Volvo Noble Marine RS800 National Championship at Plymouth - Overall

Racing in Plymouth Sound at the Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals 2014 © Tom Gruitt / www.tom-gruitt.co.uk

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals day 3 © Tom Gruitt / www.tom-gruitt.co.uk

The RS800 fleet returned to Plymouth Harbour ten years after it first hosted the National Championships to celebrate the class's 15th year anniversary. Much has changed with the class since 2004 – the new shaped deck layout and new square topped mainsail being the most noticeable, but much has remained the same, with the class as ultra competitive as ever with over 10 boats boasting national and world championship winning crews.

Day 1

A quick fire day of two races to get the crews warmed up. Racing was held in the harbour with three laps of a 15 gusting 20 knot breeze. Beats were well over a mile long which meant mastery of both the shifts and of raw boat speed were required. The usual suspects hit the top of the podium, Saxton, Littlejohn and Wincer/Date excelling, chalking up a couple of counters, to end the day with 4 points each. The McEwen's looked well poised for a consistent week, notching up two 4ths that would see them sit on the final podium spot overnight.

Other pre-regatta favourites Hivey/Mather chalked up a bullet and a 12th, not bad for a newly formed team given the conditions; the question everyone wanted to know was whether the 12th would be the norm for the rest of the week or was it the bullet...

Day 2

With the crews now ready for the first full day of 3 races, the wind again blew through heavier than forecast. Too heavy for the committee boat to weigh anchor out in the bay, so the battlefield once more would be inside the breakwater. With the North Westerly coming in over the town and gusts of 100%, all bets were off with regards to a favoured side and most sailors would return to the bar with stories of both left and right paying. The fleet was tightly compacted in all three races today, few boats holding the lead for more than a lap, but the successful boats were those that had a simple game plan in mind: long tack first upwind, bold calls downwind to stay in the gusts and never think that the race is won or lost. Shone/Tattersall revealed their tactics by later claiming a 9 gybe run kept them in the same patch of wind all the way from the spreader mark to the gate thus gaining them their highest finish of the day.

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals day 2 - photo © Tom Gruitt / www.tom-gruitt.co.uk

Team greenmarine.co.uk, Halhead/Jagger and team Singleton all relished the conditions in the competitive environment of the fleet posting top tens to finish the day with the 4th, 6th and 8th best points totals respectively.

Up front, earlier questioning had been answered: Hivey/Mather were in regatta winning form with the lowest point score on the day. Saxton/Littlejohn also picked up two counters in the three races and were starting to put in a tidy score line themselves – a pattern was beginning to form, marred only by Phillips/Crocker who after a shocker of a day one were starting to light the touch paper, finishing the day with two bullets, but surely they were too far behind to catch up?

Day 3

The sea sailors got their way. Out to the bay we raced today for three more races. The sun was shining but a cold f3 was blowing from the SE rather that the forecast NE. Swells of 3 feet or so were rolling in, which saw the crews trying to catch a glimpse of the centre boards during the pre-race downwind warm ups.

Upwind speed was hard to find in these conditions, the call was to go for height in the light and bow down in the gusts but when to make these changes was to make or break ones result in such toughly fought racing.

Once more the gusts were rolling in, but with right favouring (in this author's opinion), tactics were straight forward: look for the tack out after the start at all costs, clear your lane, get into your fast mode and stay there.

After the second race the wind swung to NE and built to 15 knots. After sparring all day the top four boats overall had finished within three points of each other in each race and were all in contention. The third race was to prove critical for the championships and so is worthy of brief description:

Rounding the bottom marks commencing the second of three laps Boatman/Brown lead Hivey/Mather and Phillips/Crocker, in positions 4-6, just in touch with the leaders of Lovering/Vidal. Sensing right was paying, all three rounded the right hand mark, and had one thing on their mind: speed. First to fall was Boatman/Brown who saw a knot in the kite halyard ruin his chances of a top 5 result. Next up it was Hivey/Mather who with weed on the board had been reeled in by Phillips/Crocker who with the bit between the teeth kept up the same forward momentum downwind, blasting into 3rd behind the uncharacteristically quiet Date/Wincer and Lovering/Vidal who were still 50m in front. At the bottom marks Date/Wincer went left searching for breeze, Phillips/Crocker went right which gave Lovering a call to make. Playing it safe, they covered their rivals Date/Wincer which gave Phillips/Crocker the window they had been looking for to sneak the bullet. Critical was the point margin to the chasing contenders who posted a 5th (Hivey), 11th (Saxton) and 6th (Boatman), what had looked like an odds on top two after day one, was now a top three.

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals day 3 - photo © Tom Gruitt / www.tom-gruitt.co.uk

Lovering/Vidal won the day with 8 points in the three races. Watson/Watkins nailed it too, posting three top tens, doing their series no harm in the process. Phillips/Crocker had turned an 8 point deficit to Day 2 leaders Saxton/Littlejohn into a 4 point margin ahead, with Hivey/Mather 1 point further back. All three knew a lead as slender as that could evaporate in one poor performance – it was game on. Date/Wincer were stuck fighting in the pack behind; 2014 would see a new RS800 National Champion, who would step up?

Day 4

Two races to play for on the final day, with light f2s from the South favouring the pond sailors of Saxton/Littlejon, Phillips/Crocker, but the bay conditions favouring the ever consistent Hivey/Mather.

Previous National Champions Fitzjohn/Allin took the lead today posting two untouchable bullets pulling them up into 5th overall. Another similarly confident day was sailed by Barker/Moore who fired one of the oldest boats in the fleet to two 4th places and a clear victory in the youth prize overall – there will be more to come from this team in the future. The silver fleet was wrapped up by the new pairing of Humphreys and Cartwright who having knocked in a 3rd place in race 4, finished overall 18th, posting 11 & 14.

Upfront, the damage was done in the first race of the day. Despite clawing back to 3rd on a shortened course, Hivey/Mather leaked another point to Phillips/Crocker who finished 2nd. Saxton/Littlejohn posted a 9th, undone by a covering tack from Phillips/Crocker on the first leg pushing them to the wrong side of the breeze. Hivey now needed to finish in the top 3 with Phillips outside the top 8th to win overall. That wasn't to be. Locked together prestart, the boats both accelerated off the line into the top 3. Hivey got through Phillips downwind but got caught out upwind to finish behind Phillips in third.

New Champions, Phillips/Crocker were delighted with their performance over the week, coming from behind on day 1 to sail consistently for the remainder of the regatta. Thanks must go to the Plymouth Youth Sailing Team and the Mount Batten Centre, the sponsors Noble Marine and Volvo and to RS for supporting such an exciting event and the class.

Roger Phillips (left) and Will Crocker (right) are the new Volvo Noble Marine RS800 National Champions with Stuart Jones of Plymouth Youth Sailing and RS800 Chair Hannah Tattersall - photo © Grace Jones

Other prize winners:

• First nationals, completed all races and youngest crew: Edward and Jack Napolitano
• 1st youth helm and crew: Sam Barker and Stu Moore
• 1st lady crew: Emma McEwen
• 1st silver helm and crew: Matt Humphreys and Amy Cartwright
• 1st master helm: Andy Jeffries

Matt Humphreys and Amy Cartwright win the Silver division silver plate at the Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals - photo © Grace Jones

Overall Results: