RS600 Rooster National Tour event 2 at Warsash Sailing Club

RS600 Rooster National Tour event 2 at Warsash © Laurie Callaghan

The Rooster RS600 Warsash open event got off to an ominous start with an announcement on Friday evening that all racing on Saturday was cancelled due to the heavy forecast. With peak wind speeds recorded on Saturday of 43.5 knots, this turned out to be a great call from the race officer and allowed the competitors to relax for the day and enjoy other activities.

Sunday dawned to a more reasonable 20-25 knots. The perfect hangover cure from the night before. The sea state was still large so made the conditions punchy but perfectly sail-able. 4 races were scheduled with no starts after 13.30 so everyone headed out straight after the briefing to get settled in for a long day.

Race 1 started with a committee boat favoured end. George Smith had a slight wobble with around 30 seconds to go but recovered the boat quickly to start on time off the windward third of the line. With Jamie Mawson just to leeward, and Will Russell and James Morland just to windward, it was a drag race out to the left-hand side of the beat.

James Morland tacked out first, taking the transoms of the others, and at the first top mark, it was George, followed by Jamie and then James. After a few position changes, the race finished with George Smith 1st, Jamie Mawson 2nd and James Morland 3rd.

Race 2. A full fleet of RS600s crossed the start line, which also turned out to be the beginning of a war of attrition for much of the fleet. Warsash local Tim Norris won the committee boat end and was going well up the first beat. The heavier crews had a bit of an upwind speed advantage, and at the first top mark, it was George in the lead again with Jamie and James chasing hard.

The positions held until the last upwind leg when James Morland broke a trapeze wire and headed to the beach to make repairs. The drama continued through the fleet when Tim Norris' mast decided to reef itself through his foredeck. This left George Smith to take his second win of the day, followed by Tim Cutsforth in 2nd and Jamie Mawson in 3rd.

Race 3. With wind speeds between 20 and 25 knots the racing was fast and frantic. George Smith and Will Russell showed excellent speed and boat handling to come in 1st and 2nd, with Will pushing hard. The fight for third place was won by Tim Cutsforth, who sailed consistently to fight off Jamie Mawson, who finished fourth.

It was also a particularly costly race for some of the fleet, with James Cowen suffering a broken mast, forcing him out of the remainder of the day.

Race 4. With George now owning a perfect scoreline, he did not need to do the last race, so he headed home for a lie down. This caused some confusion with Will and Tim heading home as well, thinking the racing had finished for the day.

This left James Morland and Jamie to finish out the day. With James back on the beach refitting his diamond wires (they came loose and fell off in race 3) and Jamie struggling to keep his rudder on his boat due a damaged pintle, it was Jamie who made the start with James making it to the line around 30 seconds late.

Jamie sailed the course with few mistakes, James swam round most of the course but just needed to finish to regain a complete scoreline which he did.

Jamie got a well deserved win for his efforts and on the way home his rudder gave up completely and came to join him in the cockpit.

RS600 Rooster National Tour event 2 at Warsash - photo © Laurie Callaghan

At the end of the day George Smith took the win, Jamie Mawson was second, James Morland third and Tim Cutsforth was fourth.

We all had a fantastic weekend. Thank you to Warsash Sailing Club and all the volunteers for keeping everyone entertained throughout the weekend and for making the most of the Saturday by getting 4 races in for 3 fleets in challenging conditions.

Finally, thank you to Rooster Sailing for supporting the RS600 class with great prizes!

Overall Results:

RS600 Rooster National Tour event 2 at Warsash - photo © Laurie Callaghan