Noble Marine RS100 Nationals 2012 – Day 3

After the previous evening’s entertainment of crazy golf and a lovely meal at the Boathouse on Paignton seafront Monday morning began with an early start time in order to catch up with the lost races on Sunday.

Unfortunately the forecast was not too positive, but despite this the RS100 fleet managed to squeeze in two action packed races before the wind dropped below the minimum wind strength of 4kts.

In the first race, the fleet got away off an even line. The fleet split up the first beat and those who went right came in with more pressure. Neal Freeman led the way up the first beat followed by Nick Peters and Simon Childs. After a couple of laps in tricky shifting conditions Freeman extended his lead with Peters holding off S Childs, until the end of the race.

The second race began in the same conditions but with another large split up the first beat. This time the guys on the left came smoking in. Steven Lee showed his pace to lead around the windward mark. The next two laps were pretty crazy… We had some big shifts, holes and it was a really trick race to judge. Huw Powell stormed up the second beat to grab the lead from the ever consistent Freeman Chris O’Neill had a blinding race and snatched third place.

The fleet returned to shore as the wind dropped to barely anything and that was the end of racing for Monday.

More excitingly though the RS100 go-karting championships were to take place that evening. 16 sailors of all shapes and sizes made the trip and had a great tournament. Chris Cunningham had clearly been practising on the course as he blasted through in the final to take the win, followed by Huw Powell and Paul Childs, who prove that fat is fast. After a scary drive back to the club, where some members of the team thought they were still on the track!

Day 4

Tuesdays forecast was for a tough day on the water. 15 knots, building to 20 in the afternoon. Three races were forecast in order to make up for some of the missing races. The only downside was the pouring rain!

The fleet were out early and began the first race off a port biased line. Simon Childs thundered his way up the beat, taking a slim lead over Paul Childs with Freeman third battling Hywel Roberts. P Childs sent it into the lead downwind, then shortly after S Childs went for a quick swim. Huw Powell surged through to take third and keep the pressure on Childs for the 10.2 title.  At this point it looked like Freeman had taken hold of the 8.4 title…again.

A familiar scene happened again in the second race. S Childs led at the windward mark, ahead of a tight group of boats, including Alex Morrison, Giles Chipperfield and P Childs. After a full on downwind leg, with the waves and wind increasing. S Childs again went for a swim, allowing P Childs through for the win, followed by Chipperfield in third.

With the overall first place still to play for on the last race the breeze increased. P Childs needed to win the race to have any chance of reclaiming the title from the ever so consistent Freeman.

At the windward mark P Childs was in Pole position, followed by Vaughan and Freeman charging. A super fast and scary run commenced, with many boats favouring dropping the spinnaker and tacking to avoid the risky gybe. P Childs held the lead, followed by Freeman and Vaughan.

The fleet headed to shore in truly awesome conditions. Rolling 6ft waves, plenty of breeze and smiles galore, not even the rain could dampen the mood of the sailors.

Once on shore the sailors packed up and the prizes were presented. In the 8.4 fleet Neal Freeman won the title that he has held for the past two years, with Hywel Roberts taking second and Giles Chipperfield topping a great event with third.

In the battle of the big boys in the 10.2 class Paul Childs took first place and first overall on count back from Freeman. Huw Powell took second, followed by Nick Peters in Third.

Paignton SC hosted a great event, with some top quality racing had throughout the series in challenging condition.  The beach, shore and race team all out on a great show and the RS fleet were very thankful for all of their efforts!

Noble Marine RS100 UK Nationals 2012 – Day 2

After an excellent morning ‘legends seminar’ on downwind sailing by Huw Powell. The fleet blasted off the beach, kites pulling and grins everywhere to the start line for day 2 of the RS100 nationals.

The fleet were eager to get off the line and pushed it hard. To much disbelief there was only one person over and the rest of the fleet stormed up the first beat pushing their bodies to the maximum in the 18 knots of breeze. Simon ‘I don’t do the first day’ Childs smashed the first beat, powering along to take first place over Paul Childs with Huw Powell closely taking third from local hero Chris Cunningham.

S Childs, worried about the blast to the leeward mark was smoked by P Childs in the battle of the pink kites down the first run. Cunningham powered into the pack of port boats at the leeward gate on starboard, causing carnage and a few swims.

Two more epic laps ensued with thrills, spills and a lot of swimming resulting due to the increasing wind. On the final lap 33knots was recorded on the committee boat, which may explain the most spectacular pitchpole by Alex Morrison. Throwing away a potential 2^nd place that he had in the bag until the last run.

Neal Freeman came storming through the fleet after a poor start to take second place with S Childs 3^rd. P Childs held his nerve to take the win.

After the fleet finished the wind really picked up and the PRO sent the boats ashore, to much relief of many competitors. The top of the fleet is not particularly close with Freeman on 6 points, Powell and Childs joint on 8 and Hywel Roberts lurking on 12.

Tonight brings the highly anticipated RS100 crazy golf championships, where Al Hall and Chris O’Neill are quietly confident that they are quietly confident. O’Neill has been quoted as saying ‘The pars will come!!’