RS200 National Championships at Weymouth

by Debbie Darling on 23 Aug 2011 The TridentUK RS200 National Championships are taking place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy with an enormous 160 boat fleet. The fleet were treated to a sunny day and some rather light airs racing.

With the forecast predicting only four knots of breeze, the fleet were sent to the other side of the world (otherwise known as the far side of Weymouth bay) and following a long sail were rewarded with two races in an increasing breeze, with both helms and crews hiking by the end.

Race one saw a rather eager pathfinder start a minute early and then on the restart a rather eager fleet cause a pile up, but at the third attempt everyone got away on the gate start. The wind speed and direction was fluctuating across the race course giving it the appearance of a game of snakes and ladders, but Robbie Burns and Vicki Simpson proved to be the superior sailing family by edging out Ian and Chris Martin for the win, with past nationals winners Lee Sydenham and Jane Gilbert in third.

Race two started with a better breeze than the first, allowing the boat to be fully powered up for the first time in the day. Those starting late out of the gate and going right came out smelling of roses and it was the UK’s second best Cherub sailors Andy and Jill Peters who led for the first lap. However, Broadstairs’ finest Tim Ellis/Lucy Preston stormed past and pulled away for the win. The Peters had to settle for third in the end as Stu Bithel/Kate McGregor nicked in at the final mark to steal third.

With such a huge fleet in such light winds, there are plenty of protests to be heard. Forecast for tomorrow is more breeze and gallons of rain, which should be fun………

Sailed: 2, Discards: 0, To count: 2, Entries: 161, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Tally No	Division	Boat	SailNo	Helm	Crew	Club	R1 22/08/11 1200	R2 22/08/11 1200	R3 18/3/01 1200	Total	Nett
1st	133	Gold	RS200	1424	James Peters	Alan Roberts	Hayling Island Sailing Club	11.0	8.0		19.0	19.0
2nd	148	Gold	RS200	940	Dicken Maclean	Hannah Young	Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club	12.0	9.0		21.0	21.0
3rd	97	Gold	RS200	1254	Robbie Burns	Vicki Simpson	Largs Sailing Club	1.0	21.0		22.0	22.0
4th	1	Gold	RS200	1382	Thomas Morris	Emma Porteous	Hayling Island Sailing Club	13.0	14.0		27.0	27.0
5th	146	Silver	RS200	941	Mike Chapman	Lynne Ratcliffe	Bough Beech Sailing Club	22.0	6.0		28.0	28.0
6th	88	Gold	RS200	822	Edd Whitehead	Katy Nichol	Parkstone Yacht Club	25.0	4.0		29.0	29.0
7th	67	Gold	RS200	1258	Stuart Bithell	Kate MacGregor	Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club	28.0	2.0		30.0	30.0
8th	130	Gold	RS200	1421	Frances Peters	Eilidh McIntyre	Hayling Island Sailing Club	9.0	23.0		32.0	32.0
9th	76	Gold	RS200	1328	Ben Saxton	Sophie Ainsworth	Grafham Water Sailing Club	8.0	26.0		34.0	34.0
10th	37	Gold	RS200	988	Ian Martin	Chris Martin	Burghfield Sailing Club	2.0	33.0		35.0	35.0

RS Association website