RS600s go POSH at Paignton

RS600s at the Paignton POSH Regatta © Alice Crick

RS600s at the Paignton POSH Regatta © Alice Crick

RS600s at the Paignton POSH Regatta © Alice Crick

The RS600 2017 Tour continued last weekend with a trip to the beautiful English Riviera and, in spite of a rather gloomy forecast, six hardy souls ventured forth from as far afield as Grafham and Marconi to join the two local RS600 sailors at Paignton for the annual P.O.S.H. competition.

Arriving on Friday evening in the teeth of an onshore gale with surf piling up the beach, things didn't bode well for launching on Saturday.

By the following morning the wind had moderated, but the sight of a number of local surfers out enjoying the waves off the harbour entrance confirmed our worst fears that launching would be pretty treacherous. I even had a brief flashback to Jamie's squealing when we launched at Looe in similar conditions a few years back!

The wind gradually faded then switched off completely and failed to return in time to make the launch window before the beach disappeared under the rising tide.

So, day one was abandoned and the only race was back up the slipway to the boatpark on the green before gathering for a photo shoot and a closer look at Ian Montague's new sail. In the evening we all met up in Paignton Sailing Club for a splendid meal washed down with some excellent ale and a few tall tales of past exploits.

Sunday's first start was brought forward by an hour, so the bleary eyed fleet assembled on the beach to find a gentle onshore breeze and a committee boat so far out to sea it was almost over the horizon! After what seemed an eternity the stragglers finally made it to the course area and things got underway.

The 600s were in amongst the fast fleet which also included the Blazes and a lone Phantom and at the start it was David Goudie and Ian (Spiderman) Marshall who got away well at the committee boat end with the Phantom in close company. In such light conditions it was the Phantom that rounded on to the top reach first followed by Spiderman, David and Paul Proctor with Ian (Monty) Montague not far behind. Spiderman narrowly beat the Phantom across the finish line with Paul taking second in the 600s from David and Monty in fourth. Alistair Farman dropped back after slipping off the foredeck and capsizing down the run (we honestly tried not to laugh too hard!), but still managed to claim sixth place ahead of local man Tim Morgan.

A similar pattern emerged in race 2 with Spiderman and David again making the best of the start, although Paul worked some local magic up the beat to round behind Spiderman neck and neck with David. Spidey held on to lead at the finish and Paul eventually won the close battle with David for second with Monty again holding on to fourth.

Just before the start of race 3 the wind had swung left and Monty, who spotted this first, got away at the pin end with Spidey close behind. Suddenly, remembering how hard you need to pull the kicker on, Monty found his Mojo and showing good upwind speed led round the first mark with Spidey close behind. Paul rounded next with David nibbling at his heels. Monty refused to be caught and took a well deserved win from Spidey with Paul third and David fourth. Having successfully avoided the large patches of floating weed Tim had his best race and managed sixth behind Alistair.

David had had enough of light airs by this time and headed back to shore although the wind had been increasing slowly throughout the afternoon.

Race 4 started after a delay to re-lay the course as the wind had increased and gone round to the South.

Three 600s started together next to the committee boat and it was Monty who led off the line with Spidey and Paul just behind and to windward. Spidey tacked and ducked behind Paul to get clear air out to the right then Paul also tacked and these two kept going right and met the new breeze which allowed them to tack for the mark and flat wire on the lay-line to establish a big lead over the rest of the fleet. The breeze steadied and Paul tried a bit too hard to put the pressure on down the run and imitated Alistair's earlier capsize by sliding off the foredeck. In spite of a rapid recovery Paul could not close the gap, but comfortably held on to take second behind Spidey with Monty coming in a distant third hotly pursued by Alistair who was clearly relishing the stiffer breeze. Rob Ellis-Paul finished fifth to round off a consistent series in spite of carrying extreme mast rake for the light conditions with Tim bringing up the rear.

The RS600 results were extracted from the fast fleet and, after discard, Ian Marshall took the event win with Paul Proctor second and Ian Montague third.

The Race Officer and his team did an excellent job getting four races in despite the difficult conditions and making the journey to The English Riviera worthwhile.

A terrific event, a great weekend being had by all and one we'd love to return to next year. A massive thanks to all that helped to put this event together.

It was fantastic to see a decent number of 600s racing together at a big event and it really felt as though the revival is gathering momentum if the level of enthusiasm is anything to go by.

As an aside I was stitched by Chairman Montague to write the report as he must have realised that he might end up third and didn't want to invoke the old rule of, "If you finish third you write the words!" Maybe we need to review that one, but as Ian has put so much into getting the 600 class back on its feet I couldn't really refuse.

After two great events so far this year, the 600 circus moves up North to another legendary UK holiday resort when we head to Filey for the Filey Regatta on June 17th and 18th.

With keen sailors, a fantastically inclusive ethos and a simply brilliant boat, the 600 revival is going great guns right now and we'd like to thank RS, Boatyard @ Beer and all who have worked magnificently to encourage 600 pilots across the country to dig out their harnesses and live life on the wire!