Lakes Mortgages RS2000 National Championship 2026 at Brightlingsea Sailing Club - Silver Fleet
by Tim & Linda Hulley 26 Aug 01:57 PDT
16-21 August 2026
Lakes Mortgages RS2000 Nationals at Brightlingsea © Nina Ricks
The Silver Fleet enjoyed a week of friendly racing, with plenty of calls of "well done", and even a few of "after you" at turning marks!
Clear winners were Adrian and Sally Miles, new to racing RS2000s away from their home waters at Stone Sailing Club. They quietly and calmly seemed to spend an awful lot of the week in the right place at the right time, and showed some serious pace too — including an excellent eighth and sixth on the last day. Welcome, and well done Adrian and Sally!
Tim and Linda Hulley probably arrived with one of the less immaculately prepared boats in the fleet, somewhat dispirited by the drop-off in 2k racing at their home club. On the lay day Tim set off to "have a quick look at the boat". Six hours later, after some initial amusement at its rather well-used appearance, the skilled services of West Country Boat Repairs and Spanner (Paul Cullen) had produced a re-rigged, re-gennakered boat, renamed 'The String Machine', which helped them achieve second in silver.
They made it to the front of the queue to launch after the refit, after which their results inevitably deteriorated as they discovered they could now go even faster in the wrong direction. They were, however, extremely impressed by how neat and tidy the boat had suddenly become, not least thanks to the new continuous "optional add-on" kicker and cunningham system. Any thoughts of hanging up their buoyancy aids had evaporated by the end of the week, and they left already plotting many more happy returns to the fleet.
One particularly memorable moment came after Tim and Linda had re-crossed the start line in response to an X flag (of course they weren't over!) and were sailing hard to catch up with the fleet — the first boat they passed was conducting a rather more relaxed interpretation of national championship racing, complete with its crew, Iona, the youngest competitor, enjoying a foredeck nap!
Ed and Sophia Dodwell meanwhile became early recruits to the unofficial Silver Fleet Crews' Union, whose principal skill is remaining cheerful through the steady stream of helpful 'tactical suggestions' emanating from the back of the boat. Sophia demonstrated exemplary membership credentials with plenty of smiley waves, and once the breeze arrived and the teamwork clicked, they excelled, finishing the windiest race with a superb seventh and smiles all round after their third overall (with help from Ruben too).
One lovely aspect of the Silver Fleet is the meeting up of friends who have raced each other for decades. Helen (class treasurer) and Andrew, and Ian (former class chairman) and Sarah, had some great races, with bests of 12th and 14th respectively. As we remarked during the week, it is also a nice measure of how the class has grown: while we, and some of the other long-standing members, remain in pretty similar relative positions, there are now many more competitive boats in between us at times!
Well done to everyone in the Silver Fleet for making it such a fun and friendly week.
Finally, a thank you to all our sponsors, West Country Boat repairs, Noble Marine, Orange Ocelot, RS Sailing and Lakes Mortgages.
Silver Fleet Top Results:
1st - Adrian and Sally Miles
2nd - Tim and Linda Hulley
3rd - Ed and Sophia/Ruben Dodwell
4th - Helen and Andrew Phillips
5th - Iain and Sarah Yardley
Next up
Fancy joining the 2000s at the next event for some fast family fun?
5th - 6th September 2026 Lakes Mortgages Latitude Series at Sunderland Yacht Club
19th - 20th September 2026 West Country Boat Repairs Millennium Series at Exe Sailing Club