RS600 open meeting at Netley Sailing Club

RS600 open meeting at Netley © Joanne Stroud

After a small panic when it appeared that the Netley RS600 open was cancelled...social media, the club, plus Emma at the class association, came together to make it happen. The race team volunteered to run the event with RO Simon Holland assisted by daughter Amber.

A triangular course was agreed with the competitors and the boats launched into an Easterly 8-15 knot wind. Being offshore, the wind was quite variable, with some immediate 90 degree shifts by the windward mark.

Pete Nelson, George Smith and Mathew Holden each won a race with some tight finishes and many place changes. These three together with Rich Broughton had the best boat-speed and powers of shift divination and pulled clear of the rest of the fleet.

The club laid on a cook-your-own barbecue and, and so after having watched an impressive performance from Nairo Quintana on the last mountain stage of the Tour, volunteers meandered to the Co-Op to gather ingredients. George Smith did the cooking as apparently he cooked barbecues for their student house and they had not had food poisoning to date. Dinner was had with the view of the Saturday cruise liner traffic jam down Southampton water in front of us.

Sunday was similar to Saturday, except with less wind pressure. The big shifts and pressure lines gave plenty of place changes and some swims. The later were almost welcome in the 30 degree temperatures. The results were also similar but Pete Nelson won the first two races, perhaps taking advantage of his light weight.

George Smith opened out a big lead in the last race, only to park up at the windward mark in one of the holes that appeared thereabouts. Nevertheless he hung on to take the gun, which was enough for second overall.

Many thanks to Netley SC, who were perfect hosts.

Overall Results: