RS400s during the RS Sailing Summer Championships at Hayling Island

by Mark Oakey 22 Jun 2017 10:58 BST 17-18 June 2017

Having grown up 10 miles from HISC and been to more Fed weeks thank I can remember, in my head an event at Hayling is always hot and sunny with light to moderate winds. This was certainly the case for the RS Summer Championship, where over 200 boats competed across 8 classes.

The 400 was the place to be for this weekend. Enough power to get going in the light breeze while much more comfortable than the fast planning trapeze boats in the lighter stuff. The perfect balance. This was represented with the smashing entry of 41 boats and travellers having come from Scotland in the North and Rock in the West. We shared a course with the 200's, 700's and 800's with the expert race team getting away 3 races a day for each fleet without a single general recall. Impressive work there! Especially considering that the fleets rarely clashed on the race track. Although, I will note that 800's have a huge wind shadow (as expected) and running 200's seem to have a huge wind shadow while appearing stationary (half expected). With entries now streaming in for the National champs many teams were using this event as a serious warm-up and the results were a good indicator of general form and expected performance – despite several encounters with the U flag more later.

Saturday's racing took place in 8-10 knots, with the occasional 12 knot gust to get everyone excited that the sea breeze might really kick in. Racing was tight throughout the fleet with 3 different race winners by the end of day 1. A few of the front runners were caught out by the U flag and had a nasty surprise when they came ashore to find their scores erased. The free beer that was handed to you as you tallied off certainly helped to soften the blow; having been one of the transgressors. After the first day's racing it was fleet newcomers Francisco and Teresa Lobato from Queen Mary who sat atop the leader board with what looked like the only consistent set of results in the fleet. They were even top of the table despite a tally penalty for failing to collect their free beer - widely viewed as their biggest mistake of the weekend! Competing strongly for the Duckhams nominations were Mike Sims / Keith Bedborough who moored up on the Windward in Race 1, and class Supremo Sir Maximus Tosetti who became so distracted by the (admittedly very impressive) low-level Spitfire flypast that he started reaching up the beat and lost 5 places.

The fleets spent a lovely evening basking in the mid-summer sun, drinking beer and eating curry on the fantastic sailing club balconies - with the added bonus of the Americas cup live on the big screen (depending whether or not you supported Oracle Team USA!). A mass RS event must be the only way to meet such a vast variety and volume of dinghy sailors in the world. It turns out that the people who sail either the slow or the uncomfortable boats are also great to share a beer with.

Sunday dawned without a breath of wind, but the sun was out so I couldn't find anyone who seemed to care. There did seem to be a couple of sore heads around and it was great to see that the fleet are working hard in the bar to maintain the sail hard, party hard reputation (mentioning no names, ahem, Chipperfield, Vincent...). An hours wait was called to allow the gentle (very gentle) sea breeze to build before the fleet were sent out to the bay. Another 3 races were sailed in wind right on the bottom end of the wind range. Great work by the race team to get these in with such challenging conditions. Again there were 3 different race winners showing just how tight the racing was. Again consistency was hard to come by. And again Francisco and Teresa were never far from the front. They took the honours by a handful of points from a congested pack just behind them. Impressive work for these newcomers to the circuit, with national champions and Olympians occupying the places close behind them.

A cold drink in the sun concluded a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, with competitive racing, fantastic weather, great race organisation and great mates.

With thanks to Paul & Mark Oakey, the overall results for the Magic Marine Championship Tour and the Rooster Southern Tour (after 4 and 3 events respectively) are available here. Fantastic turnouts so far this year - let's keep it up!!!

Loads of great events coming up...

• The next Scottish Tour is at Largo Bay on 24/25 June
• The next Northern Tour is at Ullswayer for the Lord Birkett on 1/2 July
• The next Southern Tour is at the Lymington Dinghy Regatta on 15/16 July (entries limited, get your entry in asap)

Then, of course, we've got the Eurocup at wonderful Gravedona, Lake Como from 24-28 July And don't forget to get your entry in for your UK Nationals (Mounts Bay SC from 20-24 August) before the price goes up on 10 July (< 3 weeks away)

Details of all these events are available here.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1st	1215	Francisco Lobato	Teresa Lobato	QMSC	2	2	4	1	‑13	6	18
2nd	1441	Paul Oakey	Mark Oakey	Portchester SC	(UFD)	5	1	9	1	4	20
3rd	1189	Steve Restall	Chris Stubbs	Downs SC	1	‑8	5	8	3	3	20
4th	4	Mike Sims	Keith Bedborough	Dalgety Bay SC	12	1	6	2	(UFD)	2	23
5th	1418	Howard Farbrother	Louise Hosken	QMSC	9	4	‑12	3	2	5	23
6th	1309	Russell Clark	Penny Clark	RNSA/Stokes Bay SC	5	‑9	9	4	6	1	25
7th	1454	Jonathan Heissig	Nicky Griffin	Llangorse SC	3	6	3	‑18	7	7	26
8th	1017	Sean Cleary	Annalise Nixon	Oxford SC	7	3	10	12	4	‑13	36
9th	1202	Sam Knight	Sam Pickering	Bartley SC	13	‑15	7	6	8	8	42
10th	1429	Neil Bevington	Alan Skeens	Lee‑on‑Solent SC	6	7	14	‑17	10	14	51
11th	1414	Caroline Whitehouse	Jason McDonnell	Bartley SC	‑20	12	20	10	9	10	61
12th	1469	Jon Gorringe	Ben George	Parkstone YC	(UFD)	UFD	2	7	5	9	65
13th	437	David Thomas	Tim Norris	Warsash SC	8	11	‑19	16	15	16	66
14th	1439	Pete Vincent	Heather Chipperfield	Lymington Town SC	4	14	17	19	14	‑20	68
15th	1181	Bruce Mills	Andrea Jarman	Warsash SC	(UFD)	13	15	13	18	11	70
16th	836	Adam Humphrey	Jo Humphrey	Thorne Island SC	15	19	18	11	11	(DNC)	74
17th	1105	Clive Everest	Helen Everest	HISC	10	16	16	15	27	(DNC)	84
18th	1210	Mike Partridge	Claire Davis	HISC	19	(UFD)	21	30	12	12	94
19th	1393	Oli George‑Taylor	Nick Zammit	RNSA	24	18	13	26	17	(DNC)	98
20th	934	David Swift	Rob Burgess	Warsash SC	21	17	24	‑27	24	15	101
21st	684	Matt Fowler	Greg Shipley	Pevensay Bay SC	16	26	25	‑28	19	19	105
22nd	854	Chris Brown	Amber‑Maria Brown	Weston / RORC	23	25	‑26	21	20	18	107
23rd	1007	Nick Daniels	Mark Aitken	Warsash SC	27	20	22	20	‑29	21	110
24th	963	Adam Whitehouse	Chris Bownes	Wilsonian SC	14	(UFD)	11	5	UFD	DNC	114
25th	421	Adrian Neal	Tracy Neal	Castle Cove SC	29	24	‑30	23	22	17	115
26th	1212	Richard Ashwell	Tony Cliff	Bartley SC	28	23	‑35	22	21	23	117
27th	1447	Mike Tustin	Emily Watson	Bowmoor SC	17	22	28	29	23	(DNC)	119
28th	1400	Steve Middleton	Chris Rowland	Burghfield SC	18	10	8	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	120
29th	1228	Andrew Johnson	Paul Blackburn	Grafham Water SC	‑30	29	29	25	16	26	125
30th	1101	Simon Baker	Chris Hopkins	QMSC	25	‑27	27	24	25	25	126
31st	1357	Simon Coleridge	Tim Collins	Rock SC	11	(UFD)	23	14	DNC	DNC	132
32nd	1342	Max Tosetti	Anna Wallin	QMSC	22	21	32	36	32	(DNC)	143
33rd	1022	Andy Clark	Lukasz Sieniawski	Lancing SC	32	33	‑38	34	26	22	147
34th	1060	Pete Pickford	Ben	Thorne Island SC	‑37	32	36	31	28	24	151
35th	527	Andy Powell	Ian Verso	Warsash SC	‑33	30	33	32	31	27	153
36th	759	Peter King	Rob Corfield	Dell Quay SC	31	31	34	33	30	(DNC)	159
37th	1241	Joe Henry	Roly Wilson	RNSA	26	28	31	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	169
38th	915	Sean Curtis	Simon Goldfarb	Emsworth Slipper SC	35	34	37	38	34	(DNC)	178
39th	1333	Rob Corfield	Chris Campbell	Dell Quay SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	37	33	28	182
40th	579	Tim Shuttleworth	James Shuttleworth	Burghfield SC	34	35	40	35	(DNC)	DNC	186
41st	975	Simon McGee	Jamie Macknight	RNSA	36	36	39	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	195