RS Racing Circuit at Lymington Town Sailing Club
by Richard Phillips 7 Jul 2009 14:06 BST
4-5 July 2009
75 boats from around the UK competed in the RS Racing Circuit for RS500s, RS600s, RS700s & RS800s and an RS Open for RS400 dinghies.
These high performance modern dinghies were electrified by the strong Solent breeze as they skipped across the waves in ideal racing conditions.
Six races were successfully organised by the LTSC Volunteer Race team supported by sixteen volunteer safety boat crew on two course areas (Alpha and Bravo) in the Western Solent.
Competitors were greeted on arrival at LTSC by club members and members of the 9th Lymington Sea Scouts led by Annie Pike. After registering and being briefed the competitors launched their dinghies with assistance from the Sea Scouts who had great fun during the day launching and recovering boats and assisting with the boat trolleys. Competitors were delighted with this service and also the drinks provided by LTSC on arrival ashore.
On course area Bravo (Race officer Leslie Ross), the racing for RS 400 (double handed with spinnaker) dinghies was a highly competitive affair with three different winners on Saturday and the overnight leaders were John Cooper and Becci Wigley (LTSC) who posted a remarkably consistent three 2nd places. As they added a further two 2nds on Sunday this might have been enough to win but they were relegated to 2nd overall by a remarkable display of high speed sailing by Jim Downer and Jon Price from Gurnard. The pair sailed over from Yarmouth each day and after a 1st, 3rd and 5th on Saturday blew the fleet away with three straight firsts on Sunday. Jim and Jon gave a great display of high speed spinnaker handling and a fantastic recovery in the last race after an indifferent first beat. N Simmons and Lou Mosken led a bunch of sailors with only 2 points separating 3rd to 6th. Rob and Janet Martin looked like they might add to a first on Saturday to seal 3rd place as they led the last race but a jammed spinnaker down haul ended their challenge.
A small fleet of RS 500 (double handed - single trapeze and spinnaker) dinghies enjoyed some high speed reaching with the leaders in the last race lapping the two mile course in twelve minutes. For Chris and Niki Cutt (Downs SC) the long trip along the south coast was well worth the journey as they won 5 of the 6 races. The only other winner was Tim Wilkin and Heather Martin and they were second in the rest. This the newest of the RS family of two person skiffs, was clearly a handful for the less experienced but despite many spills all of the fleet finished five races and only 3 boats left for an early shower in the last race as the wind increased .
On course Area Bravo (Race Officer Richard Phillips) the 13 RS 600(single handed with trapeze) dinghies also enjoyed close competition particularly between the top two boats. By the end Andy Heissig (LTSC) had a convincing win on pints over Ian Marshall from Oxford.
The seven RS 700s (single handed with trapeze and spinnaker) had exciting and close racing with hotly contested competition and close racing with three different race winners including David Gorringe (LTSC) a tie on points between second and third place. Jon Heissig (LTSC) managed to win overall with a margin of 7 points. Tony Dencher (Netley SC) were second and Colin Dacey (Grafham Water SC) third.
The main event was the fleet of 28 RS 800s (double handed - twin trapeze and spinnaker) which attracted top level sailors from around the UK. They enjoyed superb racing conditions in a very closely fought and high standard competition. Peter Barton (Royal Lymington Yacht Club) & Roz Allen finished the first day with a fifth and two thirds behind Andie Jeffries & Adam Broghton who had two firsts and an eighth. Peter and Roz sailed superbly in the stronger wind conditions on Sunday to convincingly win race 4 and 5 leaving a needle match last race which was won by Andie & Adam, however, Peter & Roz’s second gave them overall victory by one point.
On the Saturday night competitors enjoyed an evening meal in the LTSC Clubhouse with stunning views of the Solent. Those that were not exhausted by the day’s racing, danced the night away to a lively disco. To quote competitors enjoying a well earned drink in the bar "Champagne sailing!" Great organisation - no hanging about between races" "Tired but thrilled" "Great organisation - the Sea Scouts were great!"
At the prize giving Heather Chipperfield (RS Class Association Secretary) thanked LTSC for hosting a superb friendly event and also thanked Peter Barton for sponsoring the event with 15 vouchers for holidays in Spain via www.murciatastic.co.uk. These and other prizes were handed out. All the many volunteers were thanked for making the event a success. In addition a small presentation was made to the owners (John & Carol Dutton & Simon Nabney) for their assistance and use of their magnificent yachts (Swan 46 and Legend 376) as Committee boats.
Further information and photos of this and other events hosted by LTSC can be found on the LTSC website at www.ltsc.co.uk