RS100 sailor Alan Hall, of Southampton, England, summarized the fourth day of the 2012 RS Eurocup perfectly. 'I'm quite sure that was the fastest I've ever gone in my boat,' said Hall with a big grin, but exhausted look on his face. This was a sentiment shared across the RS800 and RS700 fleets as well. The famed Ora wind arrived on time, shortly after noon, as a black line on the glassy water, delivering for the first of three races a 20-knot wakeup call, and peaking close to 30 knots by late afternoon. In the RS 100 fleet, which is sailing a trapezoid course, the strategy was tack quickly off the starting line and head to the cliffs--straight into the teeth of the Ora--then tack to endure a grueling starboard-tack hike-off. The best in the fleet--Paul Childs, Jon Holroyd, and Mark Harrison, continued to school the rest of the sailors in the art of planing upwind, handling the steep waves, and ignoring the burn in their legs.
The long spreader leg to the outer loop took the 100s across the lake to the eastern shore where winds moderate to a more jibe-friendly 20 knots. Here, the technique was to understand when to set--early or late--in order to minimize distance and maximize laylines. And again, the top-five sailors were incredibly efficient, distancing themselves and establishing the pecking order on the run, making the jibes look easy, all the way to the finish.
In order to complete a 11-race series the race committee tested everyone's endurance, and even Childs admitted he had to mentally forget the pain as he battled with Holroyd and a few others that occasionally threatened to prevent him from winning every race. In the end, however, Childs was perfect, sweeping all three by large margins, and assuring himself RS100 European championship before the final two races. He celebrated properly at Riva del Garda's Yachting Bar and will step into the RS800 fleet as crew, to see how he gets on, on the wire.
David Reed
