RS Elite class goes to the wire at Cowes Week again
by Martin Wadhams 7 Aug 2010 00:31 BST
1-6 August 2010
At the end of seven tough races the first five places overall in the RS Elite class are separated by just two points, with Steve Powell’s E’Tu from Lymington winning the event on countback ahead of Kandoo 3. Powell’s team also includes Alastair Keck on the helm and John Botty forward.
Day after day, there have been just seconds between the leading boats, with place changing right to the finish. Early in the week the banter was that the one place you did not want to be was in the lead around the last mark, because defending whilst picking the right route seemed almost impossible. Five different winners of the seven races tells its own story.
The one-design RS Elite fleet has come of age this summer. Thirty three boats contested the National Championships just before Cowes Week with the level of competition and the camaraderie in the fleet reaching new levels. The hope that the Nationals in Lymington would feed a larger fleet at Cowes was dashed by a shortage of Brownie Points in today’s tough climate, but the quality was certainly not diminished. The first four overall from the Nationals are all at Cowes as well as several previous RS Elite Class Cowes Week winners.
So the RS Elite fleet, which does not race on Saturday, will leave Cowes after an epic tussle. Most of the top five places changed with final race result, with E’Tu just hanging on to her overnight lead – great racing for this strongly emerging new Class. After a Nationals result that was disappointing for them the E’Tu crew will be especially pleased tonight with their bounce back.
“Cowes Week gives a really different kind of racing which is great for our Class” says Martin Wadhams of RS Sailing. “The changing breeze and tidal strategy throw in many more variables than typical windward leeward races and it can lead to a different kind of pressure and tension with the crews. But I think that variation is fantastic and adds to a season’s mix of exciting competition. Mind you, right now after the breeze and tension this week coming hard on the heels of the big Nationals, everyone is just about broken!”
Top five overall
1st - E’Tu - 17pts
2nd - Kandoo - 17pts
3rd - Activ 3G - 18pts
4th - Aeolus - 19pts
5th - Joyce - 19pts