RS700 and RS800 classes adopt a green drive for the 2019 National Championships

RS800 Nationals © Sportography

Keep plastic out of the sea - that is the ethos that the RS800 and RS700 sailors are adopting at their joint Nationals in Eastbourne. Here's how:

• Every competitor will receive a Rooster "Joey" bottle holder. RS800 sailor Emma McEwen designed the bottle holder after too many bottles were washed overboard from her boat. Having tried holding bottles onto the rack tubes with tape, bungee loops and bike bottle holders, none were secure enough or easy to use without ropes catching on them. The Joey is a streamlined neoprene tube attached to the rack or mast with velcro, which will securely hold a water bottle even in a big nose-dive, yet can be operated one-handed, especially useful for RS700 or Musto Skiff sailors. Rooster will make these available to the rest of the sailing world after the event.
• Sea Change Wine is sponsoring the event with prizes and pre-dinner drinks at the RS800 20th Anniversary Dinner. Sea Change is a range of ethically sourced, environmentally conscious wines that support ocean conservation by direct donations to key ocean and marine focused charities from every bottle sold. They use minimal packaging, for example forgoing the usual plastic capsule covers. Their motto is "The greatest threat to our oceans is the belief that someone else will save them".
• Prizewinners get an engraved commemorative metal water bottle to use in place of plastic drinks bottles.
• Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club is setting up water fill stations, so nobody needs to buy single use water bottles.
• Even though the boats we sail are plastic, they are not disposable! The long competitive life of the epoxy hull, foils and mast of the RS800 is well proven, with a 9-year-old boat winning the last Nationals and a 17-year-old boat coming 3rd. To encourage people to race older boats, the RS800s have offered reduced entry fee for the Nationals and the very desirable "Spinlock 1999 Award" for boats with the original deck shape, which means boats more than 12 years old with sail number up to 1117, in the Reunion Regatta on the penultimate day of the championship.

Come and join in the RS700 and RS800 fun. Entry is still open. See you at registration! Use rs800.org/championships or rs700.org/championships

RS700 Nationals - photo © Sportography