A Lifetime in the RS Family - Celebrating Sally Campbell
by RS Sailing 13 Nov 09:00 GMT
Sally Campbell - 13 Years as RS Class Secretary © RS Sailing
From her first pink RS200 to decades of friendships, and keeping the RS Class Associations running smoothly, Sally Campbell has helped shape the very community that makes RS Sailing special. As she steps down as UK RS Class Association Secretary after 13 years, we celebrate a woman whose contribution has been about so much more than boats, results and event schedules.
There are many ways to measure a lifetime in sailing. There are race wins and championship titles, miles covered and boats owned. But in the RS family, perhaps the most meaningful measure is the people you meet, the friendships you keep and the memories you make along the way.
By that measure, Sally Campbell has had a remarkable journey.
After decades at the heart of the RS Class Association, Sally is stepping down from her role as Secretary, leaving behind a legacy of well-organised events, growing classes and countless sailors who have enjoyed their time on the water - and ashore - thanks, in no small part, to her work behind the scenes.
Her story began, as so many good RS stories do, with a friend, a boat and a little bit of adventure.
It All Started In Pink
Sally had only recently taken up sailing when her housemate, Pete Vincent, invited her to test sail one of the very first RS200 boats. It was, she recalls, "the most exciting thing ever". The fact that the boat came in pink rather sealed the deal.
She ordered boat number 225.
Her first RS event was at Penarth, where she and her crew arrived with "enthusiasm that perhaps exceeded our sailing experience". They decided they would keep racing until they had suffered ten capsizes.
After capsize number nine, they accepted defeat, abandoned the race, and took a different approach to the downwind mark... "Rather than gybe, we carried straight on out into the Bristol Channel, with the boat planing at full speed, just to enjoy the feeling of it," Sally reminisces. "A safety boat followed, presumably concerned and thinking that something had gone badly wrong!"
The RS200 would remain her boat of choice through the years. Having tried most of the racing boats in the range, Sally stayed faithful to the RS200, appreciating its versatility as much as its performance.
"It's the perfect size for women to handle, great fun to race, but also kind enough that I was able to take my girls when they were young and my non-sailing friends."
When asked about awards, a self-deprecating Sally says "Pete once said I'm a half decent sailor..." The award that meant to most to Sally was First Female Helm at the Nationals in Weymouth 1999: "a trophy, to this day, I am proud to have my name on - given the sailing legends that have won it since."
For Sally, the sport has never been solely about competition. It's been about sharing the experience, opening the door to new sailors and making memories with the people who matter.
"I have a photo on my wall, sailing at Grafham in 2003, when I was pregnant with Abi. Now she's my favourite sailing partner. I love it when she's home from Uni and we can sail a Wednesday night race together at Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club."
The People Who Made It Special
Ask Sally about her RS sailor highlights and she quickly runs into a familiar problem: "there are simply too many to choose from!"
There were talented crews who helped her develop as a racer, including Claire Cumming, who taught her how to race on the course, and Ian Pickard, who gave her confidence in the boat. Jane Bailey holds a special place in her memories, too.
But it is the friendships around those sailing experiences that emerge most strongly.
Pete Vincent has been a constant throughout the journey. One of the first RS dealers, Chair of the Class Association and one of Sally's closest friends, Pete sold her that first boat and has looked after all her boats since. More than that, he helped make the travelling, the events and the whole RS experience possible.
"I would literally never have got to half of the events without him," she says.
Then there is the early crew of friends: "Jubby and Pippa, Mark 'Greebo' Greaves, Mike Budd, Greg O'Brien, Tom and Jo Hewitson, Trudi Fell, Paul Goodwin, Chunky, Mark and Liz Harrison, Pete Cruickshank..." and many others. Sally is quick to apologise to anyone she has inevitably missed from the list.
For this group, the social life was RS Sailing: "We packed up the boats and went to wherever the event was, regardless of any forecast. If the weather wasn't right for sailing, we had fun anyway!"
Camping and sleeping on the floors of fellow sailors' houses kept costs down, while ensuring that the friendships grew stronger with every trip. It was a way of life, and one that helped establish the culture that RS sailors continue to cherish today.
Sally has also enjoyed a particularly special working relationship with Heather Chipperfield, "a great friend and influence who brought me into the Class Association world." The pair have worked together for 13 years, combining a shared commitment to the classes with the kind of friendship that makes even the busiest event calendar more enjoyable.
Great Racing. Great Socials. Great Stories.
Of course, no celebration of Sally's RS journey would be complete without a few stories from the social side of the circuit!
Carnac 1997 stands out as a particularly memorable trip. It was Sally's first time sailing abroad, and the event brought the RS200s, RS400s and RS600s together. "It was Claire Cumming's 21st birthday and the first time I'd sailed abroad. Somewhere among the racing and celebrations, John Callaghan suffered such a severe bout of food poisoning that he vowed never to camp again - and subsequently arrived at the next event in his now-legendary camper, Racing Snake."
Looe has its place in the archives, too. At one Nationals after-party, so many sailors squeezed into a holiday let that the furniture had to be moved out onto the street. "We awoke to find a very worried lady, looking after the house for a friend demanding (quite rightly) that we find the furniture, which was, of course, no longer on the street... Luckily after a frantic search everything was recovered!" All was well and the story survived to become another part of RS folklore.
As for the legendary party animals of the RS circuit, Sally is diplomatic. She declines to name names, although she does offer one concession: "I think Jubby beats them all!"
The Sailors Who Bring RS To Life
Ask Sally what makes the RS community special and her answer is immediate.
"Absolutely the sailors, the ethos of helping each other in the dinghy park, inclusiveness in the bar and that, while the racing is serious, it is also fun and fair."
It's a shared understanding that the experience extends far beyond the finishing line: "It's helping another sailor get a boat ready. It's offering advice to someone finding their feet in a new class. It's welcoming familiar faces back to an event year after year, and making room for the next generation to join in."
Sally has seen that continuity first-hand. "I love it that Alex Newton-Southon had just started at RS as a teenager when I got my first RS200 and he is now Managing Director of RS Sailing. Many of those who sailed in the early days are still competing, and their children have grown up to join the fleets themselves."
The boats may change hands and generations may move through the classes, but the community keeps renewing itself.
For Sally, that is what brings people back: "The blend of great racing, dear friends, lovely venues and fun socials."
She acknowledges that it sounds like a straightforward formula, but points out that the combination is actually quite hard to find. And it does not happen by accident...
The Work Behind the Magic
Sally took on the role of Class Association Secretary for two reasons. "The first was Heather." The second was the opportunity to fit a part-time job around her main work as a consultant helping food companies sell to supermarkets.
Dealing with sailors enjoying their hobby sounded like fun - and, she admits, it has largely lived up to expectations. "It certainly beats dealing with supermarket buyers (sorry to any buyers out there!)"
But behind the laughter lies a substantial amount of work.
Calendar planning, event organisation, keeping websites up to date, supporting class committees and ensuring sponsors are happy are all part of the job. There is a constant stream of practical details to manage, all of which help make an event feel effortless to the sailors attending it.
The challenge is perhaps best summed up by what Sally describes as the dreaded second day of the RS200 Nationals: "A hundred queries arrive at once. Weather disrupts the timings. Carefully planned social arrangements need to change. Sailors want answers, the schedule needs adjusting and somebody has to keep everything moving."
"What on earth have I got myself into?" might well be the question of the moment. By Day 3, however, things would always be back on track.
That is the nature of good event organisation. When it works, people rarely see the effort behind it. For Sally, the reward has always been the feeling that she has helped deliver a good event and that the sailors have enjoyed themselves. "The RS400 Nationals this year was a good example," she recalls with pride.
A Community Worth Looking After
Sally is clear about the importance of the Class Associations, their committees and the secretarial support that holds everything together, passing on compliments to her successors; Laurie Callaghan, Ann Nugent and Joanne Hill.
They are, she explains, the structure that enables the classes to flourish. "Behind every successful event is a host club, a team of volunteers, a committee and a great deal of planning."
She also has a message for the next generation of RS sailors: "Disregard the forecast and enter early, it really is wrong so often!"
It is advice delivered with characteristic humour, but there is a serious point behind it. Late entries make it difficult for host clubs to plan and to know whether an event will be viable. Volunteers give up their time to welcome sailors, prepare venues and organise racing, and they need to know that people are coming.
Sally's advice is to look at an event as a "good time away with good friends", not simply as a racing competition.
It is an appeal to protect the very culture she has helped build: one in which people commit to the experience, support their host clubs and recognise that a great regatta is a collective effort.
Sailing Into Retirement
Retirement from the Secretary's role does not mean leaving the RS family behind. It simply means enjoying it on different terms.
Sally is looking forward to more travelling and more time sailing her RS200 at Bristol Corinthian, without the constant demands of organising events. "I might even get an RS Aero too!"
She hopes to visit events to catch up with friends - this time "without having to worry about organising anything."
That may take a little getting used to. For so long, Sally has been one of the people helping everything happen. Now she has the chance to turn up, enjoy the atmosphere and let someone else worry about the timings, the schedule and whatever Day 2 might bring.
There will be plenty of familiar faces to welcome her.
Thank You
When asked who deserves the biggest thank-you for making her RS journey what it has been, Sally finds it difficult to choose. She pays tribute to Martin Wadhams and Nick Peters, the founders "for having the vision and courage to launch the boats"; to Pete Vincent, "for getting me into it and always supporting me throughout"; and to Heather Chipperfield, whose work with the Class Association before Sally joined, and whose friendship over the last 13 years, "has meant so much."
The boats brought everyone together. The racing gave them a reason to return. The friendships made them stay. And through the years, Sally has helped keep that cycle going.
On behalf of everyone at RS Sailing and across the RS Class Associations, thank you, Sally, for your dedication, your friendship, your hard work and your unmistakable contribution to the RS family.
We hope the next chapter brings plenty of good sailing, wonderful travels, Wednesday evening races with Abi, and many more nights with friends - with absolutely no responsibility for finding the furniture the following morning.
And, of course, we hope to see you in the dinghy park, at the bar and wherever the RS family gathers next.
Just remember to enter early. (And never trust the forecast).