RS100 Rooster GP at POSH 2019: Paignton Open for Single Handers

I think this report may need to use a few definitions. Let's start with Apology: 'Regretful acknowledgement of an offence'. Sorry this report is a couple of weeks late. Apologies to those who have been wondering what happened...

POSH: 'The quality of being elegant, stylish or upper class'. Well we all know this definition is appropriate to the RS100, although probably not the upper class bit, but 12 boats made the trip to Paignton over the weekend of 12/13 May. Those that made the trip were rewarded with some good, although at times testing, conditions.

Race 1: Gust: 'A sudden strong rush of wind'. We know that the opposite of this is a hole. The Chew boys of Andy Jones, David Smart and Ed Jones led up the first beat to round the windward mark well in front of the chasing pack. However the wind was dying close to the Torquay shore. Smart took the view that the wind would fill with a gust from the left down the run. The rest of the fleet disagreed...and were proved correct. Andy Jones went on to win by a country mile with Mark Harrison the main beneficiary coming home second with Ed Jones third.

Race 2: Mindset 'the established set of attitudes held by someone'. That someone is Huw Powell, who adopts the attitude of 'so long as it blows I'm happy'. Well the wind was around a force 2, not Huw's favourite end of the spectrum. However a good start and a keen sense of finding the pressure led to a rare light wind win. (Maybe his mindset will change in future?) He was followed by the consistent Andy Jones with Clive Eplett showing that he meant business in third.

Race 3: Windshift: 'a sudden change in wind direction'. The start line had seen starboard bias for the first to races. However Smart spotted a last minute shift with one minute to go and scarpered to the port end, to lead by about 100 metres at the windward mark. However his inability to spot gusts (established in race 1) meant that the lead was whittled down until first Mark Harrison and then Clive Eplett overhauled him by the finish.

At the end of day one Andy Jones and Clive Eplett we're split by a couple of points, with the rest of the fleet all suffering one or two duff results.

Sunday: 'The day of rest' (Yeah right!). The forecast was a constant force 2 to 3 Easterly veering Southerly. The only question was when the veer would happen.

Race 4: Battle: 'A combat between two persons '. Well Jones and Eplett were taking this battle very seriously, although for this race Smart was taking a keener interest while Huw Powell somehow decided the time was right to check his hull for weed when he hadn't cleated his main properly while attempting some spring cleaning, leading to a gentle windward capsize. Eplett and Jones led the fleet, only they had to contend with a large old gaffer deciding to use the windward mark as a good place to place a large wind shadow. Our leaders weren't happy with this in the heat of battle with some frantic tacking to find what little wind was left. In the end Jones took the bullet, with Eplett second and Smart third.

Race 5: Consistency: 'something stays the same'. The question is whether Eplett or Jones could achieve this quality. This is the race that saw the veer come onto play. The main contenders went left, but the right paid up the first beat which allowed Francis Bucknall to lead round the windward mark with Mostyn Evans in hot pursuit. Nothing seemed to be staying the same! However in the lighter breeze Eplett picked his way through the fleet to win again with Smart second with Harrison third.

Race 6: Mojo: 'a magic charm, talisman or spell' Could Jones find his mojo? He would need it to beat Eplett who now had a comfortable, although not bulletproof, lead. however the one using the magic was Eplett, who led the fleet home with Powell second and Smart third.

Eplett won the event convincingly in the end, with Jones second. For the POSH event, Smart was third, but after some dastardly mathematical adjustment, removing the D One's results from the RS100s, Harrison was miraculously third, with Powell just squeaking fourth from Smart fifth.

The hats sponsored by Rooster went to Andy Jones (cos Eplett already has one from the Sprints), Ed Jones as midfleetman with Franco Marenco earning the Endeavour Trophy of the final hat.

Thanks again to Paignton SC for arranging a great event in a breeze that never stopped shifting.

Overall Results: