Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals at Castle Cove Sailing Club - Overall

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals at Weymouth © Seb Gosmark / www.sbgfilms.net

The final day of the Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals dawned with what can only be described as "typical British weather" - torrential rain! As the RS800s began to slowly emerge from the warmth of the clubhouse after protracted bacon sandwiches and hot cups of tea there was considerable envy for some of the front runners of the RS700 fleet, who having already sewn up their finishing positions were able to stay inside!

Not so for us! After three days and 9 very well run and closely fought races (thanks to Richard Woof and all of the Castle Cove volunteers) the fleet remained tight throughout with the fight still on for the podium places, despite there only being one race left!

The situation was perhaps most simple for event leaders Tim Saxton and Fiona Hampshire, who, thanks to their consistency and a discarded 5th place, simply needed to prevent 2nd place Matt Humphreys and Amy Cartwright from winning the race. The ever consistent reigning champions Roger Phillips and Will Crocker, entered the day in third place. Despite the event win being just beyond them, Roger and Will were still hunting for second place, with their best chance also appearing to be slowing Matt and Amy. It certainly looked like it was going to be a tough day for Matt and Amy after BFD and an unfortunate capsize on day 2 left them with a potentially costly 12th as their current discard!

Hot on the heels of these three were Hugh Shone and out-going class Chair Hannah Tattersall, and former champion Pete Barton sailing with incoming Chair Chris Feibusch. It was certainly set up be an interesting race as the fleet launched into the 12-15kt Westerly on Portland Harbour!

Once in sequence it was quickly apparent that Saxton/Hampshire planned to slow Humphreys/Cartwright with Phillips/Crocker taking a slightly more stand-off approach. As these three started their games off the line a number of boats, including Shone/Tatersall, Barton/Feibusch, James Green/James Trewick and Russell Gibbs/Jamie Dawson executed great starts and first beats to lead off into the distance.

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals at Weymouth - photo © Seb Gosmark / www.sbgfilms.net

With the podium players languishing outside the top ten on the first lap the race would be played out between those four boats with Shone/Tatersall taking a convincing win to end their event with a consistently brilliant 2, 1, 1 in the final three races!

Huge amounts of credit must go to Matt and Amy, who using their impressive boat speed managed to wriggle free of both Saxton/Hampshire and Phillips/Crocker before distancing both and advancing through the fleet at great pace to recover to seventh by the finish. However with the race win out of reach Saxton/Hampshire claimed the championship, finishing on 20 points.

Behind them the points were set to be very close. The incredible final race recovery from Humphreys/Cartwright was enough for them to squeak the silver medal, ending on 25 points, with Phillips/Crocker a mere 0.9 points behind them after an earlier redress claim on day three. Shone/Tatersall ended 4th, missing out on the podium by a wafer thin 0.1 points ending with 26!

Second in the final race handed Barton/Feibusch 5th overall (and first Masters). Andy and Allyson Jeffries ended 6th, beating the fast starting Hugh Watson and Andy Watkins into 7th on count-back. Luke and Emma McEwen, Dave and Lou Steed, and Ben Schooling/George Kingsnorth rounded out the top 10, with Schooling/Kingsnorth also scooping the prize for first "old-style" main.

Other notable performances included Paul and Peter Jenkins who despite just missing the top 10 scooped first Silver trophy.

Such tight and enjoyable racing throughout the week was a great advertisement for the versatility, performance and fun that racing the RS800 always offers. 2015 also saw a resurgence of the female crews, with Fiona Hampshire becoming the second female national champion (after super-crew Roz McGrane) and females sailing in 6 of the top 10 boats. Figures any other performance class is surely jealous of!

With weight equalisation, one-design equipment, and minimal boat work required the RS800 really does offer accessible performance racing to all! I highly encourage you to give it a go whether you are coming towards the end of the RYA youth programmes or simply looking for some great fun racing in a friendly but competitive fleet.

I cannot end this report without thanking Castle Cove Sailing Club for putting on a truly exemplary event. From the ever-friendly welcome, to the expert race team and helpers, and the bar and galley staff the whole event was a perfect example of how a community sailing club should run an event on, and off the water.

Thanks should also go to all the other volunteers from the club, Clare Sargent from the RS Class Association, and out-going Chair Hannah Tattersall (and soon to be husband Hugh Shone) for all their hard work prior to, and during the event.

A great four days of racing! Bring on the rest of the season...

Overall Results:

1st Lady: Fiona Hampshire
1st Silver: Paul Jenkins & Peter Jenkins
1st Master Helm: Peter Barton
1st Master Crew: Chris Feibusch
1st Old Style Main: Ben Schooling & George Kingsnorth
Endeavour Trophy: Cameron Moss & Darrol Moss

RS800 Nationals Crews Race:

1st 1219, Chris Feibusch & Peter Barton
2nd 1189, Hannah Tattersall & Hugh Shone
3rd 1010, James Clapham & John Warburton
4th 1163, James Trewick & James Green
5th 1129, Emma McEwen & Luke McEwen
6th 1144, Debbie Robertshaw & Daniel Goodman
OCS 1050, Will Broom & Joe Joyner
RET 1057, Dan Kilsby & Sarah Martin
DNF 1058, Tom Prower & Ian Lodder