RS800 Volvo Noble Marine National Championships – Day 1

by Luke and Emma McEwen on 22 Sep 2017 Stokes Bay Sailing Club have put on their characteristic warm welcome to the RS800 and RS700 fleets for their Volvo Noble Marine National Championships. The galley is fully stocked up with tasty goodies and the social programme is packed with fun and frivolity.

The sixty two RS800 sailors who've turned up for the first day were greeted with a decent breeze and a slightly gnarly wave state, the SSW onshore wind kicking up a challenging standing wave pattern around the start line and leeward marks. Launching was a bit tricky for the non-locals but everyone helped each other get safely away from the shingle beach.

Race One
Phil Walker and John Mather managed to get away cleanly from the starboard biased start line hotly pursued by local rock stars Chris Rashley and Billy Vennis-Ozanne who are making a guest appearance in the class for this National Championships. Approaching what they believed to be the windward mark, Phil and John were leading but it turned out to be the spreader mark being towed away by a rib having dragged in the strong spring ebb. Chris and Billy took advantage, taking the lead which they held to the finish. Third round were Ella and James Morland but they were out-hoisted and rolled by Pete Barton and Chris Feibusch.

At the end of the second lap the shorten course flag was up on the committee boat. Boats that rounded the left hand leeward could then see that it was only the RS700s that were shortened so having passed through the finish line carried on upwind. Phil and John chose the right hand leeward, saw the others apparently finishing and gybed back for the finish, dropping behind Ella and James.

After the third and final lap, during which the spreader mark again unfortunately ended up to windward of the windward mark causing similar confusion for the competitors, Chris and Billy had a substantial lead followed by Pete and Chris, and Ella and James.

The sea state dealt a blow to several of the top contenders including Ralph and Sophie Singleton who lost their rudder at the windward mark, Andy and Allyson Jeffries who broke their boom and Joe Joyner and Will Broom who snapped their bowsprit.

Race Two
By the second race the chop had abated a little. After a general recall the fleet started cleanly off a port biased line. Once again Chris and Billy led into the windward mark from the right hand side, chased by more local rock stars Josh Belben and Alain Sign, but overstood the mark letting Pete and Chris tack below them to steal the lead.

The top four boats were very close at the leeward mark. Luke and Emma McEwen tacked off in fourth place to come in to the windward mark from the right hand side second to Chris and Billy. Down the final run of the two lap race, Pete broke his tiller extension so couldn't wire. Josh and Alain took advantage to finish third behind Chris and Billy, and Luke and Emma.

So now everyone's back ashore and had a welcome mug of tea, it's time for beers and curry and an inspirational talk from Open 60 sailor Mike GoldingOBE who would probably laugh in the face of today's Solent chop after his experiences in the Southern Ocean.

Rank	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Race 1	Race 2	Nt Pts
1	1207	Chris Rashley	Billy Ozanne	Stokes Bay SC	1	1	2
2	1219	Peter Barton	Chris Feibusch	Lymington Town SC	2	4	6
3	1220	Luke McEwen	Emma McEwen	Royal Lymington YC	6	2	8
4	955	Josh Belben	Alain Sign	Stokes Bay SC	5	3	8
5	1216	Ella Morland	James Morland	Warsash SC	3	7	10
6	1178	Phil Walker	John Mather	Draycote Water SC	4	6	10
7	1204	Martin Orton	Ian Brooks	Chichester YC	7	13	20
8	1203	Tim Gratton	Fiona Hampshire	TBC	10	10	20
9	1110	Richard Clampett	Grace Clark	Stokes Bay SC	13	8	21
10	1198	Alex Benfield	Nick Ireland	Stokes Bay SC	11	11	22
11	1	Chris Catt	Chris Martin	Oxford SC	14	9	23
12	1189	James Date	James Green	Homeless	15	12	27
13	1221	John Booth	Debbi Booth	Stokes Bay SC	8	24	32
14	1062	Cameron Moss	Darrol Moss	Lyme Regis SC	12	21	33
15	1131	Becky Diamond	Sophie Porteous	Hayling Island SC	16	17	33
16	1043	Christ Dodd	Bryony Meakins	Rutland SC	17	18	35
17	1188	Daniel Goodman	Debbie Clark	Datchet Water SC	22	15	37
18	7	Derek Buchanan	Elaine Buchanan	Oxford SC	21	16	37
19	872	Ash Holmes	James Gadsby	Gurnard SC	19	19	38
20	1225	Steve Cockerill	Sarah Cockerill	Stokes Bay SC	24	16/RDG_4	40
21	1228	Andy Jeffries	Allyson Jeffries	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	36/DNF	5	41
22	1113	Alastair Shires	Penny Shires	Stokes Bay SC	23	20	43
23	1195	Paul Jenkins	Colin Hatton	Weir Wood SC	9	36/DSQ	45
24	985	Nick Van Tienen	Larry Lawrence	Stokes Bay SC	25	23	48
25	1166	Ralph Singleton	Sophie Singleton	Datchet Water SC	36/DNC	14	50
26	1196	Andy Smith	Chris Saunders	Stokes Bay SC	18	36/DNC	54
27	1194	Joe Joyner	Will Broom	Lyme Regis SC	20	36/DNC	56
28	1066	Marleen de Jager	Jody de Jager	TBC	36/DNC	22	58
29=	1211	Philip Gladman	Tash Gladman	Itchenor SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	1121	Julia Judd	Timothy Knapp	Downs SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	900	Dan Kilsby	Bart Bridgen	Stokes Bay SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	855	Graham Williamson	Jeremy Williamson	Hayling Island SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	1201	Andrew Blundell	Maddie Fenner	Warsash SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	1186	Hugh Shone	Hannah Tattersall	Castle Cove SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72
29=	1118	Chris Symons	Benjamin	Gurnard SC	36/DNC	36/DNC	72