RS Elite Nationals at Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Day 1
by Martin Wadhams 22 Jul 2010 22:20 BST
22-25 July 2010
2010 RS Elite nationals at Lymington day 1 © Mark Lloyd /
www.lloydimages.com
RS Elite Nationals kicks off with three races and three winners
Day one of the Solent Projects sponsored RS Elite championships saw a record fleet of over thirty boats competing in near perfect conditions in Christchurch Bay. Hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club the fleet headed out into the bay with a forecast of 15 knots, sunshine and waves and real uncertainty over the form book. Several good new teams have joined the class and last year’s runaway winners had also faltered at the Irish Nationals a few weeks ago.
The Elites always produce close competition and, after three races today there were three different winners. Newbie Paul Jenkins in Activ 3G was fastest out of the blocks with a clear win in race one from Martin Wadhams in RSsailing.com after significant place changing. Jonno Brown, the 2008 Champion dominated the second race from multiple XOD champion Mark Jardine after a general recall and black flag start piled on some early pressure. In the final heat of the day Crauford McKeon in Kandoo took the glory, again from Wadhams making it a 1, 2 for the home team.
Two points separate the first three at the end of the first day with Brown and McKeon on 9 with Wadhams on 11, but with some big names collecting high scores today you would have to bet that it will be consistency that pays off this year. The forecast for Friday is a northerly breeze which will swing a lot more and probably generate a few more discards. Still, champagne sailing today and posh fish’n chips to look forward to this evening.
Results after day 1:
1st Aoleus, 9pts
2nd Kandoo 3, 9 pts
3rd Ssailing.com, 11pts
4th Activ 3G, 15pts