RS300 Noble Marine Allen National Championship at Dovey Yacht Club - Day 1

RS300 Noble Marine Allen Nationals at Dovey Day 1 © Mary Fletcher / Lens2Print

Aberdovey is renowned as a brilliant Welsh holiday destination, with golden sandy beach, terraced B&Bs on the seafront and plentiful ice cream.

With a blocking high pressure over Europe dampening spirits of champagne sailing conditions, many thought that rounders on the beach, summer holiday style, would be the order of the day.

Bizarrely all the forecasts proved wrong and an 8-12 knot easterly greeted a resurgent fleet of 21 RS300s. The run out over the bar was cause to wake a few sailors up with the odd spicy gust in the narrow channel.

RS300 Noble Marine Allen National Championship, day 1 - photo © Mary Fletcher

Two races were scheduled with an opportunity for a third if the wind held on long enough.

The first race of the day got off bang on time with a slight pin end bias. The pin was busy. A scramble to tack onto port soon after the start caused a little shouting but all was kept clean. Reigning champ Paul Watson made his intentions clear arriving at the top mark first. Liam Willis, Dave Acres, Harry McVicar and Luke South rounded out the top five. The wind continued its slow trudge left as the fleet progressed across the top reach. Onto the run, Tom Moore had a wobble and then a splash and then a shout in displeasure as he dipped out of the top eight. The race was left to Paul and Liam to duke out, the pair fighting to the end of the race that was eventually shortened.

RS300 Noble Marine Allen National Championship, day 1 - photo © Mary Fletcher

Race two and the wind continued left in the countdown producing another busy pin end. Mark Newton channelled his inner Barry Steele and lined up on port. However with the majority of the fleet bunching up three deep at the pin, it wasn't going to work. Pete Mackin thought he'd won the pin but in fact crashed into it so hard he practically mated with it. Harry McVicar clearly thought the pin hadn't had enough punishment and gave it a good whack as well. Despite the antics the left-hand side lifted significantly enough to put McVicar at the top mark ahead of Richard Hanby, Dave Acres and Mackin. McVicar was never really challenged in this race. Proving the unforgiving nature of the conditions, Champ Watson had a shocker and could only recover an 11th. Two laps were enough again as the breeze dropped on the final run.

RS300 Noble Marine Allen National Championship, day 1 - photo © Mary Fletcher

With the breeze waning, the PRO called an end to proceedings. Sod's Law, with the fleet heading ashore the breeze picked up to at least help the fleet in against the tide.

All in all, a high scoring day for many in what's undoubtedly going to be a tricky regatta. Whoever can pull out a consistent scoresheet is likely to come out on top. But in these conditions, nobody is safe!

Results after Day 1: