Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Exe Sailing Club - Day 1

Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Exe day 1 © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Exe day 1 © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

The forecast for the four days of the event has been changing on a daily basis over the last week so it really should have come as no surprise when the weather, itself, couldn't make its mind up what it wanted to do on day one. The day dawned brilliantly sunny, much better than the fog of the day before, but with not a breath of wind. However it picked up nicely as the morning progressed and there were some meaty-looking gusts coming through by midday.

Out on the race track conditions looked superb – sunshine, 16-17 knots and just fantastic waves. However, the weather had one last trick up its sleeve; as race one progressed it soon became apparent that the breeze was up and down and moving left and right quite dramatically. This resulted in four boats - Martin Harrison (Royal Victoria), Ian Clark (Warsash), Harry McVicar (Draycote Water) and Richard LeMare (Bartley) - being miles clear of the fleet by the end of just the first beat as they picked up a nice lift off the beach.

There was a bit of compression when two of the leaders went to the wrong leeward mark and further compression when a big lefty at the end of the second beat brought a few more boats into play. By the end, Steve Bolland (Bristol Corinthian) took the gun from McVicar, LeMare and Steve Sallis (Hykeham).

As we sat around for the second race to start the breeze went up a notch and Bolland noticed a new crack in his mast where one shouldn't be. Would it last the race?

Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Exe day 1 - photo © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

If the wind was up, at least it had steadied down in direction so the beats were less of a minefield. The reaches and run continued to be superb. Bolland led at the first mark and had opened up a bit of a gap as he approached the leeward mark for the first time. This is when his mast basically said, 'That's it, I'm done mate' and, in a splintering of carbon, went over the side. Pete Ellis (Stewartby) went by with a foolish grin on his face, closely followed by Iain Horlock (Exe).

As the breeze continued to rise there were quite a few more breakages (no more masts thankfully) and at the finish Ellis held on the win from Horlock, Tim Keen (Sheffield Viking) and young McVicar.

Champagne moment of the day (and a bottle of fizz to celebrate) goes to Ellis for his first ever championship race win. There were quite a few wooden spoon contenders but Martin Harrison edged it by throwing away a race-winning position in race one by heading to the wrong mark. Bad luck, mate – sailing instructions are a wonderful thing if you read them.

Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Exe day 1 - photo © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

Leader after day one, and picking up a foil cover courtesy of The Boat Yard at Beer, is Harry McVicar.

More wind forecast tomorrow? Will everyone have fixed their boats in time? Will we sail at all?

Results after Day 1: