RS Elites at the Hayling Island Whitsun Regatta
by Alasdair McLeod 27 May 21:18 BST
25-26 May 2019
RS Elite action at the Hayling Island Whitsun Regatta © Peter Hickson
The RS Elite class held its first open event of 2019 as part of Hayling Island Sailing Club's hugely successful Whitsun Regatta, sponsored by GJW Direct and held over Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of May.
The RS Elite event had two races each day, sailed over windward-leeward courses in Bracklesham Bay and was very closely contested with only one point separating the first three boats after the final race.
Conditions were ideal for the Elites with mainly westerly winds giving Champaign sailing on both days. Sunday saw slightly stronger winds with gusts of up to 20 knots at times producing a choppy sea in Bracklesham Bay and giving conditions in which the RS Elite excels. Race officer Dave Nicholls provided some excellent racing despite having to deal with a fouled propeller on the committee boat before racing on Sunday.
The final result saw Colin Smith's Shaken Not Stirred (RS Elite 007), crewed by his brother Paul Smith and Anna Wells in first place on 6 points overall with Paul Fisk's Legs Eleven (RS Elite 110), crewed by his wife Caroline Fisk and Richard Tucker in second and Pete Copsey's The Doctor (RS Elite 46), crewed by Mark Nicholson and Trevor Sylvester in third. The second and third boats both finished the series on seven points with places decided on countback. Fourth place was also tied with Russell Peters' Riff Raff and Ossie Stewart' s More T Vicar both on eleven points with fourth going to Riff Raff on countback.
The Hayling Island Whitsun Regatta goes from strength to strength as an event and the RS Elites benefitted from being part of a larger event involving upwards of 200 boats. This provides a foretaste of the RS Elite2019 National Championship which will be held as part of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta from the 11th to 14th July.