RS300 Noble Marine Allen National Championship at Dovey Yacht Club - Day 3

by Harry McVicar 10 Sep 2023 07:51 BST 7-10 September 2023

Day three started as normal, with 21 sailors staring hopefully at a millpond. Some hoped for wind, most for a day off. After much debate and deliberation, the fleet decided to go racing inside the estuary, braving the flooding tide to get the best of the wind.

Race one kicked off with a solid 8 knots and the fleets scattergun approach to tide tactics ensued. Tom Moore nailed it going hard right up the beach and disappearing off into the distance. Dave Acres came off second best and Rich Hanby fought his way up to 3rd. The rest of the fleet spent much of the time swearing, running aground and wondering if we should've stayed on the beach...

Fortunately, for race two, and much to Tom's disappointment, everyone copied his right-handed tactics and had a much more even race. The sight of a whole fleet of RS300ss beating within 10 feet (or less if you were really brave) of the beach caused much excitement for the swimmers and sunbathers, some of whom even unknowingly became obstacles for us to tack around. Dave Acres took the win, Mark Newton held 2nd until the final leg when Rich Hanby and Harry McVicar sneaked over him downwind to take two and third.

With the sun setting, the wind holding, and the tide easing, we kicked off a 3rd race. Dave Acres got caught out at the start, allowing Hanby, McVicar and Luke South to sneak off to the beach early. After no shortage of argy bargy and a few sweary moments (a 50m wide beating channel will do that..) Hanby, Mcvicar, South, Steve Sallis and Will Powell made a bit of a break away. Hanby kept pulling away up the last beat and McVicar held off South to end the day.

Eight races completed bought the second discard in, mixing up the leader board and putting Rich Hanby in the gold bib, Harry McVicar demoted to Blue, and Dave Acres back into the top three.

Sunday's forecast is thunderstorms so fingers crossed for a full send, 20knts, 10ft swells blast to end the weekend.

All on water disagreements shall be settled with the boom of doom...

Results after Day 3:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	545	Richard Hanby	Beaver SC	5	3	1	3	5	3	2	1	13
2	523	Harry McVicar	Draycote Water SC	4	1	6	1	3	10	3	2	14
3	544	David Acres	Emsworth SC	3	4	7	5	7	2	1	10	22
4	476	Steve Sallis	Hykeham SC	16	13	3	2	1	6	7	7	26
5	421	Liam Willis	Lymington Town SC	2	7	5	6	9	5	4	6	28
6	347	Will Powell	Dabchicks SC Stokes Bay SC	8	16	4	4	2	9	9	4	31
7	556	Peter Mackin	Stokes Bay SC	7	2	8	8	4	13	6	9	35
8	520	Luke South	Emsworth SC	6	5	10	16	12	7	10	3	41
9	519	Thomas Moore	Shropshire SC	9	17	15	7	6	1	11	13	47
10	403	Mark Schuerch	Hykeham SC	10	6	22	19	10	4	18	5	53
11	354	Mark Newton	West Lancashire YC	17	12	11	9	8	8	5	17	53
12	452	Richard Hargreaves	Stewartby SC	13	10	2	10	14	17	12	22	61
13	528	Paul Watson	Y Felinheli Llanfairfechan SC	1	11	13	17	15	22	14	8	62
14	524	Matt Sargent	ASA/Thorney Emsworth SC	22	8	12	11	13	11	19	16	71
15	530	Tim Le Couilliard	King George SC	14	9	9	13	19	12	16	22	73
16	473	Alex Watkins	Haversham SC	11	15	18	15	18	15	8	15	79
17	457	Sam Davy	Hykeham SC	22	22	17	14	11	14	13	11	80
18	313	Ben Green	Lymington Town SC	15	14	20	18	20	16	15	12	90
19	537	Ben Heppenstall	Whitefriars SC	12	18	14	20	17	18	17	14	92
20	450	Mark Henman	South Shields SC	19	19	16	12	16	19	20	18	100
21	532	Cheryl Wood	Penine SC	18	20	19	21	21	20	21	19	117