Volvo Noble Marine RS100 National Championships at Porthpean Sailing Club - Day 1

Volvo Noble Marine RS100 National Championships 2019 © Ken Fobbester

With a pasty-eaters forecast of Force 4 to 5 for the day the PRO rightly decided to add a race to the day's programme since the next three days are expected to be lighter. The pond sailors were less convinced this was a good idea.

Race 1

A significantly starboard biased line led to a general recall. That led to the use of the U flag (a sort of black flag lite) which meant a better behaved fleet for the second start, although two boats still pushed a little too hard and bagged an OCS. There was a sort of shifty bend up the beat, which paid to go right - most of the time. Brett Aarons and Huw Powell were revelling in the breeze with Powell pinching the win from Aarons between the leeward gate and finish followed by Robert Richardson. Bloody kids.

Race 2

The wind stayed up which started to take its toll on the fleet with a number of capsizes. The bar chat later blamed catching the next choppy wave after you thought you'd got the job done. The most obvious trip-up was on the first run, after Powell had built a massive 200m lead, only to fall over on the gybe. However his lead was so commanding that he was still in first place at the leeward mark, although the chasing pack could at least now read his number. Powell took the bullet again with Richardson (the younger) second and Andy Jones third, licking his wounds from a first race OCS.

Volvo Noble Marine RS100 National Championships 2019 - photo © Ken Fobbester

Race 3

The wind may have been the same, but bodies were now aching. Upwind tactics for some (no names, no pack-drill) moved away from tacking on shifts to tacking to relieve tired muscles. The exception was John Richardson (the senior one) who hit the left corner and, against the run of play, led at the first mark. There was a bigger bunch up front applying pressure to Powell, with Aarons taking the final gun, followed by Powell with Harrison finally keeping his mast skyward taking third.

Powell was delighted to be leading overnight as this means he gets to wear the leader's red extra small bib. Aarons is a close second overall with Richardson a distant third. David (not so flaky so far) Smart is in a surprise fourth and leading Master helped by being one of only three who went the whole day without swimming.

The weather for the next few days is much lighter, which might switch things about. Nevertheless, orders tomorrow for the legendary Porthpean pasty boat are universal.

Results after day 1: