Congratulations to Charlie South, RS300 National Champion 2026!
Photos thanks to Tom Wild and Alice Crick
Tom Wild's gallery here
Alice Crick's Gallery here
Noble Marine RS300 National Championship
17th – 20th September 20206
Brixham Sailing Club
The results tell a story, but most definitely not the full story! Yes, with the forecast there were two front runners and then the pack. Yes, the results made it look like Charlie South and Pete Mackin were in a class of their own, and to be honest, that was true. But, neither had it their own way all the time!
Day 1 Harken Thursday: Races 1 and 2 were held in breezy lumpy conditions. It was perfectly raceable, topping out in the high teens with occasional Danger Gusts requiring safety kicker to be applied. The lesson the fleet (and by fleet we mean mainly Tom Moore) didn’t learn was that the Pin End belonged to the Big Boys. Starting slightly up line gave a great viewpoint of Power Sailing in the RS300, pull the strings tight, hike hard and drop the bow – Engage Afterburners! Watching Pete and Charlie boat-on-boat blast off became a familiar sight with little between the two. Charlie held a slight edge, tacking 1st and often ducking Pete and crossing Luke South. Luke gave Charlie and Pete a workout on the downwind, briefly taking the lead one race for ½ a leg with Charlie slipping as low as 4th, the lap 3 of doom hit for Luke on both races on the “not a run / not a reach”; his Achilles heel, which led to swimming practise, letting Pete and Charlie disappear. The rest of the fleet had a mixed bag, with Neal grabbing a 4th in race 2 after snapping his extension race 1, Tom doing enough to take 3rd after both races and Chairman William Powell in the Purple Beast showing signs of rapid all-round performance. Worryingly for Pete, it was looking like the pecking order was established with Charlie taking two bullets to Pete’s to 2nds, and winning the Harken prize voucher and red and black ‘only won, never sold’ beanie.
Day 2: Races 3, 4 & 5, the wind had slightly moderated for the start of the day along with a more predictable wave pattern making the days sailing slightly less taxing with the three races scheduled, and a fourth threatened. However, by the end of race 2 the breeze was back up and thankfully no 4th race was held. The pecking order of day one was resumed with Charlie, Pete and Luke (with no swimming today) in the top three finding the fast low modes upwind. Though the positions changed around, Charlie was always a little faster and more controlled with Luke and Pete occasionally swapping positions – Pete’s immaculate boat handling always giving him the edge. Highlights included Pete retrieving from the water Luke’s hat on the tight reach Race 4 whilst in FULL SEND mode – Great catch Pete!, Ed Wilkinson snapping a boom pre-race 3 and returning for race 5, Ben Cutler-Sharp for demonstrating Extreme Speed coupled with Extreme Death Rolls and the RS300 fleet picking their way through upturned and diss-masted 600’s splattered across the racetrack “it was like a scene from Dunkirk” and it was generally agreed that, between Race 1 and 6, at any one point at least 2 RS600’s where upside down!
Day 3: Race 6, It was Abersoch Ballistic. The depleted RS100’s didn’t get a race in, the 600’s continued down the path of self-destruction, the RS300’s…. lapped it up! (see Rob’s photo of the year, if not a generation! [Blue and orange RS300 taking off] Credit: Tom Wild). Race 6 was Charlie’s – He started and wasn’t seen again, though apparently, he went for a swim. Sparky had audacity in a reefed rig to try (& failed) to Port tack the start, Pete and Luke nervously headed down the run level yet with separation, Gust 1 hit and they span out, a casual look back down the track and the rest of the fleet where just recovering from their spin outs… BANG Gust 2 was a take down! Last thing seen was a blur of spray and hulls zooming passed, massive shout out to Ed for staying upright and nailing the beats. Lesson for Pete: Longer arms to reach the retrieval line.
Day 4: Race 7, What a difference a day makes. Blue Sky, calm waters, and a different anxiety in the boat park. Would we get 1 race in? Or would the wind hold to get 3 in to shake the table up! With an earlier start the fleet drifted out in around 3-6knts with big holes and shifts. The wind settled a little and a committee boat bias start led to a squeeze, 7 seconds to go and a clatter at the committee boat was heard as Charlie slipped and executed the perfect trigger-pull too early propelling him out passed the fleet and the line – There was no way back from that! Mid-line, a class stalwart pulled clear and sailed a perfect race, Steve Sallis wasn’t challenged, picking the shifts and finding the puffs – Well deserved and impressive race win in tricky conditions! The pack swapped and changed with the shifts, Oli Scrimshaw picking ‘em right most of the time and Richard Hanby finally visiting the sharp end of the fleet. Luke, Neal and Chairman Powell all in the hunt for 3rd overall exchanged places, with Luke taking the 4th to secure 3rd overall. After ½ hr of “will we, won’t we?”, thankfully (for some) we were sent in just as the wind evaporated….
Brixham managed a brilliant event given the weather, and were excellent hosts, both on and off the water, with thanks given during the prize-giving to the host club and generous sponsors RS Sailing and Rooster.
Our little boats delivered again in challenging conditions with the least number of breakages and Rob definitely gets Photo of the Week. Most importantly, the Club Prize returns home to Emsworth with family South, after a brief stop in Wales! Next stop Dabchicks!
Luke South
Congratulations to George Smith, RS100 National Champion 2026!
Photos thanks to Tom Wild and Alice Crick
Tom Wild's gallery here
Alice Crick's Gallery here
Day 1 on Y&Y here
Day 2 on Y&Y here
Day 3 on Y&Y here
Day 4 on Y&Y here
Day 1 Harken Thursday, by Jamie Mawson
It was clear from early in the morning that the first day of the 2026 RS600 Nationals would be a good one, with sunshine, 15-20 knots and relatively flat water.
Returning to the popular venue of Brixham, a healthy fleet of 18 boats rigged up in the shelter of the harbour before heading out.
Race one saw defending champion George Smith take an early lead at the windward mark, followed by Jamie Mawson and Will Russell. Jamie lost out to a big right-hand shift on the next beat, letting Will through along with Neil Cooney, both having picked the correct side.
A huge squall hit on the last run, resulting in capsizes for both George and Will. Neil, who had clearly been paying attention at yesterday's coaching session, took his first Nationals win, followed by Jamie and Richard Bone.
Although the squall passed, Race 2 still had some big bands of wind coming through, along with some noticeable shifts. George led again at mark one, followed again by Jamie and Will. Despite some place changing behind, by the finish it was George, Jamie and Will.
Jamie leads overnight, winning the Harken Thursday voucher and limited edition 'must be won, can't be bought' Harken beanie
After racing, the fleet gathered in the clubhouse for an evening of fish and chips, followed by a very welcome return of Brixham's famous pig racing, with prizes to be won by all, kindly donated by Harken and the other race sponsors.
Day 2, by George Smith
Day 2 dawned with the forecast of slightly less wind from a direction further to the south-west. Unfortunately for some, yesterday’s big day out in Torbay had taken its toll on boats and bodies and there was plenty of splicing and replacing of fittings to start the day. The fleet showed its usual camaraderie offering up spares, advice and even splicing services.
It became immediately apparent, on leaving the safety of the harbour, that we were in for another big day on the water. The fleet planed all the way down to the start area, today located in the south area of the bay. The race officer was good on his word of getting us away on time and the fleet aimed for the slightly favoured pin end for start one. The beats were highlighted by short steep chop but the breeze was more solid and somewhat less shifty. The fleet converged on the windward mark with George Smith leading and Jamie Mawson in hot pursuit followed by Richard Bone and Adam Watson who both did well on the port lay-line. The top reach was a full on, drop to the knot, spray filled affair followed by a run that most approached conservatively given the conditions. The fleet generally minimised manoeuvres as the race went on and the positions stayed fairly well set. George finished first, Jamie just holding off a charging Richard, keeping the top of the scoreboard tight. Adam Watson had his best race so far holding onto 4th and special mention to Will Coles who was back out after rigging issues yesterday in his newly painted ‘rescue’ orange boat.
The second race seemed to be even windier with the fleet again favouring the pin end. Lessons learned from race one meant the racing was even tighter to the windward mark, George again just ahead of Jamie and Richard. The reach was again a full on blast and the run was a question of how hard to push vs safety. Jamie pushed hard out to the right hand side of the run coming in with pressure on a hot angle chasing hard into the leeward mark. Unfortunately somewhere into the race gear failure put pay to his day, allowing Richard through to second. The final reach into the finish made for some spectacular racing with 5 boats pushing for the line. Unfortunately Adam pushed too hard and ended up wiping out in dramatic fashion. James Cowen took third flat out and Neil Cooney, putting together a very solid series was fourth, with Tim Cutsforth fifth.
The third and thankfully final race of the day saw a somewhat diminished fleet due to breakages to both boats and fatigue and attrition to sailors. Will Russel rejoined the fray thanks to an opportunistically borrowed mast and made up for lost time by pushing over the pin end of the line and having to spin round the end. The fleet pushed hard left, likely in part to minimise tacking in the difficult chop. George led around the top with Tim in close pursuit. Will having not benefited from the learnings of the day went hard out to the right and rounded in the pack but pushed hard on the run starting to make up places. There were evidently still gains to make as Will pushed through to second with Tim third and Richard 4th.
The fleet were glad to head back in with 3 races in the bag and welcomed back into the bay by the commodore again up to his neck on the slip way catching boats and the beach team greeting us with our trolleys as well as a welcome drink courtesy of RS sailing.
Tomorrow’s forecast is currently looking fresh to frightening so day three’s report may end up being short!
Day 3, by Will Russell, new Class Chair
Everyone had been looking at the big forecast for Saturday, wondering if we’d get any races in. The race team had seen a potential window in the morning, so the start time was moved an hour earlier.
The fleet launched into the quiet sheltered harbour not knowing what lay outside the harbour walls. It was insane! The wind switched on the minute we got out of the harbour. It was full on with many people questioning their decision to launch. The wind was averaging 20 knots with some big gusts and shifts coming through, due to being closer to the shore to try and manage the sea state.
Going into the race, which turned out to be the only race of the day, the fleet hit the line hard with a capsized boat to avoid. Rounding the first mark was George Smith in the lead, showing us his heavy weather pace again, followed closely by Tim Cutsforth and Richard Bone. The top reach was punchy, being close to the shore, with some nuclear gusts wiping out Rich and allowing Will Russell to squeeze into the top 3. Onto the run, Will was closing in on Tim. Tim decided to tack around rather than gybe, but this meant he now had to wait for Will to come past before he could bear away. Will took this opportunity to gybe and close the gap big time. On the final reach before lap 2, Will was “overlapped” with Tim as they approached mark 4, however Will’s understanding of overlap was not the same as Tim’s as he looked back with confusion, wondering if the overlap was in the room with us. Will realised his was perhaps optimised and went around the outside.
Both of them spent the rest of the race giving each other a hard time despite the conditions being insane. Will was faster on the reach, but Tim was faster on the beat, risking a few more tacks. On the final run, Will was right on Tim’s transom, so decided to let the controls off more to power up the rig, but this sadly ended in a quick swim. George could relax as he crossed the time, Tim trailing behind and Will to finish once he finished swimming. Jamie wasn’t far off in 4th after a few boat issues set him back on Day 2.
Across the course, there were plenty of boat casualties due to the mental/apocalyptic/insane (the sailors’ words on coming ashore) conditions, so the afternoon was spent with the fleet helping get boats sorted ready for the final day – the way sailors muck in to help each other, loaning parts, tools and time is a real standout feature of the RS600s.
Going into the final day, there is a complete change of pace. There’s a lot less wind, potentially not enough, but we’ll see, with the potential for up to 3 races planned, so it could all change still. With these dramatic changes in conditions, anything could happen!
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Prizewinners
| RS600 National Champion | George Smith | Bough Beech |
| 2nd overall | Richard Bone | Bough Beech |
| 3rd overall | Tim Cutsforth | Felpham |
| 4th overall | Will Russell | Grafham |
| 5th overall | Neil Cooney | Carsington |
| Silver 1st | Will Coles | Dale |
| 1st Master | Neil Cooney | Carsington |
| 1st Grandmaster | Tim Morgan | Paignton |
| 1st Probationer | Fresh Abendstern | Plymouth RS600 Swimming Club |
| Endeavour | Tim Morgan | Paignton |
Results for all 3 fleets are on the BYC Official Noticeboard here
Congratulations to Mike Green our Noble Marine RS100 National Champion 2026!
by Jake Bowhay
Twenty-two RS100s were welcomed by Brixham Yacht Club’s friendly volunteers to the English Riviera for what was to be a closely fought championship. The bookies had made their predictions, but with strong offshore winds forecast, there was plenty of potential for upsets.
Day one brought sunshine and 15–20 knots for the opening two races of the championship. In race one, it was Smart (5/1) who managed to capitalise on a large right shift to lead at the first mark, while many of the favourites struggled to make it back from the left-hand side of the course. Unfortunately, this lead was short-lived, with a large squall flattening Smart and most of those in the top five on the run. This left the door open for heavy-weather specialist Powell (3/1) to take the win from Green (16/1), who had managed a strong performance despite a slipping main halyard. Thankfully, for a battered and bruised fleet, the wind abated fractionally for the second race, and the fleet did a better job of staying upright. This time, it was Wakefield (7/4) who took the bullet, followed by Green and Bowhay (10/1).
After racing, the fleet gathered in the clubhouse for an evening of fish and chips. This was followed by the very welcome return of Brixham’s famous pig racing, where the fleet traded gambling on the 20-degree shifts out on the racecourse for Temu electric pigs. Prizes kindly donated by our sponsors Harken, Allen, West Country Boat Repairs, and Rooster added to the excitement.
Day two dawned with a forecast of slightly less wind from a direction further to the south-west and the potential for four races due to an unfavourable forecast for later in the week. On the racecourse, it was to be Green’s day, with two bullets and a second extending his day-one lead. Jones (6/1) also put in a strong performance after a slow day one. With bodies in tatters, the fleet was relieved that only three races were run and was especially lucky to have Commodore Richard Spreckley up to his chest, ready to catch and drag them up the slipway.
Day three, despite an ominous forecast and knackered legs, the fleet once more left the shelter of Brixham Harbour for the penultimate day of the championship. However, once on the water, the fleet was greeted by an increasingly fresh breeze and the spectacle of watching the RS300s and RS600s try to finish their race. With the wind speed reaching levels best measured in “number of broken RS600 rigs” (the number being three), racing was canned for the day, and the fleet headed for shore. Some took this as an opportunity for an exhilarating kite run in, with Johnson (40/1) experiencing a particularly spectacular wipeout, while others were simply happy to make it back intact With a free afternoon, some of the fleet headed for the Crazy Golf Masters, while others caught up on much-needed sleep. The fleet then gathered in the evening for an excellent Indian buffet put on by Brixham Yacht Club, who were keen to ensure wind for the final day of the championship despite a bleak forecast.
The final day brought a change of pace, with light winds forecast. Going into the final day, it was Green in yellow, Wakefield in blue, and Jones in red. Would Green be able to hold onto this lead, or would the change in conditions open the door for a new leader? Bullets in the first two races went to Wakefield and Smart, while Jones and Bowhay tussled for third place overall in the championship.
The final race of the championship brought a change to the pecking order, with Bucknall (40/1) leading at the first mark after a late left shift. With the wind dying, the second upwind resembled snakes and ladders, with Jones unfortunate enough to land on perhaps the largest snake of them all. At the finish, it was Wakefield, Bowhay, and then Sleep (25/1), despite having to replace his mainsail and sail a boat that had been holed in an incident earlier in the week. Unfortunately, Jones was left marooned at the windward mark as the wind died in the later stages of the race.
Despite a tense final day, it was Green who had secured the championship on 12 points, followed by Wakefield on 13 and Bowhay on 16 – a reflection of just how close the racing had been. Elsewhere, Jones (4th) won the Master’s Trophy, Trickett the Fidelis Trophy, and Bucknall the Endeavour Trophy. Other honourable mentions must go to Dave Smart for managing to win the Duckhams Award every day, a booby prize worn around his neck after each day of sailing..
Thanks must also go to the army of sailing club volunteers, as well as Sally Campbell, for whom it was her last Nationals as RS100 Class Representative – the fleet wishes her all the best for the future!
The 2027 RS100 National Championships will be hosted by South Caernarvonshire YC, Abersoch, on 8–12 September, and with championship-ready boats available on the second-hand market for under £2,500, who wouldn’t want to join in the fun? As Green put it in his championship speech, the 100 fleet was the friendliest fleet he had ever come across.
Photos thanks to Tom Wild and Alice Crick
Tom Wild's gallery here
Alice Crick's Gallery here
Prizewinners
| RS100 National Champion | Mike Green | Pevensey Bay |
| 2nd overall | Nigel Wakefield | Netley |
| 3rd overall | Jake Bowhay | Chew |
| 4th overall | Andrew Jones | Chew |
| 5th overall | David Smart | Chew |
| 1st Silver | Steve Main | Netley |
| 1st Master | Andrew jones | Chew |
| Fidelis | Andy Trickett | Netley |
| Endeavour | Francis Bucknall | Aldeburgh |