RS700 Volvo Noble Marine National Championship - Overall

by Rob Higgins 16 Sep 2020 13:28 BST 12-15 September 2020

Day four with two scheduled races and we were greeted with a light breeze and warm sun. An early postponement was sounded which allowed the fleet time to relax and enjoy the sun while allowing the wind time to decide which way it wanted to come from.

Eventually the breeze showed signs of settling and the fleet were launched into a 6 knot breeze that would build to 10 knots.

Race Nine

The fleet got away with a general recall being sounded, the guilty party Pete Purkiss acknowledged and went back. Theo Gayler, knowing a good result would seal the event, made a solid start at the committee boat joined by Liam Willis. Theo would just tack inside Liam to round the windward mark first closely followed by Liam, Rob Higgins and Matt Conner.

The chasing pack was headed by Jerry Wales. Rob managed to hoist quickly and get over the top of Liam to move into second. The final lap proved to be the most eventful. Theo rounded first with Rob in second. Rob headed out to the left joined by Liam. Jerry and Matt headed out hard right - this would greatly pay. Jerry rounded the windward mark first closely followed by Theo, and Matt who had now overtaken Rob and rounded in third.

At the bottom gate Jerry decided to drop in order to head to the finish line while Theo decided he would try and hold the kite. The pair were separated by one second with Jerry taking the win. Rob had overtaken Matt downwind to take third, Matt fourth, then Pete Purkiss who recovered well to take fifth.

Race Ten

The signs weren't good as the RS800s finished in a dying breeze. The breeze didn't come back in and so racing was cancelled for the day.

Congratulations to Theo for successfully defending his national champion title. There was excellent racing throughout the fleet with many new faces livening up the on the water battles.

Thank you very much to the great team at WPNSA for being able to pull off such a strong racing event at such short notice. Thank you very much also to our generous sponsors Volvo, Noble Marine, Hyde Sails, RS Sailing and Rooster for supporting us so well.

The lucky winner of the RS700 spinnaker generously donated by Hyde Sails was Andrew Wright from Queen Mary SC. Matthew Conner, also from Queen Mary SC, won the sports bag donated by Noble Marine.

• Apprentice: Liam Willis from Lymington Town SC
• Fidelis Trophy: Ian Swann from HISC
• 1st Silver: Graham Blake from Queen Mary SC
• Master: Jerry Wales from Windsport

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	Gold	1063	Theo Galyer	Hayling Island SC	1	1	‑6	‑10	1	1	4	1	2	11
2	Gold	1060	Jerry Wales	Windsport	‑5	3	2	2	5	3	(RET[18])	2	1	18
3	Gold	1029	Rob Higgins	Chew Valley Lake SC	2	2	3	‑6	3	‑6	1	5	3	19
4	Gold	1042	Pete Purkiss	Brightlingsea SC	4	4	1	3	‑7	4	2	3	‑5	21
5	Gold	1062	Matt Carter	Lancing SC	3	5	4	‑7	2	2	5	6	‑7	27
6	Gold	1032	Liam Willis	Lymington Town SC	6	6	‑12	1	4	5	3	(RET[18])	9	34
7	Gold	1022	Ian Swann	Hayling Island SC	‑16	7	5	4	‑9	7	8	8	6	45
8	Gold	944	James Bayliss	Queen Mary SC	7	‑9	7	‑11	6	8	6	4	8	46
9	Gold	1041	Matthew Conner	Queen Mary SC	8	8	‑13	‑9	8	9	7	7	4	51
10	Silver	914	Graham Blake	Queen Mary SC	9	11	‑14	5	‑12	11	9	9	10	64
11	Silver	982	Roland Smith	Hayling Island SC	11	10	‑16	14	11	10	11	11	‑15	78
12	Silver	859	Peter Onions	Draycote SC	12	13	10	15	10	13	(RET[18])	(DNS[18])	11	84
13	Silver	808	Turner James	Hayling Island SC	10	12	9	12	(RET[18])	(DNC[18])	DNS[18]	DNS[18]	13	92
14	Silver	931	Malcolm Streeton	Hayling Island SC	14	16	11	13	(RET[18])	12	12	(RET[18])	14	92
15	Silver	1035	Roger Taylor	Hayling Island SC	15	14	(DNF[18])	17	13	14	10	10	(DNC[18])	93
16	Silver	1067	Simon Hamilton	Queen Mary SC	13	(RET[18])	8	8	(DNC[18])	DNC[18]	DNC[18]	DNC[18]	DNC[18]	101
17	Silver	1061	Andrew Wright	Queen Mary SC	17	15	15	16	14	15	(DNC[18])			104

Our next event is the Rooster Inland Championship at Oxford Sailing Club 24-25 Oct. Event information here.

There is one space left at the informal coaching on Sat 17 Oct at Oxford SC. Contact to grab your spot.