2ndhanddinghies Rooster RS400 Southern Championships at Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club
by Mick Whitmore 22 Sep 2016 10:50 BST
17-18 September 2016
Sponsored by 2ndhanddinghies.com and Rooster Sailing
Light winds were forecast all week prior to the event, then on Friday WindGuru started changing colour to orange with the odd splash of dark red scattered across Saturday.
Luckily for us at Eastbourne the forecast direction was Northerly all weekend, this is offshore for us and meant near mill pond conditions on the beach and a perfectly flat sea looking out from the clubhouse.
Once out by the Committee boat however, anchored just a mile from the shore, and looking back upwind, if you hadn't already realised by the wild ride out, it was proper bloody windy, averaging 24 knots with some gusts at 30 knots. This focused the mind of those brave enough to launch and those stupid enough to stay out for all three races.
Matt Fowler and Greg Shipley clearly loved the conditions taking the win in all three races, with Mike Green and Alex Smith recording a 2,3,2 and Matt and Ellie Sheahan a 3,2,3.
With the racing just off the beach, spectating was great, watching one of the bigger gusts flatten both Matt and Mike simultaneously, sailing's easy, looking from the beach!
Sunday and a less wind 8 – 12 knots, sunshine at times, this tempted out all of the boats for some close racing. Somehow the entire fleet was over for the first start of the day, the black flag then keeping us in check for the rest of the day.
Mick & Sarah Whitmore took the first two races of the day and followed up with a second. Mike and Alex had a 2, 5, 1.
Matt and Ellie a 4,2,3 with Matt and Greg having a 3,3,4.
Matt & Greg's sublime performance on Saturday meant they maintained their lead and were worthy winners, a gaping big hole in their kite, and a few aches and pains, all memories of an eventful weekend at Eastbourne.
See the full results [PDF]
and lots of great photos on Facebook.
The next big event for the RS400s is the Magic Marine Inland Championships, 8/9 October at Grafham Water SC. Details, including on-line entry at www.rs400.org/championships/mindex.asp?eid=1341