Volvo Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Weston Sailing Club

by Cheryl Wood on 18 Sep 2017 Congratulations to our new champion Luke Fisher! We were invited to share venue with the RS 100s this year and between the two fleets managed a total of 50 boats to achieve that real championship atmosphere.

It was so good to have our Nationals back on the sea to get the opportunity to compete in wind and tide over our favourite windward / leeward course scenario. Weston is on the Solent, which is slightly less exposed than an open sea location but avoids the worst of the fickle conditions that can detract from fair racing inland.

Along with the So total that Weston should deduct from their charges is £197.44 on-site camping, value bar and wonderful catering - Perfect for the RS Vareo fleet.

Despite a dreadful forecast, several first-time competitors joined the fleet and enjoyed fantastic racing. There were a whole range of wind strengths across the series and plenty of choppy waters. The race team set separate courses for each fleet with shared start and finish lines, the Vareos using the outer loop. With nine races scheduled over three days and a forecast of near storm conditions on Sunday the schedule was changed to 4,4,1 which was proved to be a great decision when the storm arrived on schedule.

With fair start lines, opinions were split on the beat providing opportunities to make up places or catch up. There were multiple changes of place in each race giving many sailors a chance to lead at least once. There was also some swimming activity not only from the new starters, but also the experienced were caught out occasionally.

The RS100s set off first making for some inter fleet crossing as they returned from the first mark and the Vareos followed up, but no serious incidents and all in good humour. After the Vareos crossed to the outer loop the fleets were mostly separated from each other for the bulk of each race. With adjustment of the two course lengths the race team managed to keep the finishes together and the schedule on track despite the relatively narrow four hour window of opportunity to be offshore afforded by the tide.

With all this activity the racing was so close that none of the results were decided until the closing stages with most races having finishes with the top three sailors parted by no more than a few seconds. There were individual race wins for Nick Crickmore (off wind flyer), Alan Bassett (heavy wind guru) and Cheryl Wood (Extreme conditions expert) but the bulk of the wins were taken by Luke Fisher demonstrating that consistency across all conditions was required to win over the 9 race series.

Ashore, the fleet welcomed all the newcomers with plenty of help and advice shared to help individuals with boat set up and sailing tips.

As this was also the last event to qualify for the Grand Prix series we were able to wrap up the prize giving for both competitions at once.

First overall and also Grand Prix Winner – Luke Fisher, Emberton Park
Second overall, first Master and Grand Prix Third – Nick Crickmore, WOBYC
Third overall and first Grandmaster – Alan Bassett, Weirwood
Fourth overall, First lady and Grand Prix second – Cheryl Wood, Pennine
Best newcomer Darren Prior, Langstone
Persistance prize – Mike Dicker, Dell Quay

Rank	Fleet	Rig	Sail No	Club	Helm	Age	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Total	Nett
1st	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	407	Emberton Park SC	Luke Fisher	Master	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	(3.0)	13.0	8.0
2nd	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	165	Waveney & Oulton Broad YC	Nicholas Crickmore	Master	1.0	2.0	4.0	(5.0)	3.0	4.0	2.0	(5.0)	2.0	28.0	18.0
3rd	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	247	Weirwood SC	Alan Bassett	Grandmaster	(5.0)	4.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	4.0	3.0	(9.0 DNC)	32.0	18.0
4th	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	660	Pennine SC	Cheryl Wood		3.0	(5.0)	(5.0)	3.0	4.0	5.0	3.0	2.0	1.0	31.0	21.0
5th	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	147	Langstone SC	Darren Prior	Master	4.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	3.0	5.0	(6.0)	(9.0 DNC)	42.0	27.0
6th	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	436	Dell Quay SC	Mike Dicker	Master	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	(9.0 DNF)	6.0	6.0	4.0	(9.0 DNC)	58.0	40.0
7th	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	416	Warsash SC	Chris Hughes	Grandmaster	(9.0 DNC)	(9.0 DNC)	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	81.0	63.0
7th	RS Vareo	RS VAREO	547	South Cerney SC	Kevin Weatherhead		(9.0 DNC)	(9.0 DNC)	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	9.0 DNC	81.0	63.0