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Fandango (First 40.7) |
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First 40.7 Grand Prix: Skandia Life Cowes Week 2001
Once again the Beneteau First 40.7 Grand Prix was held as part
of Cowes Week. The event was held on the last three days of
Cowes, with the 14 40.7s present racing with IRC 2 but also
being scored separately for the Grand Prix.
I joined David Scanlan and his crew aboard Fandango and although
many of the other 40.7s had been racing all week we were confident
in our speed as we lined up for the start of the first race.
We were on a committee boat start and after a slight delay as
the line was reset followed by a general recall we finally got
underway. Although the line was biased towards the committee
boat end we elected to start in clean air further down the line,
a tactic that worked well as we sailed higher and faster than
those in the melee to windward of us.
Half way up the beat we were first of the 40.7s and in second
place in IRC 2 on the water until dirty air off a French X-442
caused us to tack off onto port for a couple of minutes. This
was a bad mistake as the breeze clocked right and allowed many
of the fleet to lay the mark in one! At this stage we were third
40.7.
After a headsail reach across the Solent we gybed and set the
.75 AP for a tight reach down the Island shore. Then disaster
struck - the steering wheel snapped off! Luckily we broached
gently to windward, managed to drop the kite and then sailed
in under our emergency steering. With a three-race no-discard
series, bang went our chance in the Grand Prix.
Friday morning with the steering sorted and we were raring to
go. This time it was a start from the Squadron line. We showed
great speed both upwind and down and beat the other 40.7s by
around three minutes on corrected time. A great morale booster
after Thursday's disaster!
On Saturday we suffered a bad start and had to fight hard as
we short-tacked up the mainland shore against the tide. Most
of the 40.7s had elected for a No.3 but with the breeze at around
16-19 knots we flew our Checkmate PBO Medium/Heavy No.1 and
were soon gaining on the 40.7s in front. We had a very close
race with Danebury and Royal Blue Addict but showed superior
speed on the last beat to win on the water, although we dropped
to second on handicap.
Counting our RTD from Thursday we still managed to place fourth
for the event and we still had the satisfaction of the best
combined score from Friday and Saturday with three points compared
to the event winner Danebury's five.
To find out what Banks Sails can do for the performance of your
40.7 contact the loft now on 01489 582444.
Hugh Myers, Banks
Sails
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