RS600 class at the Sailboat Deliveries Eurocup 2026 at Fraglia vela Riva
by Will Russell 22 May 17:07 BST
14-16 May 2026
Sailboat Deliveries RS600 Eurocup at Garda © Fraglia Vela Riva / ZGN
The RS600 fleet decided to return to Lake Garda for their 2026 Eurocup after a brilliant time in 2024. This time, we were joined by the RS300s as well as some new RS600s who missed out last time. With sunshine, Italian food and beautiful scenery, we were set for a great week!
Boats began to arrive the weekend before, with some going on holiday road trips, and others opting to fly in and have Sailboat Deliveries (aka Jubby) transport their boats straight to the slipway.
Some of the fleet got out for a puffy northerly practice on Tuesday to shake off the rust and check that everything was still working after a long trip. This was a good opportunity to take in the scenery before racing began!
Going into Wednesday, we had the practice race organised by Jubby in true Jubby fashion. As there aren't exactly many marks to use (it's too deep!), we got creative. The start line was between a post just off the slipway and somewhere on the far shore, up towards the second hotel that's open, across to Torbole, just in front of the shore, followed by a long reach across the shore to the slipways. Seems simple enough, until you realise that the marks are about 3 metres from the shore!
The fleet started turning up about 11 for a 12:30 start, but the wind wasn't looking particularly exciting yet. With that in mind, Jubby decided to AP at 13:30 around 12. It's almost as if the wind heard him because the Ora decided to kick in almost immediately and it wasn't just a gentle breeze. George and Will decided they were gonna launch anyway as they were in kit and looked like the wind was gonna turn up as expected in true Garda fashion.
After an hour of blasting around in the Ora, the rest of the fleet was ready but it was now getting challenging to get off the slipway with sizeable waves forming. With the fleet afloat, they were ready for the practice race. Some may say that Will pulled the trigger a little early, others would say that the rest of the fleet was caught snoozing.
Off the fleet went, tacking up to the cliffs to get to the first hotel. All looked good, until George who was leading saw the 300s going round a mark and heading towards Torbole so did the same, later to learn that was only the first hotel and we'd cut off a good kilometre of the beat. On the downwind, George and Jamie took the longer route back towards the cliffs before reaching across to Torbole to get into the big pressure and help them extend.
At Torbole, it was looking tight to make the gybe without ending up on the beach with the windsurfers but we managed before a very wavy and fast reach back to the start. By the time we got to the slip, it was honking. Most started dropping their mains and drifting in. Even still, the waves were pretty chunky so everyone helped each other with lifting boats out and onto trolleys.
George was first back, but some may say that he didn't sail the correct course.... All was settled at the fleet meal in the evening when Jubby pulled out the "boom of doom" for some tasty limoncello.
Day 1
With that exciting practice race, the fleet was ready for racing! We set out for a 1pm start in a shifty northerly breeze in some drizzle. We got 3 tight races in, with it paying to head left towards the cliffs as there was definitely more pressure coming down the middle of the lake. Downwind was a similar story with most staying away from the cliffs, but a few did make some gains by going more inshore towards the cliff, but the course wasn't close enough to get the full benefit of the wind bend and strength. In race 1, Jamie got ahead with George and Will behind. Will was all over the back of George on the final run, but George wasn't having any of it. George defended well, with some commenting that the two went sightseeing before rounding the leeward mark.
By Race 2, the wind had picked up with George and Matt hitting the port lay line quickly, meaning they rounded first with Jamie and Will behind. Will caught up to Jamie on the final reach to the finish, until Jamie looked behind with a panicked look before heading up to try and defend.
Into Race 3, George and Will got ahead with the rest of the fleet rounding closely. The weather had turned and some lightning had started in the distance making the fleet speed up the racing even more. On the run, Matt made some good gains going towards the cliffs, but not quite enough to catch George and Will. Jamie also had a quick dip during his gybe. Overnight, George was leading with Will in 2nd and Jamie in 3rd.
Day 2
Day 2 was presented with drizzle and light winds which meant the AP went up while we waited around. Around 14:30, the PRO had mentioned there was some wind on the course, so was going to have a look, shortly followed by a 16:00 start time. The fleet quickly got ready and headed out in what looked like a light northerly breeze. Once we got out there, there was a similar breeze to Day 1 but it started to drop once all the fleets got out there. We managed 2 light races, with the second getting shorted to the second windward mark - which turned out to be a good thing as the wind suddenly started to die on the way back in.
Going into Race 4, everyone went right as there was clearly more pressure, but George decided to go alone to the left. Looking across, the pressure looked poor but the lift to be had was epic with George finding a band of pressure to bring him around the windward mark in the lead, enabling him to lead to the finish. Race 5 was similar but this time Jamie got ahead as the left wasn't paying as much as earlier. Jamie overstood the windward marks but with the light pressure, this was a good thing. George and Will got stuck trying to make the windward marks as they sailed into dying pressure, whereas others could open up their rigs and get going. This put things very close overnight with George still leading with Jamie right behind, as well as Will and Matt separated by a point too. A shoutout to returning RS600 sailor David Lynall who didn't take long to show us his skill even though it's been a while since he's had a boat.
Day 3
We started early on Day 3 to try and make the most of the morning northerly breeze before the Ora would kick in after lunch. Waking up to sunshine and snowcapped mountains was a promising sign that we'd get the lovely Ora for the final day. Similar to Day 2, the wind was nice when we launched and sailed out to the start area, but began to drop as the Ora was beginning to do its thing. This made it a tricky race, with it looking like going right would work but the conditions were constantly changing. There was a big lift to be had going left, but definitely more pressure on the right. A few boats got stuck at the pin end so had to gybe around, but this set them up nicely to go right up the beat, which turned out to be the winner.
Even though the left worked for Race 5 for George on Day 2, Will and George were left in no pressure to get them anywhere. This made for a tedious reach of catching others. Big shoutout to David Nunn who won his first RS600 race mastering the lightwinds. With this shift in results, this really tighten up the results for 1st.
Now with the wind dying as we finished, the Ora could be seen in the distance on its way. It didn't take long before we had a lovely 15 knots to race in from the south. Will and Jamie did some split tacks to figure out what would work, and surprise surprise, the cliffs were the obvious winner with Jamie being about 5 boat lengths ahead when they crossed again. With this in mind, everyone went right off the start.
Matt, who was keen to secure 3rd place from Will, shut him out at the start of Race 7, meaning Will had to tack off and start on the 2nd row. This made it hard to go to the cliffs in clean air, but Will was able to round in 5th with Matt in 3rd. Working his socks off downwind, Will managed to find the pressure and soak his way down to the leeward mark getting him on the transom of Matt. Matt's low and fast upwind mode was working a bit better than Will's high mode, but the final run with good pressure towards the cliffs allowed Will to squeeze past Matt before the finish. In the fight for 1st, George was struggling to hold his own against Jamie and his super quick and low downwind mode. Jamie was looking too smug at the finish, especially as he decided to rake back before we launched into the light breeze.
Going into Race 8, the final race and the decider for the podium, George was following Jamie around on the start line very closely. Will decided to stay away from Matt to avoid getting into a sticky situation again! Off the start, the event leaders decided to tack off immediately, with Will and Matt going a few more boat lengths before going themselves. This enabled Will and Matt to tack later for the lay line and cross the whole fleet. Matt actually missed the lay line but a quick double tack later and he was still leading at mark 1 - maybe the cliffs aren't everything after all.
Closely behind, George and Will went past Matt onto the run with Jamie close behind hungry for the win. George went right, while Will immediately gybed back to the cliffs for the pressure, while keeping a close eye on Matt to make sure he didn't get any gains going the other way. Going back towards the cliffs was a big benefit as Will had gained 5 boat lengths on George when they crossed back towards the bottom. This had also enabled Jamie who went left to close in on George. Going onto the final upwind, George and Jamie were tacking in sync with Will leading ahead. While George called the lay line better, Jamie was right on his tail for the final downwind. Will won the final race, securing 3rd on the podium with Jamie squeezing past on the inside of the leeward mark, finishing ahead of George.
Neither knew what this actually meant for the overall results so the sail in was long and stressful before finding out they had identical score cards, including their discards so it all came down to the final race where Jamie finished ahead and won the 2026 RS600 Eurocup.
The fleet had a great time racing with loads of new faces joining in too. The Bowmoor fleet asked the experienced sailors to organise a form of coaching to get them quicker so keep an eye out for more information here!
Thanks to Sailboat Deliveries for supporting the event and looking after everyone during the event. Next up on the calendar in Warsash on the 6-7th June followed by our Nationals at Brixham 16-20th September. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Links:
Overall Results:
1st Master - David Lynall
1st Youth - William Parkinson-Lloyd
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Net |
|---|
| 1 | 1001 | Jamie Mawson | Notts County Sailing Club | 1 | 3 | ‑6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| 2 | 1005 | George Smith | Bough Beech Sailing Club | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑6 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 3 | 1011 | Will Russell | Grafham Water Sailing Club | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | ‑7 | 3 | 1 | 22 |
| 4 | 754 | Matt Banbrook | Bowmoor SC | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | ‑9 | 5 | 4 | 29 |
| 5 | 1000 | David Lynall | Bowmoor Sailing Club | ‑10 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 35 |
| 6 | 1006 | Jeff Chambers | Essex Yacht Club | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | ‑8 | 7 | 42 |
| 7 | 848 | David Nunn | Bowmoor SC | 4 | ‑9 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 44 |
| 8 | 648 | Alistair Farman | Grafham Water Sailing Club | 6 | 5 | ‑9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 45 |
| 9 | 986 | Ian Jubb | HISC | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | ‑11 | 4 | 8 | 47 |
| 10 | 895 | William Parkinson‑Lloyd | Hickling Broad Sailing Club | 11 | 10 | (DNC) | DNC | 10 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 72 |
| 11 | 901 | Alec Boere | Weir Wood | 12 | (DNC) | DNC | 11 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 75 |
| 12 | 617 | Edward Goodman | Bowmoor SC | 12 | (DNC) | DNC | 12 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 83 |