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2014 Footy Gold Cup report by Roger Stollery
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A great weekend’s radio racing was had by all 23 competitors, including 5 juniors, who assembled on Saturday morning from all parts of the UK as well as Switzerland, France and Italy. This annual championship is held in a different country every year and this year was organised by Sail Footy UK now an affiliated MYA Class Association with the help of the Two Islands Radio Yacht Club. As well as being blessed with good weather, the wind direction on both days was very favourable, even if it was very light and variable at times; this allowed a total of 16 races to be sailed. Not only was the weather hot, but the competition from abroad was very hot indeed!
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This was evident in the
first few races in a light north-easterly breeze using the biggest
rigs. As all the UK rigs are limited in area, Phil Tyler SUI 42
sailing his SLIM design with a bigger rig, was able to win the first
two easily. The European superiority was even clearer in Race 3, won
by young Hippolyte Bessiere FRA 176 sailing a PROTO, because the
first GBR boat finished behind all of our friends from over the
water. The situation looked better for the GBR in Race 4, when Rob
Vice GBR 41 sailing the ICE, finished 2nd behind Enrico
Audizio ITA 34 sailing an ENGI. The wind direction became very
unstable and this gave PRO Roger Stollery a real headache resetting
the simple windward leeward course on many occasions.
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When racing restarted after lunch, Enrico could not hold back Claudio Vigada ITA 102 sailing an URCA in Race 5, nor his dad, ex-Olympic and Americas Cup sailor, Gigi Audizio in Race 6. In the final race of the day Phil Tyler won again, from Enrico and Rob, establishing a slim overall lead over Claudio and Enrico.
All competitors, officials and guests retired to a local pub and enjoyed wine and a fine meal with lots of discussions well into the evening including all things Footy and radio sailing.
All competitors, officials and guests retired to a local pub and enjoyed wine and a fine meal with lots of discussions well into the evening including all things Footy and radio sailing.
The wind on Sunday
morning was stronger and from the NW, but that too became lighter
with direction variation from either the West or the East at times.
Before the start of racing, Alfie Hart who had previously been
filming the racing from the control area when he wasn’t sailing,
set a camera on a BOTTLE boat powered by a small Footy rig and with
everybody’s agreement filmed the first B heat race. This went down
well and didn’t interfere with the racing.
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Phil Tyler continued
his winning form by taking Races 8 and 9, with Claudio winning Race
10. Enrico won Race 11 and Jean-Francois Bessiere FRA 124 sailing his
PROTO design won Race 12, with Claudio winning Race 13. A GBR winner
has not been mentioned so far, but this changed when Alfie Hart GBR
17, won Race 14 with his ICE after a close battle with Rob. This
apparent match race at the front of the fleet continued into the
final two races, which were both won by Rob and allowed him to claw
his way into silver medal position, one point behind Phil and just
one point ahead of Claudio who was just two points ahead of Enrico!
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This was by far the most competitive of the six Gold Cups held so far and apart from a single protest hearing, the event was sailed in a most sporting spirit. This made it a friendly event with elements of fun and it was good to make some international friends and perhaps catch the bug for a bit of travel next year. The low cost and small size of Footys allows the eager participation of children and families; with young people making up more than a quarter of the entry, the future of the Footy and radio racing looks good.
The boat designs were
of great interest, with the Italian designs, developed only during
the last 2 years, using up to 330g ballast. This allowed them to
carry large, tall and efficient conventional sail plans; the sails
were beautifully made using light film and silver/gold satellite
film. The ballast is some 15% heavier than the heaviest UK designs,
most of which use swing rigs.
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All of the French hulls were made using diagonally planked balsa, bonded and finished with super glue and weighed only 20g! They used sheet metal foils and large offset pivot Una rigs of a very low aspect ratio set well towards/over the bow. The winning boat SLIM is moulded in carbon and fits into the measurement box diagonally; that too uses a ballast of 300g to counteract the tall offset pivot una rig, again with beautifully made sails.
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The most extreme design, HOOLIGAN by Gary Sanderson was longer than a foot and fitted in the measurement box both diagonally on plan and in the elevation. The cat rig is high above the deck to operate above the measurement box and did not look very efficient.
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At the prize giving Phil Tyler thanked the whole race organising team for setting up and running the event.
picture by Nigel Rudd
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2014 Gold Cup ResultsChampion - Phil Tyler - SUI42
Runner Up - Rob Vice - GBR41 Third - Claudio Vigada - ITA102 |
picture by Nigel Rudd
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Winning DesignerPhil Tyler - SliM - SUI42
Angus Richardson AwardGary Sanderson - Hooligan - GBR13
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Post by Fred Fanackerpan. |
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