RS600s during the Rooster RS Summer Championship at Parkstone Yacht Club
by Ian Montague 28 Jun 2018 18:33 BST
23-24 June 2018
RS600s at Rooster RS Summer Championship © David Harding /
www.sailingscenes.com
Held at Parkstone YC in Poole Harbour this was our final event before the RS Games in Weymouth just down the coast.
Parkstone has a fantastic new clubhouse overlooking Brownsea Island in the picturesque harbour. However with all the RS fleets involved, the 119 boats were going to be sailing outside, so a long sail to the race course beckoned.
A light but building breeze greeted us on launching and the sail out itself was an interesting one, passing and at times hitting the harbour's sandbanks, dodging numerous pleasure craft making their way out for the day, plus a large cargo ship before finally making our way carefully past the chain link ferry at Sandbanks. Then on to our race course some two miles along the Bournemouth beach front.
With so many boats there were three course areas with the RS600s sharing with the RS100s, RS300s and RS500s. By the time of our start the wind had built to a very pleasant and warm 10 knots sea breeze, which would hold very steady in strength and direction all day. The conditions meant it was more about boat speed than tactics.
Our usual trapezoid course was laid perfectly with conditions giving enough waves to make catching them an added interest.
It was good to see some new faces on the circuit with Joe Wellard coming up from Devon, Will Davies from Grafham and local Dave Nunn from Lilliput SC. Dave deserves a special mention for still sailing 826 which he bought from new in 1998. I think this must be unique in the class to have owned and sailed a boat for so long.
Regulars Ian Montague and George Smith made up the numbers, with George sailing 988 for the first time. 988 was the very last non foiling RS600 built, however we do now have a brand new boat built for RS's Alex Newton-Southon which will be sailed at the RS Games. The boat sports several non-performance enhancing improvements and is intended as the forerunner to getting new boat production underway.
So to the racing, the conditions were very much to the liking of Ian, showing good speed and winning the first 3 races, leading from start to finish. The best race of the day was the last with all boats vying for the lead. Joe sailed a great race, holding his nerve to win a tight finish. George was rather hampered by some breakages and rope tangles at vital times, a result of sailing his "new" boat for the first time.
Sunday dawned with less wind and in fact not enough to get the fleets in and out the harbour in time to meet the tidal gate. So once again a two day event became one. Despite this the great sailing on Saturday meant it well worth attending.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 918 | Ian Montague | Stone SC | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 3 |
| 2nd | 657 | Joseph Wellerd | Dartmouth YC | ‑3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | 826 | David Nunn | Lilliput SC | ‑4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 4th | 988 | George Smith | | 2 | 3 | ‑4 | 4 | 9 |
| 5th | 904 | Will Davies | Grafham Water SC | ‑5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 6th | 946 | Ian Rhodes | Northampton SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 24 |
| 6th | 907 | George Smith | Shoreham SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 24 |
So on to the big one in August, the RS Games at Weymouth. Don't forget entry cost goes up on Saturday so don't delay, it will be a great event.