Noble Marine Allen RS300 National Championships at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Day 1

by Paul Watson 25 Jul 2022 12:24 BST 24-27 July 2022

Day one of the RS300 nationals was greeted by a fairly lively 18kts of wind making for a challenging sail downwind to the starting area. A few boats took this opportunity to check how clean the underside of the hull was, an excellent tactical decision as it's generally faster than doing it during the race.

The first race got under way under a U flag with a line shy fleet. Fleet stalwarts Dave Acres and Steve Bolland hit the left while Paul Watson, Harry McVicar and Rich Le Mare went right. It turns out none of this would matter as fleet newbie Charlie South sailed pretty much up the middle at roughly twice the speed as the rest of us. Charlie hung on until the finish closely followed by Dave, Steve and Paul.

Race two again saw a pretty safe start from the fleet. This time most boats elected to go left. By the windward mark it was again Charlie leading, closely followed by Paul with Dave and Steve close behind. At the end of the lap they were nose to tail going into the second beat.

Charlie and Paul then put the afterburners on to give themselves a little breathing room. Charlie held on to the finish for a perfect score line with Paul second, Dave third and Harry fourth. Steve was last seen checking the underside of his hull having not done a thorough enough job pre-start.

At the daily prize-giving generously sponsored by Allen Charlie received his gold bib and day one winner prize of t-shirt while Dave was awarded second place blue bib, and Paul third place red bib. Chris Hatton ended a solid day's sailing with mid-fleet hero prize of sailing gloves.

Ben Heppenstall won the endeavour prize of sailing gloves while Tom Moore was awarded a wooden spoon for missing a mark...

Every day sailors will be able to win Allen sponsored prizes. Prizes can only be won once so the joy will be spread throughout the fleet.

Results after day 1:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	Fleet	R1	R2	Pts
1	520	Charlie South	Stokes Bay	Gold	1	1	2
2	544	David Acres	Emsworth SC	Gold	2	3	5
3	528	Paul Watson	Llanfairfechan SC	Gold	4	2	6
4	411	Steve Bolland	Bristol Corinthian	Gold	3	6	9
5	523	Harry McVicar	Draycote Water SC	Gold	6	4	10
6	556	Peter Mackin	Stokes Bay SC	Gold	5	5	10
7	305	Richard Le Mare	Castle Cove SC	Gold	8	7	15
8	348	Chris Hatton	Lymington Town	Gold	7	9	16
9	457	Sam Davy	Hykeham SC	Silver	11	8	19
10	347	William Homewood	Lymington Town	Silver	9	11	20
11	351	Rob Ford	Alton Water SC	Silver	10	10	20
12	519	Tom Moore	Shropshire SC	Silver	12	12	24
13	395	Ben Heppenstall	Whitefriars SC	Silver	13	13	26
14	422	Alastair Wood	Shropshire SC	Silver	DNC	DNC	30