Fat Face RS Circuit at Hayling Island Sailing Club

RS200 Report:

68 RS200's in the sunshine of Hayling Island for the Fat Face Racing Circuit on July 12/13 was a new record for any RS200 Racing Circuit event. With first class race management from PRO Nick Rawling and his team, non stop sunshine, reasonable winds, HISC's fantastic new club house, huge fleet and all the leading contenders what more could a self respecting 200 sailor want? Well getting a pint of beer from the clubs bar would have been a good idea as a rather under staffed bar fell well short of the standard of the restaurant.

Saturday and clear blue skies produced a 8-10 knot sea breeze. Race 1 saw Jon Lewis/Millie Parsons start right at the leeward end and the only boat to hit the left hand corner with handsome result with a good lead. Lee Sydenham/Anne Vaudrey and Geoff Carveth/Sarah Allen slowly eroded his lead, with only 2 laps set the second run was a close affair and it was Sydenham that gained the overlap at the final leeward mark. Sydenham then conclusively proved he could not count by starting a third beat as a relieved Lewis giggled his way to the finish line. Sydenham has his counting beads out for race 2 and did not make the same mistake to win from Carveth with Hamish Calder/Severine Jones third. Race 3 saw the first recall and the first batch of OCS's. Martin Jones/Clare Rowbottom made a magnificent start when it counted to finish second behind Steve and Paula Irish with David Giles/Fiona Clark third.

Sunday had glorious sunshine and most of the fleet could appreciate it as they did not have hangovers thanks to HISC bar. Sharing a course with 600's did not prevent the PRO turning round races quicker than it took to buy a round. Out in the race area there was a good gradient breeze from the south east slightly stronger than Saturday. Carveth and Allen took complete control of proceedings with good starts at the leeward end they led race 4 and 5 from start to finish to virtually seal overall victory. Giles and Clark also did themselves a power of good with 2.4 results as other leading contenders struggled for consistency. Andy and Katie Shorrocks, making a guest appearance from Laser 4000's, were very solid in 4.5.

For the final race the breeze built to a force 4 and with the tide slackening there was a massive bulge on the start line and six of the final top 12 overall were black flagged. With Carveth keeping a close eye on the Irish's, Giles won the race to round off an impressive Sunday. Behind Ian Pickard/Lucy Matthews had discovered their toe straps and were second but lost out to fellow Bristol CYC members Trudie Danbury/Bert on the final beat much to everyone’s amusement.

Worryingly for all 200 sailors Geoff Carveth has competed in 3 large RS200 events. The 1997 Inlands, the 2001 Nationals and now the largest ever RS200 Racing Circuit event and has won all three. He must start favourite for the RS200 Nationals at Restronguet, entries for which will now break the 100 boat limit. There are though plenty of well known dinghy helms in good form in the 200's and there is going to be red hot competition.

RS200 Results:

RS400 Report:

For the penultimate round of the RS Fat Face Racing Circuit the 400’s headed to Halying Island to sample the clubs excellent new facilities. With the forecast for the hottest weekend of the year and some decent sea breeze the scene was set for what proved to be an awesome weekends sailing.

Saturday and a fleet of 44 400’s headed to sea in sweltering heat and a steady force 3. The pattern of the day was soon set with the first start resulting in a general recall and the black flag being unleashed. After the restart Chris Jennings and Ed Nicklin sailed well up the first beat to get to the windward mark first followed Robin Kenyon and Toby Lewis sailing Proctor Masts and the Brothers Grimm; Chris and Matt Bailey. With obviously shock at the Grimm’s position they were immediately black flagged as they must have been over the line to get that high up. Jennings sailed away to take the win from Kenyon with Stuart Hudson finding away past Woods to take third.

Race 2 and Steve Venebles and Rick Brown started what was to be a profitable afternoon with the first of 2 bullets. A masterful display as they led from start to finish showing that a bit of time off hasn’t slowed them down. Nic Craig and Keith Bedborough returned to form to take 2nd after a shaky tenth in the first race. Tubby O’Brien and Pete Rowley took third.

Race 3 and Dave Sheil set the early pace firing out of the port end to arrive at the windward mark first followed by Venebles and the Grimmsters, who to the amazement of all had actually managed their first clean start of the day. A mistake by Shiel on the downwind allowed Venebles and the Grimmsters to sail through and Venebles to sail on to take his second bullet of the day. A tight pack of 6 boats behind the leader meant that going into the final leeward mark, 2nd to 7th were any bodies. Woods and Fletcher came out on top to take second followed by Craig and Bedborogh and the Grimms in 4th. Special mention has to go to Phil Jackson and Gerard Barron who after ending up on the outside of the pack managed to lose the best part of 10 places on the final reach to the finish line.

Despite the best efforts of the fleet to destroy themselves at the bar and pay for the new club house in one night most were unsuccessful as the bar was more appropriately staffed for a 420 junior event than the full force of an RS social. However in the difficult conditions some excellent performances were put in not least Tobytastic who was forced to sleep under the foredeck of his boat after Robin pretended not to hear him knocking at the car door.

Sunday and the fleet once again awoke to idyllic sailing conditions. Thanks to Haylings thoughtful drinking protection measure these conditions were also enjoyed by certain sections of the fleets who are not normally seen on the water till at least Sunday afternoon.

In Race 4 Dave Shiel and Paul Heath again got away well out of the port end to lead at the windward mark followed by Woods and Fletcher. Shiel showed excellent boat speed to keep the fleet at bay but yet another error on the final down wind allowed Woods to sail through him and take the win. Stuart Hudson and Adam Healey began a return to form to take their second third of the weekend. Tubby O’Brien completed a good race working his way up from eighth to take fourth.

Race 5 and Hudson and Healey were really on form as they dominated the fleet and sailed them home to take the bullet. Nic Craig and Keith Bedbororgh put in an appearance at the font of the fleet to take second with Woods scoring another consistent third.

Going into the final face and it appeared that Woods was firmly in control with a 3 point lead over Hudson and apart from a black flag having never finished lower than fourth. Out of the line it was Nic Craig who set the early pace leading to the windward mark from Hudson and Kenyon. However a visit from the rib confirmed what many had suspected; Nic had started halfway up the beat. This left Hudson back out in front and Woods under real pressure. Hudson consolidated his lead and took his second bullet of the day with Kenyon second and Chris Jennings finishing a difficult day in third. Wood posted another highly consistent result in fifth but it wasn’t quite enough to take the event from relative RS new boys Stuart Hudson and Adam Healey. A great result for Hudson and a sign that he may well be a major player in the forth coming 400 nationals.

A top event was enjoyed by all and with excellent race management and superb facilities, Hayling Island really have the opportunity to make a very special venue.

RS400 Results:

RS600 Report:

23 Competitors travelled to HISC for the 6th Fat Face Racing Circuit event of the season, they were greeted on the Saturday by fabulous sunshine and a reasonable breeze. The race officer set a long square course out in the bay.

In the opening race Matt Humphreys took the lead and won comfortably from Pete Sanders in second and Jon Heissig in third.

Race 2 started with John Brickwood taking a port tack flier and clearing the fleet by a good 20 yards. David Cummins took an early lead and broke from the pack, chased by Andy Heissig and Mike Bean. However on the last run Matt Humphreys surfed through from 4th to 1st and took line honours followed by David Cummins in second and Andy Heissig in third.

Race 3 saw Matt Humphreys take the lead early on and disappear over the horizon leaving the rest to battle it out for second. Jon Heissig came out on top with John Brickwood in third.

Sunday morning began with much more breeze and yet more sunshine, unfortunately the breeze died off to a Force 2-3 as the fleet sailed out to the race area, still plenty of breeze to play with.

Race 4 saw Jon Heissig leading from Matt Humphreys at the windward mark. Matt surfed past Jon and gybed across his bow only to discover that, because of the very strong tide flowing down the course, they were well below the lay-line for the next mark. Luckily for them the rest of the fleet followed and Matt Humphreys won from Jon Heissig in second with John Brickwood in third. Rob Jones sailed well to come in fourth creating a 1-3-4 for Weston SC.

Race 5 was more of the same with Jon Heissig again leading Matt Humphreys at the windward mark, again Humphreys overtook on the run and they both sailed past the lay-line followed by the majority of the fleet. Nick Lowe had his head out of the boat and gybed early moving up to third. The front three positions then remained unchanged until the finish.

Race 6 Started with a Port biased line. Paul Smalley started bang on the pin but was rolled by Matt Humphreys who carried more speed reaching down the line. Both sailed on to bang hard left, Humphreys then led by 10 boat-lengths from Smalley at the windward mark and was never seen again. Much place changing in the chasing pack saw David Cummins finish in second with Nick Lowe in third. Paul Smalley hung on to finish fourth.

All competitors then had a fabulous ride home, trapeezing down wind in the fantastic surfing conditions created by wind against tide.

K6 Report:

Hayling Island delivered a great weekend of Fat Face sponsored racing for the RS K6 fleet – top facilities, scorching temperatures, close racing, strong race management and an effortless 12+ knot blast back on Sunday meant that all went home with a smile on their faces and with appetites whetted for Cowes Week.

The battle for top spot was between HISC locals David Hitchcock and Bill Masterman, and Queen Mary’s Jonathan Calascione. Based on the first day’s racing it looked like Jonathan would be walking away with the silverware. His lead at the windward marks at points led people to ask where the engine was, and crew Pyers (master of matters technical) had to resist cash offers back on shore to jump ship for the following day.

However, it was David Hitchcock who eventually took the silver with an impressive lesson in consistency with three bullets in a row on Sunday. He and David MacGregor sailed the boat flat and very fast. Jonathan and Piers were slightly undone by doing a ‘long goodbye’ with the windward mark with their keel refusing to let go of the anchor line and then missing the start of the second race - comfortable decks and dry sandwiches (courtesy of those cockpit lockers) have their distractions…. That said, their performance was still good enough to secure second place overall. They were chased hard by Bill Masterman and Dan Mountfield who were never out of the top three – Bill’s 6’8”ft frame being used to good advantage on the windward legs.

Fourth, fifth and sixth place boats ended-up equal on points just to underline the point that the racing is close. However, true to the principle that “the younger you are the faster you learn”, newcomers Rob, Will and Tom Evans climbed the curve fast and, after two ninth places on Saturday, got a couple of seconds on Sunday securing fourth place on the ‘best result’ basis. If they ever needed to spot where the closest competitor was downwind that was easy – Richard Sullivan breaks the mould and stands. Whether spotting shifts or just to be civilised is unclear, but the Spinlock brochure in his car suggests that wheel steering could be on his wish list.

Terry Wilkinson showed new upwind speed with the help of ‘coach’ Paul Young of Rondar crewing, and some had to get used to the new sight of Terry’s transom. Bring back Owain !!

K6 Results: