Magic Marine RS300 Grand Prix at Attenborough & Bartley Sailing Clubs

Magic Marine RS300 Grand Prix at Attenborough SC © Roger Day

Richard Le Mare present the prize to winner Sam Knight in the Magic Marine RS300 Grand Prix at Bartley SC © Pete Ellis

Richard Le Mare present the prize to 1st master Steve Sallis in the Magic Marine RS300 Grand Prix at Bartley SC © Pete Ellis

Attenborough Report by Keith Brereton

Travelling from as far as Bristol and Prestwick to an ex-gravel pit in the heart of the Midland's premier nature reserve, 12 RS300s competed at Attenborough Sailing Club on Saturday 12 September 2015 as part of the Magic Marine RS300 Grand Prix Series.

In gusting F4 South-Westerly winds the countdown for Race One was heralded by an ominous clap of thunder from a passing storm cloud, however, the only lightning came from the over enthusiastic RS300 squad bolting the start only to be met with the double sound signal of a general recall from Race Officer Keith Brereton.

A tense restart saw the pack on their way attacking the beat to its South-Western extreme before bearing off between the islands to the first gybe mark before returning to the Western extreme of the pond.

Running back East, the helms had a choice of which side to take a group of three islands before emerging in full view of the nature reserve's Visitor Centre, providing a dozen spectacular gybes for the onlookers who are more used to observing the antics of a handful of ducks and barking Canadian geese than a dozen rearing RS300s being launched around a racing mark.

At the end of the first lap Tim Keen lead the way back up the beat followed by Pete Ellis, Luke Pepper and Steve Bolland. Laps 3 and 4 saw Luke take the lead which Tim reclaimed and held through the fifth and final lap.

After lunch and a small course adjustment to improve the reach, Race Two started cleanly in bright sunshine but gusting winds. Steve Bolland took the lead on the first lap and held it to the finish whilst Pete, Luke, Steve Sallis and Tim could only exchange positions behind Steve Bolland's dominant lead before finishing in that order.

After a short break on the water, Race Three saw Steve Sallis lead the first three laps before dropping back to finish in third place behind first place Pete Ellis and second place Tim Keen.

After discards, Pete and Tim finished the close fought event on equal points with Pete winning the event based on the result of the last race. Attenborough's Jon Adams finished overall 9th with a creditable best finish of 7th place in this his first RS300 event.

Attenborough Results:

Bartley Report by Sam Knight

It was an early start after some late nights for the RS300 fleet on day two of the Magic Marine Grand Prix event number five. Ten hardy travellers had made the trip from the first day at Attenborough to Bartley, and these were joined by three home boats for a tight day of racing. Race officer Andy Bownes welcomed the guests and gave a brief tour of the marks before declaring a prompt first start at 1030hrs. The fleet launched in to a light South-Easterly-ish breeze, with frequent North, South, East and Westerly shifts thrown in to keep the sailors busy. Equally busy was the lead rib who was seen hastily writing down the course with a minute to go, presumably on many sheets of paper as the fleet was sent round the scenic route of South West Birmingham, whilst fielding many questions such as "where is the first mark?", "what colour is the first mark?", "which orange one?" and of course "where should I go from there?".

The first start was all clear, and fastest out of the blocks was 476, Steve Sallis followed by light wind specialist Alistair McLaughlin and the peloton close behind. Rounding onto the second beat local, Sam Knight, had managed to find some separation from the fleet to close into the top two, and finding some favourable shifts had a small lead at the next mark. From there Sam was able to extend out and hold on for the win, but behind him Steve S had also a good gap in second. Multiple national champion Steve Bolland had found a way past Alistair to take third, with the Grand Prix series leader Tim Keen in fifth.

The second race started in similar conditions, this time with the ever purple Richard Le Mare showing some blistering pace to lead halfway up the first beat. Unfortunately he found a large header on his approach to top mark, just allowing Sam a slender lead onto the second leg. Once again Sam was able to pull away from the fleet, this time with Alistair in tow. By the second lap the top two had a decent lead, until Alistair was heard to declare "I think we're well away nooo". He was dramatically proved wrong as the top two sailed themselves into a hole, allowing the chasing Steves to close to with a few boat lengths. Up the next beat Alistair and Steve S tacked away early, with Sam and Steve B continuing on port. The early tack proved a killer move, and from there Steve S took an easy bullet with Alistair in second and Sam third despite a good last beat. The racing was incredibly close throughout the fleet, and no place was guaranteed before the last race.

After an hour ashore for lunch, watching the wind die and pick up from varying directions every ten minutes, the RS300s were back on the water with much enthusiasm for the final race. There were three sailors in it to win it, Sam and Alistair needing a top two finish at least, and all positions were vital for the weekend overall. The course was reset to account for another wind shift and another clean start was observed by the race officer. With the wind shifting so much, there were place changes galore up the first leg. Once again Sam took a slender lead into the first downwind, only to be pegged back by Steve B getting inside rights round the next mark. Steve S and Alistair had not fared well on the first beat but with Tim Keen pulling a great pass on both Sam and Steve on the next reach it was still all to play for. Little changed for the first lap until Sam just pipped Steve B to the top of the first beat on the second lap. On the next reach the chasing fleet found plenty of pressure to close into the podium positions. It looked like all three would be swallowed by the pack but Steve B was offered as sacrifice in return for allowing Tim and Sam to continue out ahead. Clearly the wind gods were happy with this offering, letting the top two retain a small lead into the final few legs. On the last run Sam found a small band of pressure to take him through to the front where he stayed until the finish, giving him the bullet and overall victory for the day. Tim was untroubled in second, while Alistair had staged a late comeback to finish in third.

Overall Sam took the day with two wins, Steve S was 2nd and first master with Alistair in 3rd. Through the fleet seven sailors had finished on joint points with someone else, showing how close the racing was. A special mention must be made of home A rigger Kevin Payne who picked his way through the mayhem in race three to finish 7th to boost him up to ninth at his first (and last!) RS300 event.

The calculations for results over the weekend were long and complicated, but the current thinking has Tim as overall winner on countback from Steve S with Steve B third and Pete Ellis 4th.

Bartley Results:

Next month takes the RS300s to the Far East for the Gul Inlands at Alton Water. I hope to see many of you there for the final event of the season. All the information on the event is at uk.rs300sailing.org/index.asp?selection=Events&uid=1035&fleet=RS300&detailevent=1