RS600 Rooster National Tour at Oxford Sailing Club

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Oxford © OSC

Five RS600s turned up to what appeared to be the start of Spring with a bright and sunny Oxford with a lovely 15-25 knots of wind from the east. The offshore breeze was deceptive as it looked windy but not as windy as it was once we got on the water with white horses already forming and a couple of capsizes as a few got the rust off from a break over winter. However the lack of practice over the winter didn't seem to slow anyone down.

Heading into Race 1, everyone hit the line flying with lots of speed. Will Russell won the committee boat end of the line giving him options on when to tack. Everyone went all the way to the left-hand side and tacking near the lay line. Will was the first to tack and rounded ahead at the first mark.

However, as we headed downwind, Will began to round the bottom mark and started doing the sausage as that's what he thought the course was, but James Cowen and Ian Marshall started heading to mark 4 on the bottom reach which led to some confusion. After tacking to head left upwind, Will decided to tack back and bear away to join them but then confirmed with the committee boat that he was right all along so quickly chased Jamie Watson, who did know what was going on, back to mark 2 to complete his very odd shaped sausage.

Jamie held the lead for a while, but a dodgy gybe allowed Will to squeeze past and claim the win, with Jamie coming 2nd.

Onto Race 2, the fleet was warmed up and now confident on what the course was. Another tight start with all 5 boats hitting the line at the go and staying close together on the first beat. Will managed to just squeeze ahead of Dan Robins to round the windward mark in the lead. As they headed downwind, Dan and Will were neck and neck, with Will on starboard as they were approaching the gybe mark.

However, while trying to pull some kicker on for the upwind of the sausage leg, Will managed to perform the world's quickest capsize allowing Dan to round ahead and get a head start on the beat. Back in the boat, Will began chasing down Dan. Later in the race, the gap was slowly closing but Dan wasn't giving up without a fight until a slow tack allowed Will, who had a bit more height from the mark rounding, to tack just in front of Dan and squeeze ahead as they both rounded the next mark.

Dan continued to put the pressure on until an issue with his mainsheet ratchet forced him to retire his position early. Will finished in the lead with James Cowen keeping ahead of Jamie Watson.

Going into Race 3, Dan was fixing his boat and Ian decided to conserve himself for Day 2 after 2 fairly intense races leaving Will, Jamie and James to race. At this point, the breeze was definitely getting stronger, with some of the gusts doing their best to try and ruin your race. Will and James hit the line again and stormed up to mark one, but sadly one of those mega gusts put Jamie on the back foot. Will rounded in first with James behind and Jamie catching up quickly.

This time, Will learnt how to pull his kicker on without falling over so was able to maintain the lead and win the race. Once the fleet got ashore and put up their tents, they headed into Oxford city centre to find some food and beer.

Onto Day 2 and the conditions were looking a lot more inviting with it being around 10 knots gradually building up to 15 with the odd 20 knot gust towards the end of the day. With this in mind, Race 1 started quite light with the fleet marginally trapezing up the first beat trying to navigate holes in the breeze.

Half the boats decided to tack off and try to find some clean air but got stuck in a big hole which let Will and Dan who stayed left get ahead. Once Dan tacked onto the lay line, he got himself into the world's biggest lift that took him directly to mark 1 first, with Will close behind, wishing he had left his tack a little later.

Dan held off Will for 3 laps to take the win, with Will in 2nd and Jamie in 3rd.

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Oxford - photo © OSC

Getting into Race 5, the wind had developed into a comfortable 10-15 knots but still a bit shifty on the upwind leg. Dan and Will led again around the first lap similar to the previous race, but on lap 2 they both tacked off to the left while the other 3 behind carried on right up the side of the reservoir. Ian Marshall showed us how it was done by tacking on a beautiful lift and making the lay line no problem, getting past Dan and Will into the lead. This also brought Jamie and James into the mix as they passed just ahead too.

Going into the final lap, Will decided to try the right-hand side to get himself back into the mix while others had opted to go left. At first it was looking fantastic, with Will on target to round the windward mark in 2nd behind Ian, but it wasn't all glamour with a huge shift that no matter how hard Will bore away and stepped in, the boat fell on top of him and forced him to swim round the back.

In this quick dip, Dan and Jamie got back past with Will and James rounding close behind. Ian won the race, with Jamie in 2nd and Dan close behind in 3rd.

Going into the final race, the wind was even punchier now, with gusts into the low 20s channelling down each side of the beat. Will went round the mark in the lead, with Dan rounding on the outside, and the other 3 just boat lengths behind. Dan sailed over the top of Will into the lead along the reach but only a boat length ahead.

Onto the second lap, Will opted to go for height and take the right-hand side after passing through the gate, while Dan tacked left like the previous lap. After seeing Will storming along the right and probably making the lay line, Dan opted to tack back halfway up the beat after realising he left the door open, but Will was too far ahead now to do anything about it.

Now comfortably in the lead, Will continued to build a gap by focusing on the right-hand side of the beat. Dan, now aware of the potential gains to be found, followed to the right, but decided to go a little further before tacking after looking at Will, who clearly wasn't going to make the lay line.

However, Will had noticed it usually lifted just before the mark, well at least that was his hope to squeeze him round in one go. This allowed him to extend his lead as the others overstood what seemed like an impossible rounding.

Coming round to finish lap 3, Will begged the race officer to finish the race while he was ahead but apparently where's the fun in that so was sent around again. Going into Lap 4, Dan got caught off guard in a tack, having the quickest capsize we've ever seen, but spent long enough on the board to let Jamie slide into 2nd.

Will was able to hold it together for a nice tidy lap 4 meaning he won the race and won the event - his first RS600 Open win!

Thanks to Oxford Sailing Club for hosting a fantastic open, we look forward to returning in the future! Next up on the Rooster National Tour is the Inland Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club on 17/18th May. This will be one not to miss with championship sized courses, easy launching, camping on site with cheap rooms at the activity centre next door and a meal at the club on Saturday night. We look forward to seeing you there!

Quick Links:

• RS600 YouTube Channel, featuring the 13 part 'RS600 The Basics series'
• RS600 Calendar, with event entry links

Overall Results:

RS600 Rooster National Tour at Oxford - photo © OSC