RS400 Southern Championship at Warsash Sailing Club

by Matt Sheahan 23 Jun 13:12 BST 21-22 June 2025

For anyone in the 27 boat fleet who had looked at the weather forecast ahead of the RS400 Summer Championship hosted by Warsash Sailing Club, the principal race officer's briefing brought mixed reactions.

All could see that while temperatures were due to soar inland, the more punchy forecast models suggested that the breeze would be in the teens with gusts well into the twenties. Coupled with the sunshine and warm weather, this was perfect. But the elephant in the room was the forecast for Sunday which suggested that conditions would hit the mid-twenties to mid-thirties out on the Hill Head Plateau where the racing would take place. This, along with a tide that was going to press up against the breeze and kick up the sea state suggested some boisterous conditions for the second day.

So, the prudent decision was to squeeze four races into Saturday to free up the small weather window on Sunday. It was this that was the mixed blessing. Four races would make life easier in the long term, but potentially hard work ahead of Warsash's notorious evening hospitality.

With the breeze coming from the southeast the fleet was sheltered as it launched, but once around the corner and into the Solent it was clear that the sea state was far tricker than most had anticipated. The evidence for this was the number of boats doing slot gasket inspections during the practice runs ahead of the first start. At times it felt like a baptism of fire and yet the breeze was only gusting to around 17 knots.

Things settled a bit for the first race which saw Paul Hilliar and Tom Halhead (1535) take the first win of the weekend forcing local boys Robin Kirby and Alex Horlock (1444) into second.

By race two the fleet had settled into the groove and were clearly enjoying what were now perfect conditions, enough to keep you on your toes but tame enough to give everyone a good chance of getting round without a swim. In this race Tom & Paul delivered a repeat result, as did Robin & Alex.

But in the third race the breeze dropped slightly forcing everyone to switch into another gear which for many meant another tweak of the rig settings. And in this race, it was the season's rock star duo Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (1526) that muscled their way to the front, forcing the former dominant pair down a place each.

By this stage in the afternoon Southampton had heated sufficiently to start drawing and funnelling the breeze up Southampton Water spicing up the downwind legs again.

At the end of the last race it was Chris Eames and Rachel Tilley (1528) who took the win.

Behind them, as if highlighting just what a good long-term investment an RS400 is, Niall Houston and George Zavos delivered yet another single figure result in their boat 1210 with a 3rd.

(For us the final race was notable for the fastest handbrake turn and capsize to leeward I have ever experienced on any boat when the rudder came off its mounts while at full chat. With two 'extra-mediums' hiking to windward,1435 had plenty of reason to bail out to leeward...which she did.)

By the time the fleet got ashore and started re-hydrating, 'broken' seemed to be the word of the day.

You could feel the tension on Sunday morning, especially after the briefing made it clear, Armageddon was coming. The plan was to get at least one race in before the weather turned nuclear.

For those that braved it, while the breeze was indeed up into the twenties it was the notorious Solent chop that made life so hard downwind. There were nosedives aplenty and waves which on starboard gybe presented themselves like giant speed bumps.

Nevertheless, according to one 400 helm, his GPS said that he had hit 16.8knots.

It would of course be rude to identify national champions and Olympic medallists who decided to tack around instead of gybing, but it was also an indication of just how challenging the conditions were.

As anticipated by the RO, one race was all that could be run but in this one it was Chris Eames and Rachel Tilley that took the win with Paul Hilliar and Tom Halhead in second and Niall Houston and George Zavos demonstrating that older boats can be strong too with a third.

As a Warsash member I'm clearly very biased, but the Southern Summer Championships was a superb event on and off the water in which the top three places were well deserved.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	1535	Tom Halhead	Paul Hilliar	Llandegfedd	1	1	2	‑3	2	6
2nd	1444	Robin Kirby	Alex Horlock	Warsash SC	2	2	3	1	‑4	8
3rd	1528	Christopher Eames	Rachel Tilley	QMSC	‑11	4	5	5	1	15
4th	1481	Ian Walker	Anna Warren	Warsash SC	5	‑12	4	6	6	21
5th	1210	Niall Houston	George Zavos	HISC	7	‑9	8	4	3	22
6th	1189	Steve Restall	Katie Walworth	Downs	4	8	7	8	(DNC)	27
7th	1526	Ollie Groves	Esther Parkhurst	Beaver	(DNC)	3	1	2	DNC	34
8th	1532	Steve Norbury	Andy Hill	Warsash SC	3	10	‑11	10	11	34
9th	1557	Paul Smalley	Anna Smalley	Chew Valley	10	5	14	(DNC)	5	34
10th	1377	Neil Bevington	Alan Skeens	Lee on Solent	‑9	7	9	9	9	34
11th	1489	David Swift	Rob Burgess	Warsash SC	12	6	10	7	‑13	35
12th	1556	Rob Jones	Paul Caiger‑Watson	Warsash SC	8	18	(RET)	11	12	49
13th	1516	Andrew Blundell	Maddie Blundell	Warsash SC	6	13	6	(DNC)	DNC	53
14th	1558	Bruce Mills	Andrea Jarman	Warsash SC	14	11	13	17	(DNC)	55
15th	1376	Tim Le Couilliard	James Le Couilliard	King George	16	15	12	13	(DNC)	56
16th	1435	Matthew Sheahan	Andy Rice	Warsash SC	13	19	17	(DNC)	8	57
17th	1007	Roger Marino	Peter Brent	Warsash SC	18	20	‑23	15	7	60
18th	1503	Nick Daniels	Chris Rolfe	Warsash SC	15	14	19	12	(DNC)	60
19th	1432	James Alsop	Simon Edwards	QMSC	19	16	15	14	(DNC)	64
20th	1388	Mike Acton	Emma Davies	Gurnard	23	17	16	16	(DNC)	72
21st	1109	Mark Turner	Tris Turner	Warsash SC	‑22	21	21	19	DNT	76
22nd	1462	James Brown	Dan Hawkes	Warsash SC	17	23	18	18	(DNC)	76
23rd	976	Roger Cerrato	Ffion Cerrato	Warsash SC	20	24	20	20	(DNC)	84
24th	1345	Daniel Fox	Arabella Sabberton	Royal Norfolk & Suffolk	21	22	22	21	(DNC)	86
25th	478	Richard Ashwell	Anja Josefsberg	Aylesbury	24	25	24	23	(DNC)	96
26th	963	Nick Hilsden	Becky Moss	Warsash SC	(RET)	DNC	25	22	DNC	103
27th	824	Thomas Peace	Matt Emerson	Warsash SC	(RET)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	112