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2005 Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships For final results from Lake Garda click here, view the Yacht Clubs' webcam or see the photographs! |
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| Race Report - Final report Ruairidh Scott and his team on "King Quick" - tactician Ben Field, trimmers Graeme Scott, Chris Scott & Mark Goalen and bow-chick Anna Scott are the 2005 Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships, a title they have been competing to win for a number of years and which they won this year with a day to spare. Second overall was Conor Clarke in "Wow", third were John Cooper & Bill Vance in "Oi!", Andrew Smith in "Twister" was fourth, Anthony O’Leary’s "Antix" was fifth and Des Faherty was sixth in "Aquatack". At the prize-giving on Friday night Graeme Scott gave thanks to the Race Committee and the whole team from the host club Fraglia Vela Riva for an absolutely stunning regatta. But it was on thanking each individual member of his team that we saw the emotional side of this particular Scotsman; a popular and talented team of exceptional sailors. The 1720 fleet are proud and delighted to race against them. |
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Race Report - Day Four Racing cancelled due to lack of wind. Race Report - Day Three A good thing happened on the race track yesterday at the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships; having waited for Lake Garda’s famous Ora breeze to work it’s renowned 20 knot magic for two days, on Thursday it finally did: Grazie! The warning signal for Race 7 sounded with just 6 to 8 knots across the lake, but by the first leeward mark kites were dropping in a full-on 18 to 20 knot foam up. Ruairidh Scott in King Quick held it all together and took the bullet with Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell sailing Des Faherty’s Aquatack second and Andrew Smith’s Twister, helmed by Shaun Barber third. |
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| Key Yachting Ltd image A port /
starboard incident on the final beat resulted in a fairly dramatic
‘coming together’ of two boats, both of which were holed, one
extremely seriously. Nobody hurt, the rescue boats of Fraglia Vela Riva did an incredible job buoying the fast sinking ship and the boat was quickly recovered by the Riva’s volunteer fire department’s work boat. Race 8 commenced as soon as the excitement was over and Anthony O’Leary in Antix lead from the off and held it all together until the finish line with the flying Scotsmen in King Quick hot on his heels. Greg O’Brien, sailing Gul Purple Marine.com, finally found some of his usual form and sailed an intelligent race, crossing the line in third. The final race of the day, Race 9, belonged to Ruairidh Scott and his team in King Quick, Wow was second with Oi! third, and as we go into the final day of racing, with two races scheduled, this positioning reflects the overall placing at the regatta. But that’s not the whole story: this is a one discard series but Ruairidh Scott and team don’t need to sail today. Having raced 1720s for six years, the King Quick team has finally won the Murphy & Nye 1720European Championship: pretty convincingly by all accounts. Well done to helmsman Ruairidh, tactician Ben Field, trimmer (and Dad) Graeme Scott, Chris Scott (no relation), Mark Goalen and bow-chick sister Anna ‘The Bear’ Scott. We are impressed and delighted to sail against you. More news on the rest of the results to follow later... Race Report - Day Two Races 4, 5 and 6 of the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships were sailed today on stunning Lake Garda under the auspices of the Race Committee at Fraglia Vela Riva. After a short postponement to allow the Ora breeze to kick in (a little late on parade today) all three races were sailed in very tricky and unusually shifty conditions, with the breeze up and down anywhere between 6 and 15 knots. Race 4 saw John Cooper and Bill Vance’ Oi! cross the finish line first having led from the off after a blistering start on port. Ruairidh Scott was second in King Quick and Mike Evans sailing with Adam Winkelmann in Yoke was third. Scott showed his metal in Race 5 and sailed himself into first place with Anthony O’Leary in Antix taking second from Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell and Des Faherty in Aquatack keeping the Irish flag flying in third place. Simon Blake and his talented and popular young crew in Sworded Fish won the final race of the day, Race 6 of this eleven race series. This victory is all the more impressive as this is their first year in a 1720. Charles Swingland, another newcomer to the fleet was quite rightly delighted by his second place in Dark Side and Ruairidh was clearly not too disappointed with a solid third. So a great day at the office for Ruairidh and the King Quick team. Scott now leads the fleet as we go into Day 3 with local boy Robert Eckstein in second and Prof O’Connell third. If you’ve not heard it before I’ll tell you the one about the Italian, the Irishman and the Scotsman at the end of racing tomorrow! Race Report - Day One Following a dockside sweep-stake amongst the 30 competing teams at the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships as to precisely what time Lake Garda’s southerly ‘Ora’ breeze would pump in, boats left the dock just after midday to race the first three races of the championship in a moderate (for the area) 12 to 15 knots. The Race Committee of Fraglia Vela Riva got things started bang on time at one pm and so the men and the boys (plus a generous smattering of bikini clad racing ladies) were duly separated. Race One was won by Conor Clarke in Wow, with Robert Eckstein (British born, but Italian resident) in second, and Darren Baker in Miele Mad Cow took third. Well… we did wonder what the ‘unknown’ Italians could do… Race Two saw a return to form for the current 1720 UK National Champion Ruairidh Scott in King Quick, back on his winning streak, with Eckstein second and Clarke taking a hard fought third place. tacktick micronet, helmed by slippery racing snake Geoff Carveth, took a bullet in Race Three, Eckstein crossed the line in solid second and Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell was third in Aquatack. At the end of Day 1, the leader board shows Robert Eckstein in first place on 8 points, Ruairidh Scott second with 10.8, and Conor Clarke third on 15.8. Our congratulations to Mrs Eckstein on her wedding anniversary today, for which her husband is absent: he’s busy giving the Brits and the Irish a good whipping on Lake Garda! Games commence again tomorrow (7th September) at the Murphy and Nye 1720 European Championship, with races 4 to 7 scheduled. My money says we’ll start with the Ora at one pm precisely... 1720 European Championship Preview 30 boats and 175 competitors, complete with their holidaymaking entourage, have now arrived in the beautiful Italian town of Riva on the shores of Lake Garda, to compete in the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championship which starts tomorrow. Hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva the event looks set to be one of the most hotly fought in the recent history of the Class. 2004 Champion Robert Greenhalgh is sadly absent, his Volvo Ocean race commitments with Team ABN AMRO have kept him away this year, but the Greenhalgh family are still extremely well represented at the event. Libby Greenhalgh is helming Splash Test Honeys, crewed by a team of fine ladies including owner Jane Mclelland. Peter Greenhalgh is tactician on board John Cooper and Bill Vance’ Oi!, and following a Class win at Cowes Week this year Oi! Will certainly be a key contender here. Dad, David Greenhalgh, and his co-owner Paul Lovejoy will also be racing on board the family ship G&T and we know they can be very fast indeed. Second at last year’s championship were Ruairidh Scott and team in King Quick. This team has to be the hot favourite for the 2005 title at this stage in the game: current 1720 UK National Champion, Scott is also the 2005 J/80 World Champion. Both his 1720 tactician, Ben Field, and his bow-girl (sister Anna) crewed with him at the J/80 Worlds and share his World Champion title. However, looking down the list of competitors it is extremely hard to predict what will happen here over the next few days. The fleet includes plenty of major championship winners from both 1720s and other racing classes and even boasts a few Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. From Ireland, Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell is sailing again with Des Faherty in Aquatack having taken a break from his Olympic Star campaign to see if he can win back the 1720 Euro crown he first donned three years ago. Another notable Irish contender is Anthony O’Leary and his team in Antix. Anthony has had as much time on the water in 1720s as anyone else here and has had great success racing keelboats generally, but he also won the 1720 Class at the Scottish Series this year. Of the UK boats Andy Smith’s Twister has shown extremely strong recent form and Ian Atkins in Boats.com is going to love the pumping breeze for which Riva and Lake Garda are famous. Jeff Carveth, sailing tactic micronet could easily be right up in the chocolates – there are few racing classes with which Jeff has not been involved over the years; he’s what you’d call ‘a little bit handy’ at the back of a racing boat. So plenty of ‘form’ to watch at this championship but plenty of new kids on the block too. No one here has raced against local boy Robert Eckstein and we will all be watching him closely up the first beat for sure. Racing at the Murphy & Nye 1720 European Championships starts tomorrow and concludes on Friday. << Back |
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