South West Sailing

30 intrepid sailors set off at Sunday lunchtime for the start of the 6th edition of the Vendee Globe. This really is the Everest of the Seas with 41 of the 60 sailors who have sailed around the world non-stop achieving the feat whilst competing in the Vendee.

It promises to be a really exciting event with thrills and spills guaranteed as 30 of the worlds finest sailors do battle for victory in the toughest race in any sport in the world.

Some 36 hours into the event and a vicious Biscay storm with massive seas and a 50-knot breeze has already taken its toll with 7 skippers returning to Les Sables d’Olonne for repairs.

Notable returnees include race favourites Bernard Stamm and Michel Desjoyeaux but also sadly Alex Thomson the UK sailor who was already handicapped by suffering a severe crash just prior to the event and having to instigate rush repairs just to make the start line. A large crack has appeared in the hull of his Open 60 Hugo Boss and it would appear the crash damage was more substantial that first thought and could mean the end of his dream after barely 24 hours serious racing.

A novel rule in the Vendee means that the start line is open for 10 days after the official start so in theory any returnee could re-start with Wednesday 19th November being the cut off date.

Stamm and Desjoyeaux have already returned to the fray but 24 hours in arrears may even in a 3-month yacht race just be too great a margin to catch up.

Given their abilities it would be foolish to write off their chances just yet but some informed observers believe the leaders in the fleet could well finish within hours of each other and that after 26,000 miles of racing and some 80 odd days at sea.

Currently three Frenchmen Jean Pierre Dick, Roland Jourdain and Loick Peyron are disputing the lead with Mike Golding some 40 miles in arrears the best placed Brit in 10th place.

It should compulsive viewing over the next few months as good as any TV drama and the ultimate reality TV show but for real. I wish fair winds and a safe return for all the fleet. Catch all the action on the official website www.vendeeglobe.org which is full of excellent content about all aspects of the race.

Sunday saw the Victory Inn at St Mawes host the victory cup races for working boats.

In lovely conditions of sunshine and a force 2/3 breeze both B and C classes enjoyed tight racing.

The course of West Narrows, Black Rock provided a stiff challenge with a strong flood tide pushing both fleets up the estuary and away from Black Rock.

In B class local boats Helen Mary (Doug Clode) and Demelza (JA) enjoyed an excellent scrap with Rebecca (Phil Slater). Rounding Black Rock without getting swept off the mark by the tide proved to be the key.

Rebecca managed to round the mark in one tack from the Pendennis shore where Demelza fell agonizingly short and had to have another tack.

Rebecca took both line and handicap honours with Evelyn (Malcolm Hitchens) just pushing Helen Mary into 3rd place on handicap.

C Class was won by Girl Sarah (Adam Davies) from Muriel (Brian Trenoweth) with the Victory providing splendid hospitality for all crews ashore.

The third and final RYA ranking event took place at Weymouth last weekend and it brought further success to Andy Walsh and Ed Barney in the Tornado class.

The pair went into the weekend tied on points with the other two leading UK Tornado crews McMillan/Howden and Wilson/Bulkeley. McMillan was on usher duty at a wedding on the Saturday so Olympic 49’er helm Chris Draper stood in on and showed that there is no substitute for skill winning the opening race of the 6 race 1 discard series.

Andy and Ed finished 2nd in the opening race and went on to win Races 3 and 6. Wilson/Bulkeley also posted 2 wins winning Races 2 and 4 to underline just how competitive the racing is between these 3 crews.

Draper only raced on the Saturday and McMillan returned on Sunday and although not winning another race posted 3-x top 3 finishes to win the regatta by 1 point from Andy and Ed.

Wilson/Bulkeley finished 3rd equal on points with Walsh and Barney but losing out on countback in Race 6, which had been won by the West Country crew.

The change of helmsmen meant however the Draper/McMillan/Howden crew could not win the overall RYA rankings and so victory went to Andy and Ed from Wilson/Bulkeley.

Mylor ‘s Tom Phipps and Marcus Lynch finished 4th overall at the weekend counting 2 podium finishes and finished 4th overall in the final rankings.

Phipps/Lynch and Walsh/Barney now face an anxious couple of weeks as the Olympic Organizing Committee has decreed that for 2012 the sailing events will be reduced by 1from 11 down to 10.

The ISAF will have to make a recommendation on which class gets the chop and there is a distinct possibility it could be the Tornado. Both crews would then have to decide whether to continue their Olympic ambitions and if the Tornado goes in which class?

Ed Powys and Will Morgan continue their learning curve in the 49’er fleet and finished 12th overall counting an 8th as their best result. Ed and Will finished 8th overall in the RYA 49’er rankings behind the Exmouth pairing of Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes the current World Champions.

It will be interesting to see how they progress next year given the tough competition in the UK 49’er fleet.

Finally Ben Ainslie made a rare appearance in the Finn class as he prepares for the 2008 Melbourne Finn Gold Cup and a showdown with Ed Wright for the UK Finn berth at the Beijing Olympics.

Ainslie sailed the wrong course in Race 1 on Saturday then won the next 4 races with Wright posting 2 x 2nd places and finishing a disappointing 5th overall.

The overall RYA rankings show youngster Scott Giles in top spot with Wright in 6th spot and Ainslie in 8th but Melbourne will determine who goes to Beijing and you can’t really see anyone mounting a serious challenge to Ben.

He has already won 4 Finn Gold Cups more than any other sailor and I would not bet against him winning number 5 in Australia after almost 12 months absence.

Awesome.

It wasn’t quiet like the Battle of Hastings but for 4 girls battling for Olympic selection in the Laser Radial fleet it was a fair old tussle.

Charlotte Dobson, Andrea Brewster, Lizzie Vickers and Penny Clark have been told they are the short listed quartet for Beijing and a decision will be made after Miami OCR in January or the Laser Radial World Championships in March if necessary.

To get to the World Championships you need to qualify via the UK Laser Association Rankings Ladder based on a series of Qualifying Regattas Hastings marked the 3rd such autumnal event following on from Pwllheli and Paignton.

Victory in Hastings went to Scots lass Charlotte Dobson with rivals Andrea Brewster 3rd and Lizzie Vickers 5th overall to move Dobson up to 3rd overall on the Radial Ladder with Vickers lying 4th and Brewster 6th to ensure all 3 women qualify for the 2008 Worlds.

Truro’s Rosie Chapman finished 14th overall and was the 6th placed woman at the event, which leaves her 17th overall on the Ladder and the 9th placed woman. Only 8 places are allocated to the UK and as such I think she may just miss out on being invited to New Zealand. It may well depend on whether all 8 places are taken up.

The battle for the Olympic berth I suspect will go on until after the World Championships as it is that close.

In the Laser Standard fleet the status quo prevailed with Paul Goodison the Beijing candidate comfortably winning from the young pretender Nick Thompson with Philip Reynolds (Saltash) finishing 14th overall and George Cousins (Mounts Bay) coming home 21st overall.

Philip has not sailed sufficient Qualifiers to get a meaningful ranking yet but George has and is currently 19th overall on the Standard Ladder and the 7th ranked youth sailor.

It will be interesting to see how high the pair can aspire to in what is a ferociously competitive fleet.

The RYA Team15 Championships were set up by the RYA to attack a perceived weakness in the wind surfing discipline by young sailors in the UK.

The idea was/is to get more youngsters wind surfing with Team15 sailors specifically being 15 or under and accordingly strengthen the GBR Team in wind surfing when competing at international level in later years.

Bob Warren at Roseland Paddle and Sail has always supported the RYA initiative and many young wind surfers have learnt their skills on the Percuil River.

At the RYA South West Zone Championships last month this year’s crop of Team15 youngsters from the Roseland won through to the Championship finals held at Rutland Water last weekend.

Nine teams qualified from across the UK and some 100 competitors fought for the overall title on a whole range of boards and sail sizes.

The Roseland Waveriders excelled themselves by finishing 2nd overall with Jack Warren winning the 6.8m Techno Board Class overall.

Congratulations to all involved.

Restronguet hosted the South West Zone Championships for promising young sailors drawn from sailing clubs all over the South West keen to start on the RYA sailing skills programmes and join the various training squads.

The Zone Championships were held a seven venues around the Country and attended by RYA Regional Managers to spot any promising young sailors at club level missed by non attendance at say the Optimist or Topper Nationals.

They are an effort to make sure no talent is wasted or not recognized and any youngsters maximize their fullest potential.

Restronguet staged a 5 race series for Optimists, Toppers and Mirrors over the weekend with light winds dominating the 2 races on Saturday with Sunday proving a slightly stiffer challenge with a fresher breeze.

In all 3 classes there was one exceptional performance.

In the 37 strong Topper fleet Richard Cumpsty from Chew Valley posted 4 wins from 5 starts to win overall from Tom Francis from Sidmouth with Sam Webb in 5th proving to be the first local sailor.

In the Optimist fleet Restronguet dominated but with perhaps Jack Martin a surprise winner although again posting 4 wins it was certainly no fluke with GBR Optimist World and European Squad sailors Christian Townrow and David Grant in 2nd and 3rd places.

Finally in the Mirror fleet James Wilkinson and Chris Searle from Mounts Bay also won 4 of their 5 races to comfortable win the class overall.

It will be interesting to see how far the 3 wining crews progress in the RYA squads after their impressive performances at Restronguet.

Some 300 of the World’s best sailors have assembled at Weymouth for the Sail for Gold Regatta, which started yesterday and runs through until Sunday.

This is an event for the Olympic Classes and will become an annual event in the build up to 2012.

Naturally enough using the Proposed 2012 Olympic venue means that all the world’s best sailors will attend at least one of these events prior to 2012 to familiarize themselves with the venue.

The RYA has already announced that Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson (Yngling), Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes (49’er) and Paul Goodison (Laser) have already been selected for Beijing.

Subject to achieving some specific individual targets and performances Nick Dempsey (RS:X), Bryony Shaw (RS:X), Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (470), Christina Bassadone/Saskia Clark (470) and Leigh McMillan/Will Howden (Tornado) will also be selected.

The selection of the Star and Finn representatives will be deferred until the New Year and the Laser Radial representative will be chosen out of Charlotte Dobson, Penny Clark, Andrea Brewster and Lizzie Vickers again with a decision expected in the Spring.

Sadly that means disappointment for Truro’s Rosie Chapman who I suspect was always targeting the 2012 Olympics as her main goal.

All five girls are competing at Weymouth this weekend and so Rosie will have an opportunity to outperform the 2008 chosen ones.

Equally Restronguet’s Ed Powys/ Will Morgan are competing against Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes in the 49’er Class and it a wonderful opportunity for the young pair to test themselves against the current World Champions and World No 1 ranked crew.

Few other sports give you the chance to test yourself against the best.

Similarly Mounts Bay sailor George Cousins is up against Paul Goodison in the Laser fleet and Mylor’s Tom Phipps and Marcus Lynch are competing in the Tornado fleet against Leigh McMillan/Will Howden.

Andy Walsh/Ed Barney are also competing in the Tornado fleet and it must be with some degree of bitterness as they realize the Olympic dream for them in 2008 is now at an end.

The test will be whether they remain together and have a crack at selection for 2012 or they abandon the dream altogether. Whatever they decide I do hope they have a great regatta this weekend and of course embarrass McMillan/Howden.

Full report next week.

Last weekend saw the St Mawes Sailing Club and the St Mawes Hotel host the St Mawes Harbour Race for the two Working Boat fleets.

In addition the St Mawes Harbour Company in conjunction with the St Mawes fishing fleet staged their 2nd Fishing Festival on the Town Quay.

The weather was glorious as was the fresh fish on the Quay although with only a light breeze both fleets could only manage a short 2-lap course around the Harbour.

The support for the event was fantastic with 16 starters in B Class and 7 starters in C Class.

A reaching start across the Club line for B Class provided a fabulous sight for spectators and Abigail Rose (Norman Bowers) managed to just slip around Castle Buoy 1st and hold off all challengers until approaching the Turning Mark at the end of the first lap.

The wind in the centre of the Bay dropped and becalmed the Rose allowing Rebecca (Phil Slater) Cousin Jinny (Graham Pearce) and Mabel (Peter Collett) all to slip through and leave Norman cursing his luck.

Rebecca having got clear wind then proceeded to pull away from her challengers to retain the Trophy she won last year. Mabel finished 5 seconds ahead of Cousin Jinny on the water to also take 2nd overall on handicap.

In C Class Lottie (Paul Ferris) lead throughout the race initially challenged by Zilpha (Simon Berryman) and Leila (Adam Bird) but both fell away to allow Krystal (Bruce Trevartha) to take 2nd place.

On Sunday it was the Falmouth Greenlawns Harbour Race and Rebecca (Phil Slater) again dominated the B fleet winning comfortably from Victory (David Carne) and Abigail Rose (Norman Bowers).

In C Class Leila (Adam Bird) took the spoils from Krystal (Bruce Trevartha).

As usual all crews adjourned to the Greenlawns Hotel for the usual legendary hospitality making this weekend probably one of the best on the Working Boat calendar.

The 49’er and 29’er National Championships were held at Llandudno Sailing Club at the end of August and several Restronguet sailors traveled up to Wales to try their hand at skiff racing.

The 49’er Nationals can be star-studded affairs depending on the whereabouts of the British Olympic Squad who as it happens were either resting after the World Championships in Portugal or preparing for the Chinese Test Event for the 2008 Olympics at Qingdao.

New faces therefore all round and Ed Powys and Will Morgan enjoyed a race win and finished 9th overall in a championship restricted to 5 races and 1 discard due to a lack of wind.

The 29’ers had better luck and completed a 10 race series with the 56-boat fleet into Gold and Silver sub-divisions after the first 5 races.

Fresh out of Optimists Liam and Sam Stackpoole fared best of the two fledgling Restronguet crews finishing 6th in the Silver fleet with George Wilson and Roger Stablins finishing 9th.

It’s a good thing that Lake Garda is a large lake as the Italian venue hosted the Dart 18 and Topper World Championships over the last couple of weeks.

Robin Elsey from Restronguet had an excellent regatta in the Topper Gold fleet finishing 11th overall and including 1 race win in the event, which had over 175 entries. Harry Houlding from Fowey Gallants finished 68th overall in the Gold fleet.

In the Dart 18,s Kim and Sarah Furniss from Pentewan finished 24th overall in a fleet of 124 boats. Sadly Matt Pullen and Debbie Rickard chose not to defend the title they won so convincingly last year in South Africa.