Volvo Noble Marine RS700 Nationals at Eastbourne Sovereign SC Overall

Volvo Noble Marine RS700 UK Nationals © Martin Allen Photography

Volvo Noble Marine RS700 UK Nationals © Martin Allen Photography

"A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread, the night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head"

What a regatta! Everybody in the 7 and 800 fleets agreed that this was one of the best Nationals ever. We were blessed with perfect weather, had a great turnout of thirty 700s including some new faces and, most particularly, were treated "Royally" by Eastbourne Sovereign (as usual, it must be said). 80 boats were managed fantastically well. It is a huge tribute to the Club that such a number of sailing members turned out over the course of the event to help out.

The first two days have already been commented on in the daily write-ups and had Jerry Wales, previous multiple champion, in a solid lead with Robbie Bell (who hasn't previously troubled the top of the table) second. I think Robbie was the most surprised to find himself up there although those of us who have sailed with him before knew that he has impressive technique and speed; he had previously earned his "Captain Splash" reputation though!

The last two days saw 6 races, one having been missed on Saturday when the RO (rightly) deemed the wind a bit too frisky and we had brisk, challenging winds for each of them.

All were close-run things and in the first of the day we lost Jerry Wales to yet more equipment failure. We wish him more luck with his new boat(s)! Colin Dacey was first to the WM and fought hard in the leading pack, never more than metres apart all the way round, for 6th. Last year's champion Steve Powell had his only 1st; pretty good since he can hardly have been in the boat since last year and Dave Smithwhite, who was to have a solid day, 2nd and clubmate Andy Brown 3rd.

Take a look at replays of the GPS tracks at www.hamishgriffiths.com to see how close that leading group were; there really was nothing in it.

Robbie Bell led from start to finish in the next; the last run had Bell, Dacey and Nolan, the Snettisham boys, 1,2,3 line astern at over 13kt in the chop with Steve Powell snapping at their heels and pulling through for 2nd. Ian Nolan had the most fantastic start in the last of the day, a real port flyer crossing the line at nearly 8kt and led to the WM only to capsize on his first gybe joined by Andy Brown and Neil Ashby. The conditions were getting much trickier and most boats went over at one time or another. Cautious sailors one-sailed reached down the course and this seemed to pay off for a few. Simon Letten was sailing consistently well (with both sails!) and was only pipped by HISC club mate Ian Swann (sadly not carrying a GPS) for 1st.

It was all for leader Robbie Bell to lose on the last day but he showed himself a true champion with three firsts. You can't say better than that. The RO was able to keep the course as first set w/l being exactly southwest/northeast and 1.1km long; it seemed further to weary contestants in the still challenging, but steady, breeze. Pete Purkiss who showed that the "mature" strain of the fleet can keep their end up, so to speak, pressed the leader to the end but by now Robbie could see the finishing line and nothing was going to stop him. A lovely Snettisham 1,2,3 finish in the last but one was followed by what seemed a lap of honour by Robbie who developed a huge early lead. He was nearly hunted down by Neil Ashby, who had a super regatta in his first 700 season, but he wasn't to be denied.

Robbie Bell; a very well deserved, popular and plainly astonished 2013 RS700 National Champion!

Huge thanks are due to Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club for generously hosting the 7 and 800 Championships. There were too many people involved to properly acknowledge each one but, obviously, grateful thanks to the Commodore, Graham Tomlin (my take away image is of him emptying the rubbish bins on Saturday night), Vice-Commodore Mick Whitmore for all the organisation and encouragement and, obviously, PRO Gary Smith for slick race management each day. We'll certainly be back if you'll have us!

Thanks, of course, to all of our sponsors but particularly Noble Marine and Volvo.

Overall Results: