ISO International Regatta (27th - 30th August 2001)

The week beginning on the 27th of August saw the ISO International Championship held at Carnac in France with 18 ISOs making it to the start line. Before the championships, the practice race was dominated from start to finish by 1019 Charles Chandler and Adam Savage, followed by the U.K national champion Andrew Gould who was sailing with a new crew Michael "Son of Yoram" Frogley, due to Andrew's regular crew Vicky Lewis being ill.

The following day saw a force 2 - 3 providing some more light wind sailing. Gould/Frogley won on the water, followed by French Olympic campaigner Jean-Philippe Delapierre and crew Benjamin Vernieres. In the event, both leading boats turned out to be over the line at the start, so first place went to Ian and Katie Keam-George and second to Mike and Dean Lillywhite. Charles and Savage were looking good for second position, but missed the last mark and had to re-round to finish in third place.
The second race saw Charles and Savage win, Delapierre/Vernieres second and Gould/Frogley in third place. The wind picked up lightly for the third race of the day. The race was won by Delapierre/Vernieres with Mike and Andrew Perry in second. Charles/Savage came in third despite having broken a trapeze harness, snapped a halyard and holed the bow (caused by a pre-race ramming from team 'Purple Helmets' Paul Wilson and Wyndham Lewis). At the end of day one, Charles/Savage were in the lead, looking good going into day two.

Day two saw heavy winds in the morning dying off for the 1.30 start, Delapierre/Vernieres rounded the first mark in first position but were quickly overtaken by the Lillywhites. However, the Lillywhites took the wrong way up the beat, sending them back into third position, and were finally pipped on the line by Mike and Andrew Perry. By this point the wind had suddenly jumped to a force 3 - 4. Gould/Frogley finally found their form to win the race, followed by Delapierre/Vernieres. Charles Chandler and Adam savage relinquished their overnight lead after a bent boom dropped them to sixth.
The second race of the day saw Charles/Savage trying to compete with a seriously bent boom only for it to snap off the start line giving them a DNC. Gould/Frogley won the race followed by Delapierre/Vernieres then the Keam-Georges. At the end of day two after one discard coming into play saw Delapierre/Vernieres lead followed by Gould/Frogley, Charles/Savage just holding onto third place chased closely by Keam-George, Lillywhite and Perry. A day off on Wednesday meant that Tuesday night saw a lot of the competitors take advantage of their free beer tokens, with several of the crews falling out of the Whiskey club at 5.30 in the morning.

The third day of racing saw a strong force 4 - 5. The strong winds caught some of the lighter crews out. Gould/Frogley got their hat-trick of first places followed by Delapierre/Vernieres then Charles/Savage. The Lillywhites fell back to tenth position after a capsize on the first leg, but confident sailing saw them move up to a final fifth position. Gould/Frogley won the next race closely followed by Lillywhite then Keam-George. The second race of the day saw Gould/Frogley drop from their customary first position to fourth with Delapierre/Vernieres winning, Keam-George in second and Lillywhite in third.

Points were extremely close going in to the final day. Delapierre/Vernieres led by one point over Gould/Frogley, Lillywhite was in third one point ahead of Keam-George and Charles/Savage one point behind them. The ninth and final race saw some very close and exciting racing. Wind strength was about a force five with some strong gusts. Gould/Frogley and Delapierre/Vernieres started close together at the favoured end of a port-biased line and led round the windward mark. However, Gould/Frogley failed to cover downwind and found themselves in a hole, on the left side of the course, and could only watch as the pursuing pack passed at speed on the other side of the course. Delapierre/Vernieres grabbed the advantage and stormed into the lead with Keam-George, Lillywhite, Perry and Charles/Savage close behind. Keam-George capsized on the downwind mark, letting Perry and Lillywhite through. Heavy winds saw lots of capsizes all over the course. Gould/Frogley managed to claw their way past everyone on the next upwind leg. Perry capsized on the second downwind leg putting Lillywhite in third position. Keam-George made a great recovery from their capsize to finish fourth. Gould/Frogley won the race by about 50 yards from Delapierre/Vernieres.

After an excellent weeks racing, and even better socials, the final results were very close. Gould/Frogley were on an equal 12 points with Delapierre/Vernieres, but won on the tie break by clocking up a string of 5 firsts during the week. Third and Forth positions were also tied with both Lillywhite and Keam-George on 24 points. Keam-George won the tie-break, based on the fact that they had won a race on the Monday. A week of gear-failures for Charles/Savage landed them a fifth position, proving once more the old adage that it is unlucky to win the practice race.

The world renowned Pro-Am team prize went to Mike and Dean Lillywhite / Julie Fawlett & Dom Hull with second place going to Paul Wilson, Wyndham Lewis / Antony & Mike Smith.

With Friday night came celebration, lots of people from both the ISO and Buzz fleets ended up in the Pink Flamingo bar. International champion crew Michael "son of Yoram" Frogley showed that he is multi-talented by dancing in only his boxer shorts on the bar, being cheered on by the crowd, thus ending a week of carnage in Carnac.

Full Results Here....