Gul RS K6 Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club

23 RS K6s for their nationals at Hayling © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

23 RS K6s for their nationals at Hayling © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

“It’s a bit risky” said some when the decision was taken to have the K6 Nationals as late as October, but it was a risk that paid off. Warm sunshine and 10-12 knots of breeze made late autumn feel like late summer for the three day event at Hayling Island The only grey cloud in the picture was Foot and Mouth closing that most rural of sailing venues, Queen Mary, leaving two crews without boats… shame they didn’t work for Thames Water or DEFRA.

Race Officer Jamie Williamson, ex Navy, had the fleet standing to attention during his pre race briefing. He made it clear that his sole purpose was “fair racing”, with a delivery that left you thinking someone in the fleet had stolen his last Rolo. Howard Garner was court martialled for insubordination, and was last seen scrubbing the committee boat decks. With that kind of presence, you knew that the race management was in safe hands, and Jamie and his team did not disappoint.

All eyes were on defending champions and HISC locals, David Hitchcock and Ian Nicholson, in the first race: how quickly would they find their stride and, for the non-locals, which side of the course should you go up?! The answer to the first question was that it would take more than one race, with Paul Fisk, Amanda Wadhams and Heather Chipperfield in Fat Face recording the first bullet, with Aldeburgh’s Ian Robson in second. The answer to the second question was that the locals were pretty evenly split on which side of the beat to choose. “Go left” was the received wisdom, but you needed to keep your eyes out of the boat to avoid being caught out by the rather unstable easterly breeze.

However, what the first race most clearly established, was that it didn’t take much of a slip in concentration to loose a good ten places on the water. The ‘tail’ in the fleet was genuinely very short and the battle for anything between 6th and 16th was hard fought with several normal front markers having to adjust to a slightly different view of the fleet. In the final tally, the top 17 boats all had individual top 10 results.

Race 2 saw a game of cat and mouse between the top HISC boats. David and Ian were determined to fix their indigestion having had a swallow a 3rd place for ‘starters’. Olympian Ossie Stewart (crewed by Bev Moss) and ex 505 champion Bill Masterman (crewed by Dan “I like standing” Mountfield) fought hard to add to their pain with regular place swapping. However, the medicine worked, and David and Ian took race 2 for ‘main course’ and rounded off race 3 for ‘afters’.

Day 2 started slightly colder and greyer, but with the upside that Itchenor’s Peter Dann wouldn’t be able to wear his Hawaiian shorts and tee-shirt combo. The replacement outfit was nothing less than ‘his and hers’ custom made spray tops and baseball trousers (flown-in from New York)…all in white. “The decorators” was perhaps not the nickname Peter and crew Dominic were looking for given the investment, but combine the outfits with a boat called “Nice cuppa tea” and result was inevitable.

On the water, it was Aldeburgh’s Ian Robson (crewed by Sandy Johnson and Simon Tonks) who stamped their authority on both the first races. In the relatively light conditions, their up and downwind speed was particularly impressive being the heaviest crews. Their tails were up going into the round the cans race finishing at the club, but a third bullet eluded them. This race delivered on its reputation of mixing the fleet-up with Carsington’s Stephen Blake and David Lucas commanding a decent lead at the first windward mark. The leeward mark had boats 5 or 6 abreast trying to squeeze around onto a broad reach, with language to match the competitive intensity. The beat to the final mark saw those on the left hand side lifted a good 15 degrees higher than those on the right. Peter Kirkby and Richard Barker popped out at the top, but then made the mistake of asking David and Ian behind them what they’d like to drink at the bar. If David and Ian needed an invitation to show just how fast these boats CAN be sailed, this was it and they powered past early in the 2 mile final leg to take the race.

Day 3 saw the fleet glide out and wait until 13.00 for the breeze to build, but with no joy – great picnic weather. David and Ian retained their championship title by 5 points from Ian Robson and crew, with Paul Fisk and crew in third. Fraser ‘baby face’ Elms won the ‘young helm’ prize and was last seen talking to a talent scout about become the next ‘face of L’Oreal’. Appropriate then that New York beckons for the next RS K6 event with the American Yacht Club in Long Island sound.

Overall Results: