RS Games 2018 at the WPNSA: RS800 National Championship Overall

RS800 National Championship prizegiving at the RS Games 2018 © www.sportography.tv

RS800 National Championship prizegiving at the RS Games 2018 © www.sportography.tv

No racing on day four of the RS800 European and UK National Championship due to excessively high winds so the results stand as day three.

After Saturday's awesome sailing conditions the 44 RS800 crews were all in buoyant mood and ready to party. Benefitting from super-efficient race management, the fleet were ashore by 3pm to enjoy the sunny afternoon, have a quick nap and prepare their fancy dress outfits for the evening's festivities.

Happy hour kicked things off with avid viewing of Sportography.tv's drone footage from the day's racing on the big screen, before WPNSA served up a hearty chilli and the R and S's gathered – rainbows, roosters, racing snakes, rum bottles, rudders, rain clouds, robins, rabbits, Ringo Star, Romans, Russia and Salisbury (prize for most cryptic!), suns, sharks, sticks, stripes, sombreros, sponge bob square pants (very useful when drinks got spilt on the dance floor), Superman, space aliens and scousers... All heading as quickly as possible to the dance floor where Steel from RS800 fleet's long-time favourite Steel Strum banged out the Summer-vibe tunes.

Tom Morris and Guy Filmore could party in the happy knowledge they had stitched up the championship with a day to spare. Rory displayed his true competitive nature by dominating the inflatable limbo competition. The rest of the fleet were psyching themselves up for a Big Sunday with 22 knots+ forecast and racing moved forward to a slightly less civilised earlier start time as all five fleets at the RS Games were scheduled to race in the harbour due to the forecast.

Sunday dawned predictably windy but looked just about doable when viewed downwind (and waves) from the balcony at WPNSA. The Race Officer set out to monitor conditions and just as the fleet was due to launch a particularly feisty squall came through triggering an hour's postponement. Sadly an hour later conditions had not calmed down sufficiently and the RS800 fleet lost its window of opportunity to get on the water and continue the battle.

So results from Saturday held – the worthy new champions Tom and Guy with a rude number of first places, runners up Luke and Emma McEwen (Team Gul) the only team managing to wrestle some race wins off the champions and in third Rory Hunter and Steph Orton proving that a 17 year old boat and zero time in the boat together can be overcome by youth and raw talent as they improved race on race!

Despite the fact Phil Walker and John Mather failed to make it to the race course on day one, thereby using up all their discards and narrowly missing a wooden spoon award, they achieved an impressive fourth place with a solid series. Tied on points was a very close fifth from father and son team Paul and Peter Jenkins who revelled in the windy conditions. John Gimson and Anna Burnett pipped Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch on count back to sixth place.

The silver fleet was won by new-comers Maddy Anderson and Matt Reid who showed great potential and infectious enthusiasm throughout the event.

The fleet was really pleased to welcome five members of the British Sailing Team looking for a fun refresher from their professional 49erFX and Nacra campaigns. They all embraced the spirit of RS800 racing on and off the water. It was also really great to see so many other new faces in the dinghy park and to make new friends; we hope to see many of them return to future events.

For those that like statistics:

• 44 teams – continuing 5 years of growth in the fleet
• Over a third of teams were competing at their first RS800 UK Nationals
• 11 sailors had previously won RS800 National or European Championship titles
• Boats travelled from Scotland, Northern Ireland, France and The Netherlands
• The top 5 included one master, 2 ladies and 3 youths across the full range of the weight equalisation table
• First place boat was crew sheeting, second place was helm sheeting
• Over half the teams were mixed, with 5 girl helms and 20 girl crews

Big thank you to Harken for the daily and overall prizes, to Rooster for supporting the RS800 fleet all year on their National Tour and providing cool RS Games T-shirts and neck gaiters to all competitors, to Zest for being on site for emergency boat repairs each day keeping everyone on the water, to RS Sailing for making the whole RS Games an incredible event to be part of and for releasing their talented employees to the RS Party Stage to DJ & drum so we could dance into the night, to Hyde Sails to donating a spinnaker which was awarded to the Scottish team for their epic journey to their first ever RS800 regatta, to Yachts and Yachting for providing great reading ashore, and to our long standing sponsors Volvo and Noble Marine for their continued support of the RS Class Association.

Thank you to WPNSA for hosting the RS800 fleet; to the brilliant race team – our Race Officer Ian Bullock and PRO Peter Saxton – with all their hard-working mark layers, rescue team and dedicated volunteers – for providing such high standard racing and understanding the needs of the RS800 sailors to have time to party hard too; and to Clare Sargent and the rest of the RS Class Association team for their huge number of hours of work behind the scenes to bring us such a fantastic Championships yet again.

Next year the class celebrates its 20th birthday at the National Championships at Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club from 5th to 8th September 2019. We look forward to welcoming back lots of ex-RS800 sailors for a reunion party and to tempting them back on the water for some racing. 2019 also sees the fleet return to Lac du Der in France at Easter for the super-friendly Open Skiff event and to Garda in Italy for a huge RS800 Europeans in July.

RS800 National Championship prizegiving at the RS Games 2018 - photo © www.sportography.tv

RS800 Euro Cup Prize Winners:

2017 Euro Cup

• 3rd: Paul Jenkins and Peter Jenkins/Colin Hutton from Weirwood SC
• 2nd: Andy and Allyson Jeffries from Eastbourne SSC
• 2017 Euro Cup Winners: Gilles Peeters and Kateline Letoquart/Maiwenn Hermine/Mateo Lavauzelle from YC Carnac

• 3rd: Gilles Peeters and Heloise Baize/Mateo Lavauzelle from YC Carnac
• 2nd: Phil Walker and John Mather from Hayling Island SC
• 2018 Euro Cup Winners: Luke and Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC

• Endeavour Trophy: Alexandre Emanuel and Quentin Milleret
• Loving Cup: Luke and Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC
• 1st Silver: Maddy Anderson and Matt Reid from Brightlingsea and Spinnaker SCs
• 1st Lady Helm: Maddy Anderson from Brightlingsea SC
• 1st Lady Crew: Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC
• 1st Youth Helm: Rory Hunter from Arran SC
• 1st Youth Crew: Steph Orton
• 1st Master helm: Paul Jenkins from Eastbourne SSC
• 1st Master crew: Chris Feibusch from Hayling Island SC
• 6th: John Gimson and Anna Burnet from Rudyard Lake SC and Royal Northern & Clyde
• 5th: Paul and Peter Jenkins from Eastbourne SSC
• 4th: Phil Walker and John Mather from HISC
• 3rd: Rory Hunter and Steph Orton from Arran YC
• 2nd: Luke and Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC
• 1st RS800 National Champions: Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore from Hayling Island SC

RS800 National Championship prizegiving at the RS Games 2018 - photo © www.sportography.tv

Overall Results:

RS800 National Championship prizegiving at the RS Games 2018 - photo © www.sportography.tv