Noble Marine RS Vareo National Championships 2026 at Paignton Sailing Club

Michelle Collier-Brooks wins the Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Paignton © Tom Wildy Photos

A new RS Vareo Noble Marine National Champion 2026 is crowned!

A warm sunny day welcomed the fleet of 11 RS Vareos to Paignton Sailing Club, for this year's Noble Marine National Championship, run alongside the annual POSH Regatta. The event was also round 2 of the 2026 Rooster National Tour.

Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wildy Photos

Day 1 (Friday 8 May)

With a light north-easterly, Race Officer Sean set a windward-leeward course, with the start/finish only a short reach from the harbour mouth. The start and initial beat were shared with the Aero 9 fleet but clever course design took them off to a separate sausage and finish behind the committee boat, leaving the Vareos clear water and our own finish above the committee boat.

An 'unfortunate' start to the regatta saw Michelle Collier-Brooks, Luke Fisher and Chris Abbott arrive at the 'windward mark' and tear off downwind while the rest of the fleet proceeded to the correct mark. Stuart Bailey rounded in first closely followed by local youngster Zak Mitchell and Nick Crickmore. Zak eventually overtook Stuart to take the first win of the day.

Race two saw a better attempt at sailing the course from Michelle and Luke, finishing in that order. Paul found a fast channel out to the right enabling him to take a superb 3rd place. Zak was unlucky to break a boom end fitting, which required a return to base.

Race three, in a dying breeze, saw Michelle make a great start with Zak (fully kitted out with a replacement boom) following and Stuart in third. Meanwhile, behind the front runners, Paul, Owen Bolding, Nick and Terry Brooks were in a tight tussle for fifth to eighth.

After the difficulties in race 1, Chris was having more problems struggling to find any real pace and wondering what was going wrong. Over a drink or two that night it emerged the likely culprit was a big lump of the weed that we had noticed during the day attaching itself to his daggerboard.

The overnight leaders were Stuart, followed by Paul. Michelle with two bullets was in third even with a 12 from the NSC in race one. It was clear that with a stronger wind forecast and discards to come, that the positions would go through some radical changes on Saturday.

Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wildy Photos

Day 2 (Saturday 9 May)

With a stronger north easterly forecast for Sunday, a well organised RO and his team hoped to get 4 races in whilst the breeze was good. This meant the Vareo and Aero 9 fleets getting an extra race in before the POSH fleet got started.

With a stiffer breeze still very much from the east, we were met with a pretty lumpy sea as we emerged from the harbour, which proved to be hard work for the pond sailors to get to grips with!

Following on from the two race wins on day one, Michelle judged the final gybe in race 4 to perfection to take the win from Luke, with the lightning-fast downwind sailing of Zak bringing him into third. Stuart and Chris were in their own battle for fourth, with honours going to a very consistent Stuart, while once again Owen, Nick, Terry and Paul were never far from each other in the B-fleet contest. Kacper Gunia and Vanessa Weedon-Jones made up the rest of fleet and, although fighting for last place, were never far behind a compact fleet.

Race five saw the same four boats fighting it out with Luke winning, Zak second and Michelle third. Still enjoying the stiffer breeze and an opportunity to hike, Owen was dominating the B-fleet racing. Vanessa managed a beautiful back somersault out of her boat just before the windward mark, requiring Paul to sail a short detour as she swam after the boat before it capsized and she then retired.

As we moved to race six the wind had decreased significantly which brought a big shake up in the placings, with Stuart sailing superbly to take first place followed by Luke and Chris.

With the wind still decreasing and the overall points situation becoming ever closer at the top, the final race of the day saw a great demonstration of light wind sailing from Stuart, Zak and Chris, with Luke and Michelle struggling behind. The final lap was pretty much a floater and the fleet were happy that the race team moved the windward mark a bit closer to the finish. Nick took 6th at the head of the B-fleet after somehow finding some wind deep behind the finish to make up several places.

This left the overnight standing with four boats all on equal points for the lead going into the last day and only 3 points separating fifth to eighth in the B-fleet. With a forecast of strong winds and rough seas ahead it was all to play for and there was much discussion of who had what discard over the fine curry served in the clubhouse that evening.

Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wildy Photos

Day 3 (Sunday 10 May)

The forecasted strong winds and sea state duly arrived, forcing the RO and safety teams to call for a 1-hour postponement, although it was already pretty clear that an abandonment of racing for the day was the sensible call. So, with countback deciding all of the top four places, congratulations to Michelle Collier-Brooks as 2026 RS Vareo National Champion.

Huge thanks to everyone at Paignton SC for a superbly run event, and a special mention for Race Officer Sean and his team for the impeccable course setting and timing, bravo!

Also, our thanks and gratitude to our headline sponsors Noble Marine, and also to the RS Sailing Store for providing vouchers for the top three, Fernhurst Books for a voucher for the First Master and Rooster for the Joey bottle holders. Thanks go to Tom Wildy for the photos.

Michelle Collier-Brooks wins the Noble Marine RS Vareo Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wildy Photos

Overall Results:

First Master - Luke Fisher
First Grand Master - Chris Abbott
Fidelis Prize - Nick Crickmore
Endeavour Trophy - Paul North
Apprentice Prize - Terry Brooks
Rooster spot prize - Kacper Gunia