Noble Marine Allen RS100 Nationals at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Day 1

by Jeremy Troughton 29 Sep 2023 11:28 BST 28 September - 1 October 2023

Luckily Storm Agnes had passed through by the time the RS100 fleet set sail for day 1 of the Noble Marine Allen RS100 National Championships, the penultimate fixture on the Rooster National Tour, but the wind was still blowing hard enough to make it exciting on the water.

The first race saw the fleet get away cleanly and Huw Powell lead at the windward mark, followed by David Smart, Andy Jones and Jeremy Troughton, who gybed early to clear his air, was headed in good pressure and then lifted, gybed back and was surprised (as the heaviest sailor in the fleet and not used to overtaking anyone downhill) to be in the lead at the bottom mark. Huw showed his dominance again upwind on the second beat overtaking Jeremy to lead into the second downwind leg, who again played his lucky card downwind leading at the bottom gate, with a nice tight rounding into the third beat - only to notice a shortened course flag flying on the committee boat, so bearing away and sailing down to the finish line to give Huw the win - not a great way to lose a race! The second group were also confused as to the course change with Andy Jones passing Nigel Wakefield and James Ross in the closing stages to snatch 3rd.

For the second race, the length of the upwind leg was reduced and Nigel showed the fleet a clean set of heels hitting every shift upwind and down, leading from start to finish. Huw and Jeremy had a close tussle throughout with Huw (again) coming out on top, with Netley's Bart Brigden showing good pace claiming 4th ahead of Stephen Jones.

The third and final race of the day was seeing some tired legs, and for the author, normal service being resumed with the breeze slightly easing, Huw showed his class once again winning, but following a battle with Matt Johnson from Weirwood - definitely one to watch for tomorrow after spinnaker pole issues counted him out of the first two races - outside of that it was the team from Netley completing the top 5 with James Ross 3rd, Nigel 4th and Bart 5th.

Overall a good day for Team Netley with the top 5 places all going to Netley sailors - but the comment overheard in the changing rooms from the Chew Valley team sort of implied that team Netley would self-destruct in the bar ahead of day 2 - time will tell!

Results after Day 1:

Pos	Sail No	Fleet	Helm	Club	Fidelis Trophy	Helm Age Group	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	508	Gold	Huw Powell	Red Wharf Bay/Netley SC		Master	1	2	1	4
2nd	145	Gold	Nigel Wakefield	Netley SC & Lymington Town SC			4	1	4	9
3rd	421	Gold	Jeremy Troughton	Netley SC			2	3	10	15
4th	373	Gold	James Ross	Netley SC			5	8	3	16
5th	268	Gold	Bart Bridgen	Netley SC			9	4	5	18
6th	130	Gold	Stephen Jones	Chew Valley Lake SC	Yes	Master	7	5	6	18
7th	505	Gold	Andrew Jones	Chew Valley Lake SC	Yes	Master	3	7	11	21
8th	379	Gold	Mark Harrison	Gurnard SC	Yes	Master	6	9	8	23
9th	370	Gold	Nils Jolliffe	Netley SC			8	11	9	28
10th	364	Silver	Duncan Barr	Netley SC		Master	13	12	7	32
11th	523	Gold	David Smart	Chew Valley Lake SC	Yes	Master	10	10	13	33
12th	509	Gold	Clive Eplett	Frensham Pond SC	Yes	Master	11	6	RET	38
13th	300	Gold	Leighton King	Netley SC			15	13	12	40
14th	259	Gold	Ian Gregory	Frensham Pond SC	Yes		12	14	14	40
15th	239	Gold	Matt Johnson	Weirwood SC			RET	DNC	2	44
16th	526	Gold	Mostyn Evans	Mounts Bay SC	Yes	Master	14	16	15	45
17th	238	Gold	Gavin Thompson	Chew Valley Lake SC			17	17	16	50
18th	222	Gold	Mike Boswell	Royal Brighton YC		Master	16	15	DNS	52
19th	174	Gold	Daniel Webber	Chew Valley Lake SC		Youth	DNC	DNC	DNC	63
19th	183	Gold	David Tarr	Killaloe SC			RET	DNC	DNC	63