RS700 Winter Championships at Oxford Sailing Club

This was inland sailing at its best/worst depending on your point of view. You can't avoid the massive wind shifts and the random gusts, so be happy there was lots of wind rather than none!

12 Boats made the trip to Oxford SC and for two boats the start of race 1 never quite came. James Ross tried an interesting spinnaker set up and was seen fleeing for the shore in order to save race 2. Oxford local Jamie Fergusun was a touch unlucky as he wound the power on for the start his clew tie down went for an early shower.

One of the major talking points after the race was a moving windward mark, enabling those that spotted it to tack early making considerable gains. Most sailors managed to practice their swim strokes at some point in this race., big gusts at seemingly random angles making life exciting if not necessarily comfortable.

At the finish Nigel Walbank made the most of the conditions with Jon Heissig closing fast for 2nd. Rob Jones crept through for 3rd after swimming on the first downwind leg and going for discretion over valour; leaving the kite in the chute whilst those in front went for a swim.

For the second race the relatively small size of Farmoor reservoir coupled with the strong F4/F5 winds justified the race committee setting 6 laps of the windward leeward course. The competitors viewed this with trepidation, knowing how many times that meant they were going to have to perform a direction change during the race!

Left side seemed to pay off the start as there was a lift to the port lay line into the mark. Downwind was a matter of being in the right place at the right time to stay in the best winds. Jon Heissig, James Ross, Mike Dencher and Chris Allen were some of the first boats around the windward mark and jostled for the lead throughout the race with much place changing. At the sixth and final rounding of the leeward mark, Jon rounded first and crossed the line. He was followed by Mike approaching on the starboard lay line just ahead of James on the port. Mike dropped his kite and then capsized gibing around the mark, letting James through into 2nd. Mike recovered just in time to take 3rd ahead of Steve Marshall, Chris having also capsized on the downwind leg.

The last race of the day followed a similar format to race 2 with the same group jostling for the lead. Lying second on the penultimate lap, Mike once again capsized at the leeward mark, this time with the kite up, after being overwhelmed by a massive gust on approach to the mark This let Jon through to chase James, who was leading the fleet. Mike recovered just ahead of Chris in 4th and these positions were held until the finish.

The fleet then headed off into the centre of town and had a very acceptable evening sampling some of the local ales and making the best of the Bangers and Mash on offer, before retiring for the night. Over night the winds did howl and the rain did fall leaving a number of sailors wondering if they should have tied there boats down more securely.

Sunday proved to be a change of pace with a light and shifty breeze along with miserable rain. James Ross stuck with his pin end start and gambled the left side of the course with the best of the rest taking the middle or right. Ross just scraped round in the lead but was soon rolled by Mike Dencher on the run. The fleet split and the rapid Heissig took breeze on the left to get to the leeward mark early. Jon kept the lead with Mike Dencher in second and some capsizes let Ross through to 3rd. Unfortunately the stalwart Niigel Walbank was injured out with a bruised rib.

The breeze had picked up for race 5 and with it the eagerness of the fleet. The OCS gun fired as Ross pushed Mike Dencher over the line. Most of the Pin end boats including Heissig incorrectly thought they were OCS and ducked back. Ross rounded the windward mark first again (with Tony Dencher on his heels) but suffered kite issues at the leeward mark and let the chasing pack through. Steve Marshall was seen leading the race but like Ross got caught out with kite drops on the tight course. The patchy wind allowed the ever persistent Heissig to get back in and take first again.

Race 6 saw a mix of boats in the action with rapid performances from Weston's Rob Jones and Ian Nolan in the mix up the beat. This regatta though was all about catching the gusts down wind. Gear failure from Jones let the usual suspects of Heissig and Dencher through whilst James Ross defended his third position counting the points.

Overall Jon Heissig was just too cool in the shifty breeze to make many mistakes and took the regatta. James Ross back on form just squeezed 2nd on count back from Mike Dencher in 3rd. Chris Wright kept 4th after his slick starts on day1 to take the Silver fleet prize from Gary Austin, followed by a whole stream of boats on similar points.

This Regatta shows what great 700 racing can be had on a tight inland course. Our thanks as usual go to Gul for their support and to Oxford SC who put on an exemplary event with faultless race management.

Overall Results: