UK RS Southern Championships - Hayling Island Sailing Club 21/22 June 2014

Champagne Sailing all the way!

The 250 sailors who took part in the RS Southern Championships at Hayling Island this weekend could not have asked for better conditions for an RS regatta event.  The expected wall-to-wall sunshine created a rigging scene in the dinghy park more akin to Garda in August, and the sea breeze came in on cue for the competitors briefing.  [Mental note - trust instinct and the local experts - not the wind forecast sites!].

The 7 classes - RS100, RS200, RS300, RS400, RS500, RS700 and RS800 - were taken out of the harbour and sailed 3 races in open sea conditions, providing quite a spectacle for the hordes of sunbathers on the beach.

After a Championship dinner the sailors enjoyed a party befitting the 20^th anniversary year of the RS family - fabulous music from the Senators playing all the favourite covers to suit all ages from those who have been in the fleet for the full 20 years, to those that weren’t even born when RS was founded!  Some enjoyed the balmy Midsummer’s Eve watching the sun go down from the balconies of HISC, while others made it their mission to try each and every one of the many rums on offer!

As another glorious day dawned on Sunday there were rumours of no wind and postponements, but once again the wind came in as if pre-ordered, and the race teams headed by Greg Lamb and Mike Dawe again ran 3 excellent races.

Many thanks to the teams at Hayling Island Sailing Club for a superb event - we will come back soon!

Here are the overall results.  Full fleet results for this fleet below and for the orhter fleets on their RS Class website as well as the HISC Websites. Photos, thank to Richard Janulewicz soon to be added to www.Fotoboat.com

RS100 - Southern Championship
1st 183 Neal Freeman TBA 1 1 -2 2 1 2 9 7 pts
2nd 1428 Hugh Powell TBA 6 4 1 -8 3 1 23 15 pts
3rd 379 Mark Harrison Gurnard SC 2 2 5 6 2 -11 28 17 pts
4th 428 Greg Booth Port Dinorwic 8 3 3 -11 4 3 32 21 pts
5th 359 Giles Peckham Gurnard SC 5 -10 7 4 8 4 38 28 pts
6th 377 Andrew Wilson Datchet Water SC 7 6 -10 3 5 9 40 30 pts

RS200 - Southern Championship
1st 1382 Thomas Morris / Emma Porteous HISC 1 4 3 2 3 -5 18 13 pts
2nd 1481 James Rusden / Will Rusden RLYC 6 2 -17 1 4 3 33 16 pts
3rd 1350 Ben Palmer / Lucy Preston HISC -11 1 5 3 2 7 29 18 pts
4th 1562 Edd Whitehead / Alice Kingsnorth Parkstone YC 2 5 1 4 7 -10 29 19 pts
5th 854 Andy Shaw / Pippa Horne 3 3 9 6 -13 2 36 23 pts
6th 1237 Dicken Maclean / Hannah Young HISC 5 14 2 (51.0 BFD) 1 12 85 34 pts

RS300 - Southern Championship
1st 411 Steve Bolland Bristol Corinthian YC (1.0) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 5.0 pts
2nd 480 David Acres Emsworth 2.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 4.0 (14.0 DNC) 27.0 13.0 pts
3rd 328 Tim Keen Sheffield Viking SC 3.0 2.0 (4.0) 4.0 3.0 2.0 18.0 14.0 pts
4th 432 Mark Riddington 6.0 7.0 5.0 (8.0) 2.0 3.0 31.0 23.0 pts
5th 481 Martin Harrison RVYC 4.0 5.0 3.0 6.0 (8.0) 6.0 32.0 24.0 pts
6th 524 Matt Sargent TISC 5.0 4.0 (14.0 RAF) 5.0 6.0 4.0 38.0 24.0 pts

RS400 - Southern Championship
1st 1384 Paul Oakey / Mark Oakey Portchester 1 2 2 3 -5 2 15 10 pts
2nd 1414 Jon Gorringe / Nicki Bass Parkstone YC 2 1 1 5 3 -9 21 12 pts
3rd 1215 Joshua Metcalfe / Patrick Metcalfe Leigh on Lowton 3 3 4 2 -7 1 20 13 pts
4th 1407 Jon Heissig / Nicky Griffin Llangorse SC 7 -9 3 4 1 4 28 19 pts
5th 1400 Steve Middleton / Chris Rowland Burghfield 4 5 -6 6 4 5 30 24 pts
6th 1432 Keith Bedborough / Martin S McCrew Dalgety Bay SC (27.0 DNF) 4 5 11 2 7 56 29 pts

RS500 - Southern Championship

Although only a couple of RS 500s ended up on the water this weekend, the fantastic wind and weather conditions made for a very enjoyable event. Congratulations to Jane Olive and Chris Tuckett, who deservedly won every race in convincing fashion, and were extremely helpful and friendly to us as relative newcomers as well. Not only did they help us properly tune our boat on the Sunday morning, making it much more competitive, but they generously offered to switch crews on the water​ for the final race that day, providing a great opportunity to learn the nuances of the 500. Although, thanks to an interfering 100 on the final downwind leg, I ended up the only 500 sailor not to win a race that weekend it was a great experience and good fun for all involved.

Max

1st 727 Jane Olive / Chris Tuckett 1 1 1 1 1 (4.0 DNS) 9 5 pts

2nd 1037 Max Gurassa / Conrad Bannister DWSC 2 2 2 2 2 (4.0 DNS) 14 10 pts
3rd 659 Peter Curtis / Harry Phelps (4.0 DNC) 4.0 DNC 4.0 DNC 4.0 DNC 4.0 DNC 4.0 DNC 24 20 pts

RS700 - Southern Championship
1st 839 Neil Ashby Shoreham SC 1 -2 1 1 1 1 7 5 pts
2nd 1022 Ian Swann HISC 2 1 3 -6 3 3 18 12 pts
3rd 910 Alex Reid Grafham SC 4 3 2 -5 5 5 24 19 pts
4th 984 Adam Golding HISC 7 4 (16.0 DNC) 2 6 2 37 21 pts
5th 905 Spod Olive TBA 6 5 6 4 4 -10 35 25 pts
6th 720 Richard Wadsworth Bristol Corinthian YC 3 (16.0 DNF) 16.0 DNC 3 2 4 44 28 pts

RS800 - Southern Championship
1st 1212 Andy Jeffries / Allyson Jeffries ESSC 3 2 2 2 -5 2 16 11 pts
2nd 1195 James Date / Toby Wincer Port Dinorwic SC 2 4 5 3 -6 1 21 15 pts
3rd 1189 Hugh Shone / Hannah Tattersall Castlecoves SC 1 3 3 4 4 -11 26 15 pts
4th 1187 David Hivey / Bart Bridgen HISC 6 5 1 1 3 -8 24 16 pts
5th 1178 Phil Walker / John Mather Wimbledon Park 7 1 6 -10 2 3 29 19 pts
6th 1204 Roger Phillips / Will Crocker Emberton Park SC 5 -7 4 5 1 4 26 19 pts