RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash Sailing Club

Will Russell about to head down the mine not long after the finish of Race 4 during the RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash © Oli King Photography

The RS600 fleet headed south for the first coastal event of the year at Warsash Sailing Club. The action began before we'd even got afloat with a few getting stuck in lots of traffic (probably due to the nice weather).

Will Russell was hit the worst with a 90 minute delay, only arriving at the club at 11:17... Only 73 minutes before the first warning signal with a long sail out to the sailing area. However, not all faith was lost as the RS600 fleet came together without even being asked to get his boat rigged in a record breaking sub 10 minutes. The covers were almost off before Will had even got out of the car, a big thanks to George and Tim for helping get everyone on the water in time.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Oli King Photography

After a long and choppy sail out of the River Hamble to the race course, the fleet were greeted to a decent 15 knots of breeze and a bit of wind over tide. Getting off the line, the fleet were quick to tack onto port and head into the tide. George Smith led round the course with Will Russell and Tim Cutsforth close behind. Tim managed to squeeze past Will on the second lap with some incredible upwind speed, but lost it on the wavy downwind allowing Will to squeeze past.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Oli King Photography

Going into Race 2, the tide was starting to slacken, changing direction towards the end of the race. Off the start, Will thought he might've been OCS after Adam Watson had luffed him up as they both had different ideas of where the line was (but luckily both were clear). Local sailor, Tim Norris showed us his knowledge of the tide and pulled off an impressive port flyer, comfortably crossing the whole fleet! After seeing this impressive move, others started to head right back towards the tide. Going into Lap 2, George was in the lead, with Will right on his tail. Will wanted to get out of the dirt so opted to tack off to the left, especially now the tide was potentially turning. The two went far into the left, while others behind opted to continue going right with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it approach". As George and Will tacked onto the lay line, they had noticed the big shift that helped those going right close the gap. While George stayed ahead, Tim managed to squeeze just ahead of Will going around the windward mark. On the downwind, Tim was able to keep just ahead to finish in 2nd with Will in 3rd.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Oli King Photography

Race 3 was greeted with sunshine and the tide pumping in the opposite direction. Off the start, Jamie Watson showed us his impressive skill (or luck) at avoiding Will's mast by a few inches as he started to capsize to windward, but somehow managed to save it and continue racing without too much of a delay! This time, the fleet opted to go inshore to get out of the tide, but there were a few misjudgements of the lay line, with a few boats overshooting and reaching in. Of course, the local sailors knew exactly where the lay line was and made good gains. This really closed the fleet up as they came round the windward mark, with the top 5 all close together. On the downwind, Will Russell showed us a master class of downwind technique in the 600 pasting 2 boats on the run by surfing the waves and taking every opportunity to soak low. Onto lap 2, George rounded in the lead with local sailor Tim Norris close behind and Will Russell now into 3rd. Tim had incredible height so Will opted to tack off, back to the shore for clean air and to avoid the tide. However, Tim didn't make it easy, opting to follow Will, making it hard to avoid the dirt with his height. To escape the neverending dirt, Will went into a low mode to get past once they were both on the lay line. This worked just enough to allow Will to squeeze past into 2nd at the windward mark and finish behind George. Tim Norris kept his pace up and finished in 3rd, his best race of the weekend.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Oli King Photography

With Sunday's forecast looking a bit lively, the race officer decided to bring Race 4 a day earlier to allow us to get more races in. At this point, the wind had gone up a little too to make things more exciting. Similar to the previous race, the fleet hit the start and went off left to get out of the tide. But this time, everyone had figured out where the lay line was. Going up the port lay line, George was ahead showing us another masterclass in upwind speed with Will and Tim on each other's tail. Tim was slightly ahead, but Will didn't like that so did whatever he could to keep his boat flat to start to close the gap. By the time they got to the starboard lay line, they were neck and neck but Will was to windward so had the control in his hands to allow him to round in 2nd. Going into lap 2, Tim was still very much on the back of Will but continuing to stand on his tippy toes to keep his boat perfectly flat. Will was able to keep ahead and finish behind George in 2nd, with Tim in 3rd. Tim was disappointed to see Will completely stack it about 20 metres after the finish line wondering why he had to wait for the finish before he went for a swim.

The fleet headed ashore to enjoy a fun evening at the club while discussing the epic racing from the day. Going into Sunday, the wind was looking big, and due to get bigger. The other complication was the wind against tide also adding another level of complication (aka big waves!). Only 2 races were scheduled, but the race officer had implied that it may only be possible for one. The fleet thought about it, with most opting to call it early before getting themselves into issues or worse, breaking things. However, 3 sailors decided to give it a go and see what would happen. Only one race was possible which was won by Tim, followed by local sailor James Morland and Jamie Watson in 3rd. Only a few capsizes occurred in the race, but all opted to tack around instead of gybing "as it was quicker than swimming". All returned to shore to confirm to us that the waves were massive and it was very windy as we expected. Fair play to them for not only giving it a go, but also getting round the course.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Oli King Photography

Well done to George Smith for his clean sweep of wins on Saturday securing him the win, with Will Russell in 2nd and Tim Cutsforth in 3rd. Thanks to Warsash for putting on a fantastic event and we hope to return in the future. Next up on the Rooster National Tour is the Stone Bank Holiday Regatta on the August Bank Holiday, we look forward to seeing you there before the Nationals at Mounts Bay in September!

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Warsash - photo © Sally Campbell

Overall Results:

Quick Links:

• Event Photos
• RS600 YouTube Channel, featuring the 13 part 'RS600 The Basics series'
• RS600 Calendar, with event entry links