Volvo Noble Marine RS500 Nationals

Day One

The Volvo RS500 national championships kicked off yesterday at Lymington Town Sailing Club.

Proceedings kicked off on Thursday with fine solent sailing day on Thursday for a coaching session with world champ Pete Barton, and a visit for many to a brilliant local pub for supper and a catch up.

On Friday all the RS500 sailing teams came together to a great welcome from the home club, who are preparing for the descent of 150 RS boats over the weekend, the sailors fought out 3 races in changeable wind conditions which ranged from westerly 10kts to northerly 4kts, with rapid changes between the two weather systems. The sailing was tricky and mistakes easy, but the way was shown by Ed  Whitehead and Karen Olden, who scored two firsts and a second sailing a boat borrowed from previous champ Mike Saul.

The fleet is boosted by teams from Sweden and France, which makes for a great friendly international feel, and thanks must go to RS Sailing for providing the charter boats for these teams.

The evening yesterday saw the sailors congregate for a fish a chip supper in the beautiful Chipperfield residence - thanks Heather - with all you can drink booze laid on!

6 more races over two days will decide the championship, and with different wind speeds forecast we look to see  who will be in contention. And who will survive the party at LTSC tonight!

Day 2

Day 2 of the RS500 nationals at Lymington brought similar weather conditions to day 1 – light, changeable winds swinging between westerly and northerly, and making it difficult for the boats to navigate the strong Solent tidal current. Races 4 and 5 were held in these conditions, with consistency difficult to achieve. The top two teams on the leaderboard – Edd and Karen, and Tim and Tom, achieved a race win each. It should be noted that there were frequent lead changes through these two races, with at least 5 teams leading at some point! Most consistent though was local team Richard and Hannah who scored a second and third. Racing was postponed after the end of race 5, by which time only two points separated the top two teams going into the final days racing.

Day 3

The final day brought a step change in the wind and hence the racing, with a building 15 to 20knot south-westerly breeze, and a strong wind-against-tide current, this was Solent sailing at its best! To quote our current World Champion, Heather – “If you didn’t enjoy today’s sailing, you’re probably doing the wrong sport!”.

Four races were squeezed in, to complete the championship series. The racing was about having great speed around the course, but also to stay upright! Race 6 saw some really close downwind gybing battles and was all set to be won by Peter Curtis and Fiona Fardon, when a capsize on the final mark rounding saw them demoted to fifth, and the race was won by locals Richard and Hannah. Sadly Peter and Fiona’s bad luck continued when a snapped trapeze line caused them to retire ashore after race 7. Hopefully the boat breakage is all out of the way ready for the Worlds now! Race 7 saw a win for Tim and Tom, when a close battle between them and Richard/Hannah ended in a big capsize for the latter on the windward mark bear-away. Tables were turned in race 8 when it was Tim/Tom who capsized just before the finish, to lose a second place. Meanwhile Edd and Karen had found more form in the building breeze and took a comfortable win after gybing inshore out of the tide. The final race, with a tired, depleted fleet saw a three way drag race to the top mark. Richard/Hannah’s race was cut short by another swim when they had to make a duck behind Edd/Karen. The latter lead for the next lap, until a spinnaker problem on the final downwind leg allowed Tim/Tom through to take the final race win.

In the end only one point separated the top two teams, but Edd and Karen had done enough, with good results across each day’s racing, to become the 2016 RS500 National Champions. Well done!

Massive thanks to Lymington Town Sailing Club who put on a fantastic event both afloat and ashore. We look forward to returning with greater numbers next year!

Tim Wilkins

FINAL RESULTS BELOW