Summary by Simon Lake

Ian Pinnell & Nick Powell win Edwards International 505 Class European
 Championships & British National Championships at South Caernarvonshire
 Yacht Club. Light and variable winds frustrated Race Officer Aubrey Allso in his attempts to get away Race 6, for the Yachts & Yachting Trophy. One start sequence was postponed about 2 minutes before the start and eventually racing had to be abandoned. As is often the case the wind was at its best for the sail home, but dropped again soon after the fleet arrived at the beach.
The overnight leaders Ian Pinnell and Nick Powell take the European
 Championships from the defending champion Bill Masterman, who was placed third overall with his new helmsman Simon Payne. Ian and Nick also retain their British National Title won at Hayling Island last year.
 Second place was taken by Dave Smithwhite & Neil Fulcher who sailed a very consistent series, never finishing outside the top three.
 The leading Germans, Wolfgang Hunger and Holger Jess, were the highest
 placed non British team in fourth place.

RACE 1 - The City of Plymouth Trophy - by Simon Lake

Stuart Turnball/Jason Lunn were the pathfinders for race one, which started promptly at 11:00 am in force 4 south westerly winds. Simon Payne/Bill Masterman passed Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell on the first beat to lead at the windward mark, Pinnell/Powell, were second with Dave Smithwhite/Neil Fulcher third. The leading three consolidated their positions to finish in the same
order, leaving place changes to the chasing pack. For most competitors the greatest challenge was finding the finishing line, as the last beat was sailed in driving rain with only a few hundred metres visibility.

RACE 2 - Dunhill Trophy -  by Simon Lake

The second race was started in a force 2 winds, pathfinder was Charles Walters/Christian Diebitsch who helped by a very substaintial wind shift on the first beat, they arrived at the windward mark second, just behind Hector Cisneros/ Lawrence Crispin. Third at the first mark was the senior team from
Stone SC of Terry Selfe/Alan Montague. The wind shift had changed the first reach to a run and many of the leading group went off in the wrong direction. First at the gybe mark was Dave Smithwhite/Neil Fulcher, Cisneros/Crispin had dropped to about 5th and Walters/Diebitsch dropped to 12th. The final beat turned into a lottery as the wind filled in from the west.Marcus Mulbauer/Angela Stenger came from the middle of the fleet to win from Smithwhite/Fulcher and Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess who also staged a great recovery on the final leg.

RACE 3 - The Steve Nicholson Trophy - by Simon Lake

Tuesday morning started bright, but fears of a drought, arising from several hours without any rain, were soon averted as the rain bearing clouds drove in and brought more trying conditions for the Race Officer, Aubrey Allso. No sooner had the fleet departed for the race area, when a torrential downpour reduced visibility to a few metres and killed the wind. As the rain cleared, the wind re-built reaching 30 knots for a short period of time, and with the rain soon returning Aubrey had to send the fleet ashore.

The race team remained afloat and the race was started in a sunny 20 knots, building to 25 knots during the first leg, positions at the first mark were Simon Payne/Bill Masterman, Wolfgang Hunger/Holger Jess, Dave Smithwhite/Neil Fulcher,  Debbie Jarvis/Dan Johnson. Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell rounded 7th, but worked through the boats ahead by being the first to set the spinnaker on the second reach, climbing to third at the second windward mark, and then took the lead on the run, soon after the head of the Jib failed on Payne/Masterman's boat. Mike Holmes/Paul Young worked up to 5th at the start of the run, but lost all their gain with a capsize.

At the finish Pinnell/Powell lead by 500 metres from Smithwhite/Fulcher and Hunger/Jess who had a close fight for second, with the British team finishing ahead of the Germans, Payne/Masterman completed the course in 9th place with the jib at half mast, effectively ending their challenge for theChampionships.

RACE 4 - The Race of the Year Trophy - by Simon Lake

The rain has finally departed Abersoch, and Race 4 was started in sunny force 4-5, with the Swedish team of Jakob Lindvall/Kalle Byrenius acting as the pathfinder for the day. The Race of the Year has an extra round which makes the total distance sailed in excess of 23 nautical miles.
 On the first beat Simon Payne/Bill Masterman started early and went hard left with very good boat speed, Richard Lord/Simon Lake started in middle then went left, Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell started after 4 minutes and went hard right to the shore, the left side seemed to pay and the positions at first mark were Payne/Masterman, Pinnell/Powell, Lord/Lake and Mike Holmes/Paul Young. Pinnell/Powell caught Payne/Masterman all the way down the reaches and rounded the leeward mark a couple of boat lengths ahead.

Overnight leaders Dave Smithwhite/Neil Fulcher missed the gate start by 30 seconds, and were in the late teens at the windward mark, by the leeward mark they had pulled through to 10th, and continued their charge during the next couple of rounds and pulled through to 5th at the end of the second triangle. On the penultimate beat went left and were 3rd at the start of the final run, a position they held to the finish.

By the last beat the wind had increased to force 5-6 and Payne/Masterman tried to attack Pinnell/Powell and a number of tacks ensued, but Pinnell/Payne maintained their position to take the winning gun.

RACE 5 - The Breitling Trophy- by Simon Lake

Race 5 of the 505 European Championships, sponsored by Edwards Project Management, got underway in almost identical conditions to yesterday, sunny,
> south westerly force 4-5. Today it was the turn of another Swedish team, Ebbe Rosen/Olle Wenrup to act as  the pathfinder for the day.
 On the first beat Simon Payne/Bill Masterman started after about one minute and went hard left with very good boat speed, Mike Holmes/Paul Young and Ian Pinnell/Nick Powell came from the middle of the start with Holmes/Young going left and Pinnell/Powell forced by them to tack off to the right.
 At the first windward mark Holmes/Young led by a few lengths from Payne, followed by Dave Smithwhite/Neil Fulcher, Rosen/Wenrup, Hector Cisneros/Lawrence Crispin and  Pinnell/Powell in sixth, Holmes/Young extended their lead on the first reach but were caught again at the gybe, Pinnell/Powell moved to up to 5th by the gybe and 4th by the leeward mark. On the second beat Pinnell/Powell quickly powered his way through to
second, behind Payne/Masterman.

 On the last beat Smithwhite/Fulcher passed Holmes/Young and
Cisneros/Crispin to take third and keep their hopes of winning the event alive.

The stage is now set for exciting final day with Pinnell/Powell favourite, but both Payne/Masterman and Smithwhite/Fulcher could still win the event with a victory in race 6.

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