Steve and Ross Birbeck from the Royal Torbay YC won the K6 Eurocup week at Gravedona on Lake Como with a couple of races to spare.
Second were Dave Hall and Graham Hoy from Balckwater SC, and in third place was Julian Cook sailing with Caroline Aisher and Hugo Fitzjohn of the Royal Torbay YC.
Steve and Ross had an uncanny ability to dig themselves out of trouble when not at the front of the pack, and almost always seemed to be able to pick the right side of the course for each leg.
And the right side of the course never seemed to be what it was on the previous lap! This goes some way to explaining why 9 of the 20 boats had 1st or 2nd places in at least one of the races.
Special mention goes to John Adcroft and Steve Dewbury from Aldeburgh who we think became the first Aldeburgh boat to win a race in the Europeans, and led for the the whole of race 6, going right up the first beat when everyone else went left.
Steve didn’t loose the grin for the rest of the week.
K6 Eurocup – Final Positions after 10 races
1st GBR 165 Stephen Birbeck – Royal Torbay YC – – 11 pts
2nd GBR 142 Dave Hall – Blackwater SC – – 26 pts
3rd GBR 164 Julian Cook – Royal Torbay YC – – 34 pts
4th GBR 222 Neil Fulcher – Stone SC – – 35 pts
5th GBR 166 Fraser Elms – Hayling Island SC – – 37 pts
6th GBR 195 Steve Bales – Ruthland SC – – 46 pts
7th GBR 172 Mike Trueman – Oxford SC – – 48 pts
8th GBR 216 Peter Kirkby – Queen Mary SC – – 51 pts
9th GBR 159 Giles Chipperfield – Lymington Town SC – – 52 pts
10th AUT 146 George Blatnig – Union YC Woerthersee – – 57 pts
11th GBR 1159 David Gorringe – Lymington Town SC – – 79 pts
12th GBR 208 Martin Wedge – Royal Torbay YC – – 85 pts
13th GBR 109 John Adcroft – Aldeburgh YC – – 89 pts
14th GBR 124 Paul Owen – Oxford SC – – 94 pts
15th GBR 213 Nick Jones – Aldeburgh YC – – 102 pts
16th GBR 122 John Tabor – Oxford SC – – 113 pts
17th GBR 161 Jeff van der Borght – Lyme Regis SC – – 127 pts
18th GBR 08 Phil Waterfall – St Mawes SC – – 127 pts
19th GBR 104 Richard Addison – Aldeburgh YC – – 142 pts