Noble Marine RS600 National Championship 2026 at Brixham Yacht Club - Day 2
by George Smith 19 Sep 09:10 BST
16-20 September 2026
Day 2 dawned with the forecast of slightly less wind from a direction further to the south-west. Unfortunately for some, Thursday's big day out in Torbay had taken its toll on boats and bodies and there was plenty of splicing and replacing of fittings to start the day. The fleet showed its usual camaraderie offering up spares, advice and even splicing services.
It became immediately apparent, on leaving the safety of the harbour, that we were in for another big day on the water. The fleet planed all the way down to the start area, today located in the south area of the bay. The race officer was good on his word of getting us away on time and the fleet aimed for the slightly favoured pin end for start one. The beats were highlighted by short steep chop but the breeze was more solid and somewhat less shifty. The fleet converged on the windward mark with George Smith leading and Jamie Mawson in hot pursuit followed by Richard Bone and Adam Watson who both did well on the port lay-line. The top reach was a full on, drop to the knot, spray filled affair followed by a run that most approached conservatively given the conditions. The fleet generally minimised manoeuvres as the race went on and the positions stayed fairly well set. George finished first, Jamie just holding off a charging Richard, keeping the top of the scoreboard tight. Adam Watson had his best race so far holding onto 4th and special mention to Will Coles who was back out after rigging issues yesterday in his newly painted 'rescue' orange boat.
The second race seemed to be even windier with the fleet again favouring the pin end. Lessons learned from race one meant the racing was even tighter to the windward mark, George again just ahead of Jamie and Richard. The reach was again a full on blast and the run was a question of how hard to push vs safety. Jamie pushed hard out to the right hand side of the run coming in with pressure on a hot angle chasing hard into the leeward mark. Unfortunately somewhere into the race gear failure put pay to his day, allowing Richard through to second. The final reach into the finish made for some spectacular racing with 5 boats pushing for the line. Unfortunately Adam pushed too hard and ended up wiping out in dramatic fashion. James Cowen took third flat out and Neil Cooney, putting together a very solid series was fourth, with Tim Cutsforth fifth.
The third and thankfully final race of the day saw a somewhat diminished fleet due to breakages to both boats and fatigue and attrition to sailors. Will Russel rejoined the fray thanks to an opportunistically borrowed mast and made up for lost time by pushing over the pin end of the line and having to spin round the end. The fleet pushed hard left, likely in part to minimise tacking in the difficult chop. George led around the top with Tim in close pursuit. Will having not benefited from the learnings of the day went hard out to the right and rounded in the pack but pushed hard on the run starting to make up places. There were evidently still gains to make as Will pushed through to second with Tim third and Richard 4th.
The fleet were glad to head back in with 3 races in the bag and welcomed back into the bay by the commodore again up to his neck on the slipway catching boats and the beach team greeting us with our trolleys as well as a welcome drink courtesy of RS Sailing.
Saturday's forecast is currently looking fresh to frightening so day three's report may end up being short!
More information and full results can be found here.