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GUL
RS Vareo National Championships Looe SC – 7th to 10th
Sept
The 4th GUL RS Vareo National Championships started on
Thursday 7th Sept
at Looe in Cornwall. After 3 days of thick fog the first
day of the
Nationals, shared with the RS600 and RS300 fleets,
dawned with bright sunshine and forecast of a building
northerly wind.
2 races were scheduled for day 1, and after a long sail
to the start line
the Vareos spread out over a large distance on their
windward/leeward
course. Those who chose to stay inland benefited from
more wind and less
tide after the predicted winds did not materialise,
leaving those who had
gone far out to sea floundering. Nigel Tinkler picked
the right line and
disappeared off into the distance, with everyone else in
his wake. The
battle for minor places was won by Rory Yardley with
regular winner Chris
Larr in 3rd and Richard Kemp-Salt in 4th.
Race 2 was sailed in more shifty wind conditions, but
again Tinkler left
the fleet for dead, pursued by Larr and Geoff Shaw in
3rd with Kemp-Salt
going for consistency in 4th again.
The forecast was for wind to build in the 4 day
championship, with record
flood tides predicted on Saturday, at the welcome party
provided by Looe
SC the Mayor of Looe thanked the sailors for bringing so
many boats to
Looe, which may be needed if the village floods.
Day 2 started with the predicted higher winds and waves,
causing chaos to
those trying to launch. Just over half the fleet made it
to the start
line, and heavy wind experts Larr and Kemp-Salt revelled
in the
conditions taking the top two places in each race, Larr
winning 2 with 1
second, Kemp-Salt with a win and 2 seconds.
Shaw and Christopher Kirk showed their mettle, hanging
on for the minor places in each race.
Surfing back onto the beach was a great spectator sport,
and the 3 fleets
joined together to keep as many boats in one piece,
including carrying a
RS600 off the rocks and up the cliff face.
Day 3 dawned with more bright sunshine, but also the
same large winds.
Broken equipment, broken bodies and broken spirit meant
a low number of
takers for the three races, and again Larr dominated
taking all 3
bullets. Kemp-Salt made him work hard for race 6, but a
broken boat took
him out of the running for the last 2 races and Shaw
took advantage with
2 second places.
Day 4 and the wind dropped back to the level of Day 1,
although due to
breakages not everyone was in a position to race. Light
air experts
Tinkler who had won both races on day 1 won both again,
and Mark
Hayzelden took second in both. The racing was a lot
closer with all the
boats being on the same leg at the end of both races.
Chris Larr had his
worst results of the event, but had a large enough lead
to take the RS
Vareo National Championship after coming second in 2005.
1st Master was
Richard Kemp-Salt, 1st Silver Fleet was Rory Yardley.
M=Master
S=Silver G=Gold |
SLOWLY DOES IT WITH 60 SECS TO GO…
C
LARR FINISHING IN STYLE
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Dinghy Sailing Magazine
article gives thumbs up opinion on Vareo
September’s DSM carried an articles about singlehanders
“the singles scene” looking at the range of options from
big fleet sailing through to technically extreme
performance dinghies In it the Vareo was identified as
a dinghy which should be able to satisfy the demands of
the singlehanded sailor very well. Described as an
attractive non-trapeze boat, it was noted that the Vareo
has a bonus of an asymmetric spinnaker. Rather
strangely the kite was described as “optional”. How
many RS Vareo sailors would agree with that? More
accurately would be – sailing without kite is an
option! But just how exciting would that be?
Additionally it was stated that the Vareo was a
reasonable weight carrier suggesting that a wide range
of sailors could consider the Vareo, without consequent
loss of performance due to “large” helm.
In a letter debate on mast top flotation DSM carried a
photo of a Vareo wearing one of these. The overall view
was that the float can make life easier in the event of
capsize – and can even prevent entrapment in the worst
case scenario. As related – (not in DSM) the author is
aware that there have been cases where the flotation
device can permit “mast walking” where reaching the
dagger board proves difficult.
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Love it – or hate it – here is an example – in this case
using the RS flotation device designed for the RS Vision |
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Fat
Face Circuit 2006 Final Results
Congratulations to Bristol Corinthian’s Tim Greenwood on
a very well deserved first place in the Fat Face Open
Series 2006. Jamie Morgan from Grafham was a consistent
challenger to Tim’s crown throughout the series and
especially given the fact he is a youth - must certainly
be the guy to watch for next year. There were also some
stunning performances from others underlining that there
is a really close competition between some very good
sailors of the RS Vareo. In fact there were 6 different
individuals such as Chris Larr, Johnathan Nuttall,
Richard Kemp-Salt and Mark Williams recording firsts and
seconds but crucially as they didn’t compete across the
full Fat Face circuit there was no stopping Greenwood in
this series. Weatherwise the series had it all being
evenly split between 3 light wind events and two and a
half breezier ones – notably incorporating a “formation
swimming” event during the very well attended June
Burghfield venue. Prizes for the Fat Face Racing Circuit
will be presented at the upcoming RS Vareo Nationals at
Looe SC on Thursday September 7th.
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