505 Gilles Carvallo Trophy

by 505 media on 25 Apr 2006 The 505 Gilles Carvallo Trophy was held in the scenic Lake d’Arc south-east of Paris over the weekend of 8-9th April and attracted an entry of 32 boats including competitors from England and Switzerland to supplement the strong French home fleet.

The first race started in a brisk force 3-4 wind with Ian Pinnell and Steve Hunt, Terry Scutcher and Christian Diebitsch, Philippe Boite and Fabrice Toupet all exchanging places at the front of the fleet with reaching off paying downwind with angles that needed to be judged carefully.

The second race started in similar conditions with Scutcher and Diebitsch leading at the windward mark, which they were to defend to the finish. Boite and Toupet and the Swiss team of Florian Stauffer and Philippe Jacot featured well, Ben Illif and Simon Lake sailed the beats consistently well, Pinnell and Hunt recovered well after a slow start in the changeable conditions. The second beat brought a 40 degree heading shift which swept across the race course adding more snakes and ladders to the proceedings.

Race 3 saw Philippe Boite and Fabrice Toupet show race winning speed as a close battle ensued between Pinnell / Hunt and Scutcher / Diebitsch as all three teams exchanged positions. Boite and Toupet sniffed out some magic from a corner to edge out the closing pack. Event sponsor Gilles Carvello helmed by Muriel Jeanne had a great race to finish a well-deserved seventh place.

Race 4 saw Pinnell and Hunt grasp victory by out-gybing Scutcher and Diebitsch at the final leeward mark as the breeze died towards the end of the day.

Sunday brought much lighter conditions and the race committee set the course for race 5 in the northern and much narrower section of the lake bringing new wind bends into play.

Race 5 saw Boite and Toupet take a substantial lead at the windward mark after taking a lift on port tack through the centre of the course. Stauffer and Jacot and Russell and Andrew Short were in close contention as the fleet split right tacking close to the far shore, Christian Silvestre and Christian Valland hit the left hand side of the course to take a slender lead by the windward mark a light winds run compressed the fleet where Boite and Toupet regained the lead only to be passed by Silvestre and Volland at the finish line. Stauffer and Jacot finished third with the Short brothers fourth.

Florian Stauffer and Philippe Jacot sailed the next two races consistently well to finish second in each with Marcel Buffet and Roger Chabaud taking a close third place in Race 6.

The final race saw Pinnell & Hunt take first place with Philippe Blanchard & Charles Maire claiming third place on the final run to the finish. The event was well run and sailed fairly in a range of wind conditions, with each finishing team recieving a bottle of champagne their were plenty of smiling faces at the prize giving!!!.

Final overall leading results:
1 Ian Pinnell & Steve Hunt GBR (9 points)
2 Philippe Boite & Fabrice Toupet FRA (9 points)
3 Florian Stauffer & Philippe Jacot SUI (14 points)
4 Terry Scutcher & Christian Diebitsch GBR (15 points)
5 Russell Short & Andrew Short GBR (24 points)
6 Jean Pierre Gallo & Regis Viateur FRA (29 points)