Day two through to day four of the RS Games have been filled with sunshine, big-breeze conditions, fantastic racing and great socials.
The 2022 RS21 National Championship concluded today with an epic day out in Weymouth Bay for the RS21 crews. Huge congratulations to our 2022 RS21 British National Champions Hugh Watson, Helen Watson, Susanna Bickford & Emma McEwen.
The RS Feva Class battled through three races and completed their qualification series in style with gnarly, kite-up, full-blast finishes through the line. The final series starts tomorrow, with the 185 boat strong fleet being split into gold, silver and bronze fleet. It’s all looking tight at the top of each flight.
The RS100 National Championship, the RS300 National Championship and the RS600 National Championship all got underway yesterday and the sailors showed the dinghy park real RS heritage – these racing machines are not for the faint-hearted. In true RS style, they smashed it around the race course, then raised a glass and shared a tale or two on shore.
The inaugural RS Aero Youth World Championship opened with their Official Opening Ceremony in the RS Sailors Hub. Anticipation is growing to watch these` Youth sailors battle it out on the water this week with varying conditions on the forecast, it has got the makings of a fantastic regatta.
Check out the results for each class here – https://www.rssailing.com/rs-games-results/
Check out the daily videos so far:
- Day Two Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXD9QDnWlks&t=4s
- Day Three Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gDQelNyag
- Day Four Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RQu13XwZ30&t=3s
Special thanks to our event partners; Rooster, Selden, Harken, Lifejacket, RS Sailing Store, Marksetbot, WPNSA, Digital Sailing, Kingfisher Yacht Ropes, Fernhurst Books, Noble Marine, Allen, Hyde Sails, Spinlock and 18 Words.
Keep up with all the action at the RS Games 2022 by following @rssailing. Check out the event report by each class below.
RS21 National Championship
By Jack Fenwick
The 2022 UK Nationals concluded on Sunday 24th July with two more races in Weymouth Bay.
As luck would have it, day four saw the breeze crank up a notch again and the sailors debated rig settings on the dock before departing for a long training run to the start.
Race nine saw everyone pushing for every advantage and all the teams were within half a boat length of the line at the gun, unfortunately for Paul Fisk and his team of Caroline Fisk, Richard Tucker and Pippa Jubb, who needed two good results to take third place, the crossed the line less than a second early and the OCS score dropped them out of the running for the chocolates. Around the course the racing was as close as ever with different boats leading at each mark and tough decisions to make on which way to go as the breeze dropped of Portland on to the track. By the end of the race, it was Hugh Watson with his team of Helen Watson, Susanna Bickford and Emma McEwan who had clawed their way to the front and with it, secured the National Championship title.
The final race of the championship was now to decide who would be taking home Bronze and Silver medals. Tim Peters and his team of Phoebe Peters, Olive Peters and Ben Bradley had been strong in the earlier, lighter races but as the Breeze had built through the event, it was the heavy airs speed of Dave Lynall, Alex Mathieson, Thomas Jubb and Ian Jubb that proved too much to overcome. A win for Lynall in the final race secured them second overall.
With the race committee sensibly finishing the final race at the windward mark, the teams had a quick sail home past the hordes of RS Feva teams who were finishing their final qualification races, before heading to the RS Sailors Hub for prizegiving with prizes from Rooster Sailing and of course, prosecco drenching everything from the fellow competitors to the magenta carpet.
After accepting the trophy as National Champion, Hugh Watson thanked all of the volunteers who made the event happen and said “We’ve had such a great time in a great boat, it’s been close, competitive racing but really fair, I don’t think we’ve had any protests.
And obviously, to my amazing team, it’s been a privilege to watch how they have learned a new boat and helped me around the race course, thank you my amazing ladies!”
Helen Watson, said “It’s and amazing boat to sail. One of my big takeaways was that there were sailors from 14 to 60+ competing equally and cery competitive. Lots of women across the fleet and people of all sizes. A fantastic class to be in. Hopefully, we’ll be back again next year for more close racing”
RS Feva World Championship – Day Two
By Lucy Jameson
Day 2 of the RS Feva World Championships proved to be a totally stonking day on the water with a crisp 18 knot breeze to start us off. For race 2 the cloud cleared and the breeze built to deliver champagne conditions. With the crescendo being a 24 knot blast over the finish line giving those still upright a exhilarating finish. You can see all the action on the new RS Feva Facebook page and full results.
RS300 National Championship – Day One
By Paul Watson
Day one of the RS300 nationals was greeted by a fairly lively 18kts of wind making for a challenging sail downwind to the starting area. A few boats took this opportunity to check how clean the underside of the hull was, an excellent tactical decision as it’s generally faster than doing it during the race.
The first race got underway under a U flag with a line shy fleet. Fleet stalwarts Dave Acres and Steve Bolland hit the left while Paul Watson, Harry McVicar and Rich Le Mare went right. It turns out none of this would matter as fleet newbie Charlie South sailed pretty much up the middle at roughly twice the speed as the rest of us. Charlie hung on until the finish closely followed by Dave, Steve and Paul.
Race two again saw a pretty safe start from the fleet. This time most boats elected to go left. By the windward mark it was again Charlie leading, closely followed by Paul with Dave and Steve close behind. At the end of the lap they were nose to tail going into the 2nd beat. Charlie and Paul then put the afterburners on to give themselves a little breathing room. Charlie held on to the finish for a perfect score line with Paul 2nd, Dave 3rd and Harry 4th. Steve was last seen checking the underside of his hull having not done a thorough enough job pre-start.
At the daily prize giving generously sponsored by Allen Charlie received his gold bib and day one winner prize of t-shirt while Dave was awarded 2nd place blue bib, and Paul 3rd place red bib. Chris Hatton ended a solid day’s sailing with mid-fleet hero prize of sailing gloves. Ben Heppenstall won the endeavour prize of sailing gloves while Tom Moore was awarded a wooden spoon for missing a mark… Every day sailors will be able to win Allen sponsored prizes. Prizes can only be won once so the joy will be spread throughout the fleet.
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