128	Seb Baucutt, Alex Farrell, Essex YC	117,0	14	17	(dnf)	(dnf)	24	10	22	9	9	12
16	GBR 1142	Oli Woods, Jane Turner, Itchenor SC	118,0	(27)	14	(dnf)	9	23	24	11	12	17	8
17	GBR 7	Derek Buchanan, Elaine Buchanan, Oxford SC	129,0	13	12	15	20	21	21	(28)	16	(22)	11
18	GBR 1073	David Conlon, Ed Gibbons	132,0	11	13	19	15	11	12	32	(ocs)	19	(dnf)
19	GBR 1202	Andrew Blundell, Maddie Fenner, Weston SC	133,0	12	24	11	16	14	(26)	13	23	(26)	20
20	GBR 1132	Mick Whitmore, Sarah Smith, Eastbourne Sovereign SC	139,0	17	10	21	18	19	22	15	17	(23)	(dnf)
21	GBR 1148	Steven Greaves, Caroline Edwards, Rickmansworth SC	149,0	15	(27)	24	23	17	20	6	(30)	21	23
22	GBR 1091	Paul Jenkins, Peter Jenkins, Weir Wood SC	151,0	(26)	15	20	22	22	18	23	(28)	14	17
23	FRA 1130	Julian Antier, Fritsch Boris	160,0	22	(31)	23	19	(27)	23	27	21	15	10
24	GBR 1185	Stephen Brown, Philip Bairstow, Ullswater YC	177,0	19	(dnf)	14	(dnf)	33	13	20	33	20	25
25	FRA 1161	Jean-Louis Treguier, Camille Donnet Bart, Club Nautique de Viry	183,0	29	21	13	25	15	17	30	(35)	33	(dnf)
26	GBR 1010	John Warburton, James Clapham, Royal Torbay YC	186,0	23	(33)	27	27	25	(29)	21	22	28	13
27	GBR 982	Aaron Smith, Alec Rodgers, Wilsonian SC	194,0	18	28	22	29	(30)	19	24	27	27	(dnf)
28	GBR 1072	Jon Bennett, Guy Whittaker	197,0	(31)	22	26	26	29	27	17	26	24	(dnf)
29	GBR 1099	Alistair Hodgson, Penny Hooper, Draycote Water SC	198,0	25	26	29	17	(31)	(31)	26	18	31	26
30	GBR 1087	Tim Palmer, Alex Nelson	204,0	24	29	(31)	24	26	28	19	25	29	(dnf)
31	GBR 1005	Ian Jubb, Sarah Martin	210,0	(dns)	25	30	32	20	30	31	24	(ocs)	18
32	GBR 1047	Adam Knight, Nico Ozanne	214,0	(dns)	(dnf)	33	28	36	33	25	19	25	15
33	GER 961	Stewart Patience, Felix Krause, Berliner YC	248,0	30	34	25	(dnf)	28	32	29	29	(dnf)	dnf
34	GBR 1122	Grahame Smith, Nicola Smith, Wilsonian SC	258,0	35	(dnf)	34	34	34	(37)	36	31	32	22
35	GBR 1121	Paul Blackburn, Phil Burchell, Stokes Bay SC	267,0	(dns)	30	28	31	35	34	(dnf)	32	36	dnf
36	GBR 1015	Simon Payne, Fenella Williams, Oxford SC	270,0	34	32	(35)	33	32	35	35	34	35	(dnf)
37	FRA 1100	Jean-Francois Oger, Philippe Oger, CSAGS	282,0	32	(dnf)	32	30	37	(dnf)	37	36	37	dnf
38	GBR 1066	Clive Everest, Alex Everest, HISC	287,0	33	(dnf)	(dnf)	dnf	dnf	dnf	dnf	dnf	30	19
39	GBR 932	Brian Allen, Claire Allen, Brightlightsea SC	287,0	36	23	(dnf)	(dnf)	dnf	dnf	34	37	34	dnf
40	GER 1191	Andrew Scoones, Lucy Scoones, Echinger SC	323,0	(dns)	(dnf)	dnf	dnf	dnf	36	dnf	dnf	dnf	dnf