#rssailing – Dun Laoghaire pair Roger O'Gorman and ex Laser Olympic campaigner Roger Craig took an impressive win today at the RS400 Eurocup in Carnac, Brittany.
The pair are one of two Irish boats flying the flag in the 25 strong fleet of UK boats competing.
Also racing are Royal St. George club-mates Emmet and James Ryan.
Champagne sailing conditions again in Carnac saw the fleet enjoy races 6,7 and 8 in an offshore north-easterly of force 3-4 occasionally gusting up to 5.
Race six was a question of carefully picking the right shifts downwind and then reading them again upwind. Andy Hatch and Dan Hawkins handled the shifty conditions well and pulled through to take the lead at the end of the first run which they held to the end. They were,
however, pushed hard to the end by a number of different crews with Emmet and James Ryan eventually pulling through to finish second and Howard Farbrother and Tiny Anderton in third.
Race seven was dominated by John Cooper and Becci Wigley in 1325 who played the shifts perfectly on the first beat and led by more than 50 yards at mark one. Although the chasing bunch closed up a bit on the run, John and Becci held on well to take the gun from Jack Holden and
Ollie Miller with Mike Hart and Sally Kilpatrick third.
After a brief delay to allow the wind to settle (and the 200 fleet to misbehave again at the start) force eight was led off by Roger O'Gorman and Roger Craig with a perfect pin end start. They were never headed and by the finish an exhausted but exhilarated fleet was led in behind them by Andy and An with the Ryan brothers from Ireland taking third - and clearly winning the day with their second, third and a fourth in race 7.
Following last night's gourmet barbecue hosted by members of YC Carnac tonight sees all the 400 fleet gathering for dinner at one of Carnac's numerous restaurants before the final two races tomorrow.
Overall after eight races and counting two discards Howard and Tiny lead with 16 points, the Ryan brothers are second on 23 and there's a three way tie for third with Mike and Sally, Jack and Ollie and Andy and Dan all on 24. So plenty left to play for!
