RS Feva Winter Championship at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy

RS Feva Winter Championship at Weymouth © Steve Fisher

The final fling for this season saw a strong fleet of 55 boats making the trip to Weymouth for the Winter Championships and were treated to great racing in solid wind conditions.

Raulf Berry paired with another helm Ralph Nevile for the first time and they really showed the fleet how it should be done with 4 bullets in a row to claim the title.

Saturday saw a good breeze from the East with 16 gusting 20 knots, with the addition of light rain it made for a very wet day.

Race 1 got under way with new kids on the Feva block Joey Taylor & Terry Hacker from the Oppie Class leading with Martin Jones crewed by his daughter in second and Quinn Edmonds and Finn Oliver third. Unfortunately for these three teams, their first, second and third was not to be as all had been caught out with the black flag and the race was won by brothers Blake & Brett Tudor, Raulf & Ralph second and the Frensham Pond pairing of Tom Alheid and Tom Stratton Brown third.

Race 2 and Blake & Brett Tudors boat speed pulled them from third on lap 1 to first over the line. Joey Taylor & Terry Hacker sailed another excellent race to claim second and Quinn and Finn from Chew Valley third.

Race 3 saw and the weather started to really deteriorate, the race officer and his team did a great job of turning the next race around and started the fleet in approaching 20 knots of wind. Raulf and Ralph hit the right-hand corner and lucked in with a great starboard tack lift to give them a huge lead at mark 1 which they held to the finish with ease. Blake and Brett capped off a great day with a third and the very consistent Alice Davis and Abbey Hire second.

Overnight Blake & Brett lead from Raulf & Ralph, third was Alice & Abbey and Freddie Fisher and Gregan Bergman-Smith fourth.

Day 2 the breeze was up but the sky was blue and after a short postponement, the fleet headed out in a steady 20 knots gusting 25. The quality of the fleet showed through as most of the fleet relished the conditions. After a recalled start the fleet got under way and a big left-hander gave those who went that way a healthy lead, Sam Baker & Arran Holman plus Tom Alheid & Tom Stratton Brown were among them and they finished second and third respectively. However, neither could hang on to the pace of Raulf & Ralph who came through to win.

Race 5 was again a Raulf & Ralph show as they lead from start to finish followed by Joey & Terry and Alice & Abbey who were looking a shoe-in for the girl's title.

Race 6 was a very tight race with places changing constantly, the improving pairing of Henry Hallam & Ashley Hill from St Mawes SC made the trip worthwhile to post a second their best result by some way of the weekend but despite a great deal of effort down the last leg they couldn't get the better of Raulf & Ralph who won again. Third was Oliver & Matthew Rayner from Yorkshire Dales who sailed a fantastic last leg to go from seventh to third.

A great closing event for the RS Feva Class, lots of new faces and very exciting times ahead. Well done everyone for making it a great championship and of course sailing in true RS Feva Spirit.

Overall Results: