Report Final Day:
European Champions Steve Goacher and Phil Evans, with runners up Mike Hart and Richard Rigg - photo P Bannister
The final day of the Rok Flying Fifteen European Championship was the toughest yet, with a North Westerly blowing at 16 to 22 knots under yet another clear blue sky. With just one race to sail, the overall placings were tight, with the leading three boats all able to take the overall title.
The race got away at the second attempt with a black flag. Unlike Thursday, it wasn’t clear where the leaders would come from until well up the first beat, when the first decent right hander brought the leaders in from the right. It was still snakes and ladders all the way to the top with big gains and losses as the wind swung one way and then the other.
First round the top were Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas, closely followed by Mike Hart and Richard Rigg, then Greg Wells and Tim Hancock and the overall leaders Barry Parkin and Mark Darling. Steve Goacher and Phile Evans looked to be out of it in the mid teens.
On the run, Hart and Rigg got through to the lead, but with Parkin and Darling only needing to be fifth to win the Championship they were still looking good at fourth.
The second beat was another tough one with the force five to six wind swinging through over twenty degrees. Place changes were happening all the time and it wasn’t till the top mark that anyone could be sure of their position. Hart and Rigg still led, with Kneller and Lucas second, Wells and Hancock third and Parkin and Darling hanging on to their overall led in fourth.
On the second run though, things got much more interesting. Goacher and Evans, having just got into the top ten at the windward mark, made the most of a huge gust to take 250 metres out of the leaders and move straight into second.
That left everything to play for on the last triangle. Up the beat there was little change, but Parkin and Darling hit the top mark in fourth and dropped to fifth doing their turns. There were now two ding dong battles going on, with Hart and Rigg versus Goacher and Evans at the front and Parkin and Darling trying to hang on to fifth which would still leave them as Champions.
Round the gybe mark and the final reach looked too tight for spinnakers, but half way down the wind shifted and all the kites went back up despite another major gust.
Goacher and Evans managed to get the jump on Hart and Rigg to take the race win. Meanwhile, Parkin and Darling missed their opportunity to hoist early and lost five places to boats going through to leeward and with it their Championship.
On the last leg three different boats had been in Championship winning position, but it was Goacher and Evans who wound up worthy winners from Hart and Rigg and then Parkin and Darling who had led the whole week from day 1 but eventually had to settle for third overall.
Final overall placings:
1. Goacher / Evans 18 pts
2. Hart / Rigg 19 pts
3. Parkin / Darling 20 pts
4. Apthorp / Richards 36pts
5. Jameson / Grant 42 pts
Report Day 4:
Day 4 of the ROK Flying Fifteen European Championship dawned sunny with a light northerly and a good sea breeze anticipated by many. However, it soon clouded over and the two races of the day were held in a North Easterly gradient of between 8 and 12 knots. The course was again two windward-leewards followed by a triangle.
The race 6 started after a short postponement to let the wind settle and fleet got away without a single recall for the first time. With the westerly going tide and a port biased line, it paid to get onto port tack early and the further left you were, the better it looked.
First onto port from the middle of the line were Mike Hart and Richard Rigg and they led at the first mark from Andy Jameson and James Grant then Championship leaders Barry Parkin and Mark Darling. Down the first run, keeping clear at the edges paid handsomely and the leading trio managed to fend off the rest of the fleet.
After that it was go hard right on the beat, take the lee bow from the tide early on and the right hand shift at the top of the beat to come in near the starboard lay line. The leading two kept their positions all the way. Parkin and Darling had a slip up on the last beat which saw them drop down to fourth behind Mike and Caroline McIntyre but they managed to get past again on the last reach to the finish.
Race 7 was similar to race 6, but with a starboard bias on the line. Those at the committee boat fared best early on, making the most of the right hand shift. But a small group of boats tacked off to the right side of the beat and after a nail biting few minutes, it was one of those, Jeremy Dacvy and Simon Childs who scraped round the first mark in the lead. Next were the leaders from the middle of the course, Mike Hart and Richard Rigg, then Mark Wood and Tim Rumfitt, Mike and Caroline McIntyre and. Andy Jameson and James Grant.
The first run was one for holding your nerve as the wind dropped briefly to 6 knots. Again, the edges paid and Davy / Childs led at the leeward mark from Jameson / Grant and Hart / Rigg. After that it was a case of follow the leader at the front and the leading three remained unchanged to the finish.
It was a bad race for Championship leaders Parkin and Darling, but second place team Steve Goacher and Phil Evans managed to climb to sixth after being in the teens at the first mark, to keep the pressure on going into the final race tomorrow.
At the end of day 4, the overall placings are:
1. Parkin / Darling 20 pts
2. Goacher / Evans 23 pts
3. Hart / Rigg 27 pts
4. Apthorp / Richards 44pts
5. Davy / Childs 52 pts
Report Day 3:
Day 3 of the ROK Flying Fifteen European Championship turned out to be the best conditions of the week so far. However, it looked at one point as if the wind wasn’t going to play ball as the 7-8 knot westerly backed right round to the South and dropped to virtually zero before settling in from the South West under a clear blue sky.
After one abandoned race when the wind dropped to nothing and shifted forty degrees, followed by three general recalls, the over eager fleet finally got going in 12 knots, which rose to 16 knots by the end of the race.
With the wind finally steady, it was all about getting off the start line clean. After a hard one and half mile beat it was Championship leaders, Barry Parkin and Mark Darling who rounded first, ahead of Jeremy Davy and Simon Childs then Steve Goacher and Phil Evans.
These three dominated the race, but it was nip and tuck all the way, with Davy and Childs getting through Parkin and Darling on the second run and taking what looked like a winning lead. However, Goacher and Evans were having none of it and their superior upwind speed saw them sneak past Parkin and Darling on the final beat.
With just two reaches to go, it looked like Davy and Childs would get their first win, but Goacher and Evans ground them down. With just a hundred metres to go, both boats were so far above the finish line that they had to gybe to get down to it and Goacher and Evans just managed to scrape past to take their second win of the week.
Just to add insult to injury, Davy and Childs were black flagged, so Parkin and Darling took second and Charles Apthorp and David Richards took third having worked their way steadily up the leader board.
At the end of day 3, the overall placings are :
1. Parkin / Darling 9 pts
2. Goacher / Evans 12 pts
3. Apthorp / Richards 17pts
4. Hart / Rigg 23 pts
5. Vials / Weatherspoon 35 pts
Report Day 2:
After Monday’s miserable conditions, day 2 of the Rok Flying Fifteen European Championship was Hayling Island at its best, with force 3-4 from the west and glorious sunshine all day.
Race 3, the first of the day, saw a general recall followed by a black flag start. Steve Goacher and Phil Evans started near the port end of the line and quickly established a lead as the fleet made a long port tack towards the shore. There then followed a sailing master class as Steve and Phil disappeared over the horizon. Second at the first mark was Charles Apthorp and David Richards, but gear failure on the second beat saw him slip down to fifteenth at the end.
Overnight leaders Barry Parkin and Mark Darling had another good result with a third place while Alan Bax and Paul Busby leapt into the reckoning with a second place after a frustrating first day.
Race 4 got under way promptly with a black flag start. The top boats seemed to come from both sides of the course, but at the first mark, 2006 National Champions Mike Hart and Richard Rigg just edged out Charles Apthorp who miss-judged the tide and over stood the mark.
The first run saw lots of place changing with the boats that did a gybe set making huge gains on the majority that did a conventional bear away set. On the second beat the lead bunch of four or five boats went right and pulled out a useful lead on the rest, with the leading places changing very little on the second and third laps.
At the finish, it was Hart and Rigg followed by Apthorp and Richards in second with Jeremy Davy and Simon Childs in third to add to their fourth place in race 3. Parkin and Darling were eighth which closed things up considerably at the top.
Results after Day 2:
1. Parkin / Darling 15pts
2. Goacher / Evans 16pts
3. Apthorp / Richards 29pts
4. Bax / Busby 41pts
5. Davy / Childs 41pts
Report Day 1:
On the opening day of the ROK Flying 15 European Championship at Hayling Island SC, two races were completed Monday for the fiftyeight boat fleet in Hayling Bay. Conditions were grey, drizzling and overcast but excellent sailing.
Barry Parkin and Mark Darling won the first race. Charles Apthorp and David Richards the second. Overall Parkin leads from Steve Goacher with Roger Palmer third. Results are posted, report to follow.
Leading positions after 2 races, 58 entries:
1st GBR 3630 Barry Parkin Mark Darling HISC 1 2 3 pts
2nd GBR 3721 Stephen Goacher Philip Evans RWYC 5 4 9 pts
3rd GBR 3615 Roger Palmer Barbara Palmer HISC 2 8 10 pts
4th GBR 3591 Charles Apthorp David Richards HISC 10 1 11 pts
5th GBR 3564 Miles Odell Andrew Streeter HISC 8 5 13 pts
6th GBR 3851 Ian Linder Kevin Sweetman Burghfield SC 11 9 20 pts
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