Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals supported by Hyde Sails at Eastbourne Sovereign SC - Day 1

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals at Eastbourne day 1 © ESSC

2019 is the 20th anniversary of the RS800 and we are celebrating in style at the Nationals! This year's Volvo Noble Marine RS800 20th Anniversary National Championship supported by Hyde Sails is taking place at one of our favourite racing venues - Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club.

Plenty of boats were arriving yesterday for a sneaky last minute practice (but only the McEwens braved the breeze on welcome) and for registration and weigh in to set the racks and corrector weights up for the four day's racing ahead. With lots of last minute-dot-com entries we have a fantastic 44 boats.

The first day of the event is brought to you by Rooster Sailing who have been fantastic at supporting our UK National Tour for the last couple of years. This year we are excited that they are not only giving prizes for the first two days' racing but have also provided every competitor with one of their brand new Joey Bottle Holders. Designed by one of the RS800 sailors, Rooster have turned the product into a reality in time for this event and we can be happy in the knowledge all our water bottles will stay securely in the boat while we're out on the sea, regardless of just how epic the pitch-pole might be...

So onto the racing... those with heads still in Garda mode were in for a major shock. The simple one minded reach into the cliffs was quickly made a distant memory by the whacky Northerly making its way across Eastbourne Bay. It was REALLY SHIFTY and there were major changes in pressure across the course. It might look like Eastbourne but today the bay caused more migraines than a Datchet day. It really was a good test for helm/crew relations with most teams seeming to come through still capable of talking to each other by the end.

Volvo Noble Marine RS800 Nationals at Eastbourne day 1 - photo © ESSC

Consistency was tricky to come by in the testing conditions but Chris Catt and Chris Martin did the best job picking up a very impressive 1,2,8. In discussing the day after Chris Martin highlighted that they never seemed to go the fastest but they had a good knack of sailing the shortest distance. On joint points and seeing out the rest of the podium Rob Gullan and Callum Healy, and Rory Hunter and Steph Orton are sitting happy.

Other highlights of the day included watching a RS700 stripping the committee boat of its flag system with their mast (which had only just recovered from our almost pitch pole over the anchor line), learning that Chris Feibusch once ate one of Paul Brotherton's teeth in a baguette (mental),and Hannah saw a really big dead fish. Pretty exciting.

Thank you to RS Sailing for providing some much appreciated beers when we came ashore - a great incentive to hand back your tally promptly!

Tonight's social will encourage a bit of mingling as sailors meet with their buddy team mates at the bar. Hopefully a few top tips can be shared between the crew pairs to help improve their team mates' performance on the water tomorrow.

If beer and curry wasn't enough of an incentive to make a beeline for the sailing club bar, they'll also be the chance to win one of many raffle prizes kindly donated by our long term sponsors Noble Marine.

Results after Day 1: