| The following year the fleet chose another exotic island location for their championships. Sardinia is famous for hosting the glamorous Swan Gold Cup; however the glitzy lifestyle of the Costa Smerelda didn’t extend as far as the noisy and stony campsite where most of the fleet were based. Some turned to an excess of alcohol as an aid to sleeping (or so they said) to the point that Keith Paul, who is surely old enough to know better, took a tumble and broke a rib or two. Only the British Contender Fleet would think of using a sheep lorry to transport their boats to a major event
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Stuart Jones, Graham Scott and Andrea Bonezzi on the podium in Sardinia. They may have been successful in the week, but could not match |
There was consolation however in the young ladies who ran the Regatta Office, the surge in testosterone clearly fired up a number of sailors. Nigel Walbank capped back to back wins with an OCS, the ever present Andrea Bonezzi was never far from the top of the leader board, but in the end it came down to another pair of ex-champions to slug it out as Graham Scott and Stuart Jones contested the final day. In the end it was Jones who prevailed to take his second win, once again to a chorus of bleating noises from the UK fleet… hardly a surprise there as most of the boats had arrived on the Island in the rear of a sheep lorry! |
