Fat Face RS700 Circuit at Weston Sailing Club

Andy Peake wins the RS700 open at Weston © Ian Nolan

A promising 15 knot forecast prompted 24 RS700 sailors to make the journey to Weston Sailing Club, on Southampton Water. They were greeted by a shifty force three north westerly.

With Richard Lovering making his debut, Pete Greenhalgh returning to the class after a summer in the Volvo 40’s, as well as the usual suspects, including the new National and European Champion Paul Bayliss, the scene looked set for a hotly contested weekend.

Race one was run in 12 knots of breeze with a port bias line. Bayliss immediately showed his intentions and pace, by leading the fleet up the short windward leg. It was a lead he never surrendered. The race behind him was contested by Leigh Albright and Andy Peake, with Peake coming through in the end to take second.

Race two got underway in increasing pressure. Swapping from race mode to safety mode now being the order of the day - it was Albrecht, Peake and Lovering who contested the first three places, with Lovering gaining on the upwind legs but losing out downwind with a more conservative approach. Albrecht was to take the win on the water, but later retired after being protested for a startline infringementt. This promoted Peake to first, Lovering to second and Jon Heissig up to third.

Race three saw the pressure grow further. Bayliss charged upwind, capsized on the final tack but still just led round the windward mark. The whole fleet was then hit by over 20 knots, which saw half practicing their breaststroke and the other half tacking round to avoid the gybe. Lovering’s conservative downwind approach ensured his stick continued to point skywards and saw him lead Peake and Paul Hayden around the leeward mark. Lovering slowed on the next downwind leg to let Peake through, which is how the race ended. Bayliss fought through to fourth after a time consuming capsize. Overnight, it was Peake first, Lovering second and Andy Holland, who had a consistent first day, in third.

Sunday dawned to more wind and grey skies. After a one hour postponement to give the sailors enough water to launch in, race four got underway. Again, Bayliss stormed up the first beat, but more closely pursued by Andy Irons, Holland, Lovering, Rob Chaplin and Peake. After a number of capsizes on the first run, Bayliss pulled out a 300m lead from Peake. This gap was closed to one boat length on the penultimate lap, but Bayliss stayed in front after a mistimed tack from Peake.

Race five, and the wind strength had increased to a consistent force six. The remaining sailors were treated to some phenomenal downwind sailing – 25 knots and flat water! Bayliss and Peake again led the fleet away, with Bayliss falling back halfway up the first beat after being teabagged as he slammed into a wave. The downwind leg was over in the blink of an eye and resulted in Bayliss rounding first, followed by Andy Holland and Matt Connor. Peake and Irons were busy righting their boats after gybing and dropping incidents. With the race officer now becoming concerned for competitor safety, the race was shortened to two laps, with Bayliss in first, Holland in second and Peake recovering to third.

The sensible decision was taken to abandon race six. Overall, Peake had just done enough to retain his overnight lead and Bayliss climbed into second spot. Andy Holland rounded off a solid weekend in third place and Lovering, in his first 700 event, was fourth. The top five was rounded off by RS Journeyman, Andy Irons.

In the silver fleet Matt Conner and Paul Hayden coped best with the conditions shadowing the leading group and completing all of the races, with local sailor Paul Ross coming in third.

By the end of the day, Western SC was full of beaming faces after an awesome sail. Credit must go to the race officer and his team, who ran two Sunday races in testing conditions which may have prompted other RI’s to raise the abandonment flag. Analysis after the event showed the highest gust speed at 32.9 knots with several other recorded gusts of +30 knots.

Thanks go to Weston for hosting the event and to our Sponsor’s fat Face for their continued support.

The season comes to a climax in two weeks at Weymouth. With both the Gold and Silver fleet prizes very much up for grabs the series closer looks like it’s going to be a tense and nervy affair.

Overall Results: