Noble Marine RS600 National Championship 2026 at Brixham Yacht Club - Overall

After a rather windy start to the event (have a read of the earlier reports), we had a completely different tone on the final day with the conditions being light and shifty.

At this point, we had only 6 races completed so only one discard was in play. The race officer had discussed the possibility of doing up to 3 so a lot could still change at the top of the results with the second discard coming in, but that's assuming the wind cooperated.

Before we look at Day 4, let's have a recap of the previous 3 days:

• Day 1 was quite windy but champagne sailing for the fleet, other than the odd squall knocking people over.
• Day 2 was further out of the bay with larger waves.
• Day 3 was forecast to be mental and ended up being mental. We only managed one race before it got too much.

It was a shock to the system for some sailors with an hour earlier start time, with launching at 9am after our lie-ins on the previous days, but they were needed after those big days on the water. Despite it looking unlikely we'd launch, the race officer confirmed there was wind out on the course, so we all got into gear and headed out to the race course. Conditions were light, but we were wiring up wind on the rack, but it was gusty and shifty so it was definitely important to keep your head out of the boat.

Noble Marine RS600 National Championship 2026 final day - photo © Alice Crick

Once the race officer got the course set and the wind direction settled, we jumped into sequence. After the fleet being line shy with the big conditions on previous days, everyone was keen to get started, with the individual recall flag going up straight away, followed by abandoning the start as everyone was just a bit too eager and couldn't contain their excitement. Back into sequence with everyone behaving themselves this time, we got going. The left-hand side was the winning move as well as keeping in the pressure. We saw Will Russell round comfortably in the lead, with Will Colles rounding in 2nd place in his newly refurbished orange boat, with Rich Bone rounding in 3rd. A lot of the fleet was trying to get themselves out of holes before getting onto the run. On the run, it paid to head left and get back towards the same pressure we had on the beat. Rich Bone managed to close up on Will Colles and begin the hunt for 1st place. Going into the second lap, Will Russell was still comfortably ahead but covered Rich Bone to ensure he didn't get left out in a hole while Rich stayed in the pressure. On the final run, the wind had shifted round where going right was the move, but that didn't allow Will to relax yet with Rich being right in his view every time he checked what the wind was doing. To Will's relief, there were only 2 laps so he had to just get it through the finish line without doing anything stupid, winning the final race of the event... a trend he's done 3 times now! Rich Bone took 2nd place to secure his place on the podium and Will Colles got 3rd, his best race result so far.

RS600 1st George Smith - Noble Marine RS600 National Championship 2026 final day - photo © Tom Wild

We stayed out on the water trying to get that 8th race in, which would have introduced the 2nd discard too. However, the wind direction kept swinging 35 degrees until it eventually died, so the fleet was called ashore and the championship was sealed.

RS600 Prize Winners - Noble Marine RS600 National Championship 2026 final day - photo © Tom Wild

Congratulations to George Smith on his 5th RS600 National Championship, showing us his impressive skill in windy conditions and making a good recovery in the final race to 4th to seal the title.

Prize Winners:

Thank you to our generous sponsors RS Sailing (for the beers), RS Sailing Store and Rooster (for the prizes), as well as Brixham Yacht Club for hosting another fantastic event for us. And of course our title sponsor Noble Marine, for making the event happen!

Overall Results:

• Full results
• Photos from Tom Wild
• Photos from Alice Crick