Results / Fat Face Racing Circuit Derwent - 02/06/2002

This was an awesome event for the 200�s with 40 boats making the trip with the vast majority of the form boys present. The front of the fleet was ridiculously close and although the front 8 overall were miles clear on points this was not a true reflection on the standard of the rest of the fleet as all the leading boats found to their cost when they could not pull through. Such was the competitive nature of the event that overall victory and all leading places overall changed hands on the last gybe of the last race. Day 1 really set the scene. Hamish Calder/Severine Rees Jones won race 1 with Jon Lewis/Paula Hall second and Mike Saul/Sophie Hartley third. Race 2 saw Pete Vincent/Trudie Danbury and Calder/Rees Jones called OCS when in strong position. Lewis/Hall then led throughout with Steve Dunn/Sarah Allen second and Ian Pickard/Laurie Dunn third. Vincent/Danbury and Calder/Rees Jones made no mistake in race 3 being 1.2 from start to finish with Ollie Holden/Sarah Freestone third. All the leading boats had one race they would rather not talk about and already Dunn/Allen were in pole position, the only boat with three top 5 results. Day 2 was really Dunn/Allen�s day. Calder/Rees Jones led race 4 from start to finish with Saul/Hartley second and Holden/Freestone third. Pickard/Dunn had a flying start to race 5 and looked to have a comfortable lead but Dunn/Allen hunted them down and won by a good margin. Race 6 was led from the start by Dunn/Allen and when the course was destroyed by a wind shift looked to have an easy victory in their grasp on a procession course. The leading group was having none of this and kept the pressure on amongst plenty of action at the leeward mark. Dunn/Allen held on though to win from Pickard/Dunn and Vincent/Danbury. Dunn/Allen were now in overall lead being the most consistent performer. Saul/Hartley had a great day with 2.3.4 to move into real contention but with two discards allowed the event was still wide open with the top 7 in with a shout. Day 3 and Calder/Rees Jones led at mark 1 in race 7. Lewis/Hall though were through at the first leeward mark. After the previous day when the fleet knew he was on the water by the amount of verbal that was coming out of his boat, as he had a relatively off day, Lewis let his sailing do the talking to win the race by a rude margin. Saul/Hartley sailed a blinder to recover from a relatively poor first mark position to claim second with Dunn/Allen third. Race 8 saw a nightmare of a start as the wind swung in the last 40 seconds to make it impossible to cross the line on starboard. The top 7 overall got out of the carnage to all be in contention at the first mark. Lewis/Hall disappeared in the lead on the first race to leave the next five to have a titanic battle as ever boat changed places on every leg. Dunn/Allen though were always in the top 5 and looking like they were going to secure overall victory. Lewis/Hall were awesome in real breeze, won by a big margin and then waited to watch the outcome of the battles behind. Saul/Hartley were in second coming into the final mark but Pickard/Dunn got the gust at the right time to shoot up his inside and then perform a perfect gybe inside a capsized 400 to claim second. Dunn/Allen were in fourth 100 yards from the final mark but both Vincent/Danbury and Holden/Freestone burnt over the top of them to drop them to sixth. This left Lewis/Hall on equal points with Dunn/Allen one point ahead of Saul/Hartley with overall victory to Lewis/Hall on most number of firsts. Behind the front seven former Enterprise National Champion Alan Gillard, with son Tom crewing, showed he will be a real force finishing 8th overall in his first large RS200 event. Richard Whiteley/ Anne Saul, part of the large Ripon contingent, had a very consistent regatta to finish 9th. Sue Antonelli/Jo Lloyd were always in contention to score a really good 10th overall whilst 200 stalwarts Andi Riley/Julie Marsden had their best performance at a Racing Circuit event in 11th overall. Jon Lewis and Paula Hall now have a commanding lead in the Fat Face Racing Circuit. Next is the GUL Grand Slam event at Lee on Solent; it will have to go some to be as exciting as this.