RS Feva Rooster GP2 at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club
by Ben & Millie Greenhalgh 1 Nov 2023 13:28 UTC
21-22 October 2023
RS Feva GP2 at Cardiff Bay © Richard Mills
On Saturday morning Cardiff Bay Yacht Club greeted the 36 Feva Teams with a mild, overcast millpond. After a short postponement the wind began to build and the boats launched with the option of five races.
With the wind averaging about 8 Kts the racing began on the inner loop trapezoid course. Plenty of shifts and gusts saw big opportunities to gain and lose positions. Ed Stubbs & Noah Kenny followed up their GP 1 win with the honours on race one, followed by the usual suspects at the front end of the fleet.
Race 2 started in a building breeze but by the second beat the wind decided to take a rest on various parts of the course and saw a number of boats becalmed whilst those around them merrily capitalised on their misfortune. Rebecca Knock & Megan Gowers took the line honours from the local sailor Ollie Atkin and Adam Craig.
Race 3 and 4 saw the weather gods again offering more wind but still with plenty of shifts and gusts. These complex conditions saw close racing throughout the fleet. Great determination and perseverance was shown by all but most notably some of the youngest new racers to the fleet, Martha Hughes and Zelda Abney-Hastings from CBYC.
With the wind dropping, race 5 got away. Ed and Noah took the win with Will Stratton-Brown & Will Ahlheid taking the second spot.
Between races, while the race committee tweaked the course, the keen eye of coach Flynn Davies was on hand to offer feedback to many of the sailors helping to improve the standard across the fleet.
After a great day of sailing, World Cup rugby was the order of the evening for many in the welcoming Club bar. Thank you to those who stayed around for the quiz, we managed to squeeze it in before the rugby started! A lovely ladies team Sophia, Beth and Joanna won the chocolates.
Despite a little pessimism, Day 2 came good and again, after a short delay, the breeze filled in with even a little sunshine appearing. The overnight leaders Ed & Noah were under pressure from Ben & Millie Greenhalgh on equal points with 3 races to go. Soaking up the pressure, Ed & Noah prevailed in race 6 with a 1st followed by Ben & Millie in 2nd. With a building wind and the first signs of planing downwind in some of the larger gusts and hiking hard upwind, the final two races would decide the winner. Under the watchful eye of Nick Craig (literally wrote the book) on the committee boat, consistency paid off with Ben and Millie taking the title thanks to a 1st and 4th in the last races.
Another hard fought GP event complete and many smiles and achievements throughout the fleet see the Feva series well under way and looking forward to the Winter Championships in Weymouth on the 18th / 19th Nov.
A huge thanks to our series sponsors Rooster for our wonderful prizes throughout the year. Thank you Cardiff Bay Yacht Club for welcoming the Feva fleet and hosting a great event. To Matt Sawyer the Race Officer and the race team for smooth running of races with changeable conditions and completion of eight races. Finally to all the volunteers and parents that make these events possible.