Volvo Noble Marine RS400 Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Overall

Volvo Noble Marine RS400 Nationals at Hayling Island © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

Volvo Noble Marine RS400 Nationals at Hayling Island © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

The RS400 fleet has new National Champions, Paul and Mark Oakey (1441) from Portchester SC.

Throughout a taxing week, where the weather danced around the fleet and provided more snakes than ladders on the open sea courses off Hayling Island, the father and son team were never out of the top ten. Indeed, their discarded scores were an 8th and a 4th leaving four bullets, a 2nd and a 3rd to count.

Such consistency was particularly impressive given the tricky conditions and more erratic scores of many in the rest of the fleet. From reading the light breeze, to understanding the influence of the across course tide and then coping with stronger winds and short steep seas, many enjoyed a range of views in the fleet including some of the big guns who were reminded what thirty odd transoms look like.

But the Oakeys, who are well known for being among the flyweights in the fleet and even refer to themselves as the Hobbits, excelled in all of the conditions. It was of little surprise that they went well in the light but when the breeze got up, as it did on the second to last day of the event, they were still smoking off into the distance and nailing podium results.

But they're not superhuman, as a few at the front witnessed on Day 4 when Paul and Mark tripped up on the last gybe of the last leg of race 6 when they were vying for the lead.

This image of the fallible Oakeys swimming around their boat may well have been in the minds of those chasing them on the overall points on final day as teams awoke to a solid 20 knots plus and a forecast of more to come. If there were conditions that the Hobbits could be caught in, these were surely them.

But as breakfast was digested and boat covers pulled back, the breeze continued to build. Many kept a keen eye on the committee boat and its armada of rescue RIBs as they headed out towards the notorious bar at the entrance to Chichester Harbour. But when they turned back just short of the breaking waves, many suspected that the game was over. One hour later it was and the final day's racing was cancelled.

Volvo Noble Marine RS400 Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

Despite the disappointment of the last day, the event had been a superbly run and convivial affair with plenty of tales for the bar. The best of which must surely be Ben Robertson's downwind capsize. In a gybe that saw, 'lots of things go very wrong, very quickly', helmsman Ben launched himself to the high side, (as mother Sarah took the leeward side dunking) and made his high jump style bid over the windward gunwale for the centreboard.

Unfortunately, he missed the centreboard and banged his head on the hull. But instead of plunging into the sea his fall was arrested as the mainsheet that had wrapped around his foot left him hanging upside down on the outside of the hull with his head in the water.

"To be honest it took a few hours to see the funny side," he admitted afterwards. Fortunately, the bar inside the club house helped in that respect.

Among the other top tales, that of legendary dinghy gurus and self-confessed pensioners Nick and Rob Martin, who claim that they 'don't tack much because they can't', taking a win on the breeziest of days in the trickiest of last minute gybes that saw younger fitter teams go swimming was as impressive as the grins on their faces afterwards. Finishing 6th overall they continue to be an example to the rest of the fleet.

Volvo Noble Marine RS400 Nationals at Hayling Island - photo © Alex Irwin / www.sportography.tv

Throughout the week there were teams that looked like they could be a threat to the Oakeys. Both the Robertsons (1319) from Royal Forth YC and the Martins (1433) from Lymington Town SC were among those who added a win to their scoreline while also appearing to make the family point at the same time.

But it was Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin (1454) from Llangorse SC, who snatched two wins during the week that were pushing the Oakeys the hardest finishing second overall by 8 points.

But wherever you had finished, the mixed bag of weather, the wide range of entries from across the country and the broadest friendliest bunch of sailors said a great deal about why the 400 class continues to thrive.

More Sportography.tv photos from the event can be found here.

Overall Results: