RS400 and RS800 open meeting at Lymington Town Sailing Club
by Nick Hopwood 22 Sep 2015 20:32 BST
19-20 September 2015
Luke and Emma McEwen win the RS800 open meeting and Bart's Bash at Lymington Town © Sophie Beeton
Lymington Town Sailing Club were very pleased to host the RS400 and RS800 Open Meeting on 19th and 20th September, with visiting boats arriving from as far away as South Wales.
The plan had been for 3 races each day but the glorious sunshine on Saturday came with virtually no wind. Racing was postponed for over 2 hours until the Race management team decided to call it a day.
As if by magic, within 15 minutes a pleasant light breeze filled in from the south west as the committee boat motored back into Lymington. But at least some of the boats were able to sail and some informal racing was run by Geoff Havers in a RIB.
On Saturday evening, there was much excitement around the club's television as Japan beat South Africa at the Rugby World Cup, followed by an indoor barbecue and refreshments from the bar.
On Sunday morning, the competitors and race committee were greeted with early morning fog to go with their hangovers. The committee boat took up its position just to the west of the river entrance, whilst the competitors were held ashore waiting for enough breeze to sail out of the river.
Finally racing got underway at 1100, on a simple windward-leeward sausage course for both classes, with a south westerly breeze aligned to the flooding tide to add to the fun. With some slick timing and short turn-arounds, Race Officer Nick Hopwood assisted by Keith Willis succeeded in running four races in three hours.
The RS400s were started first in Race One, with eventual competition winners Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin (Llangorse SC) still waking up and poorly positioned until they managed to recover to 5th place.
The remaining three starts saw them on the line on time to record a second and two first places. Conversely, Steve Restall and Chris Stubbs started well and fell away to 5th in the last race, and tied with Heissig and Griffin on the same points overall. LTSC sailors Rob and Jan Martin sailed consistently as usual, to finish third overall.
In the RS800 fleet, locals Luke and Emma McEwen (Royal Lymington YC) dominated throughout, with three wins and one third when they allowed Matt Humphries and Amy Cartright (Weston SC) and Peter Barton and Chris Feibusch (LTSC) through.
The first race for each class on Sunday also counted towards Bart's Bash, the global competition which raises money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The winners were Luke and Emma McEwen in the RS800 fleet and Steve Restall and Chris Stubbs in the RS400 fleet. The times for all entrants have been submitted to the Bart's Bash organisation who will publish the overall results in due course.
Overall the weekend was a great success, despite lack of wind on Saturday and once again, Lymington proved why it is such a super place to compete, both ashore and afloat, especially for visitors.
Lymington Town Sailing Club will be hosting the RS Southern Championships on 18th and 19th June 2016, with over 100 boats expected to participate.
RS400 full results / RS800 full results