Congratulations to Nigel Wakefield our Noble Marine Allen RS100 National Champion 2023!

Thank you to Royal Torbay Yacht Club for hosting a fabulous event.  Thank you to generous Championship sponsors Noble Marine and Allen.  Thank you also to Rooster for sponsoring the RS100 Rooster National Tour

Final report to follow..

Day 1 on Y&Y here

Day 2 on Y&Y here

Photo Gallery from 50 North here

Final Day Report

Could Huw Powell retain his title, or would a new champ be crowned? That was the question on everybody’s lips and after three days of solid hiking breezes and a few wet gybes, Powell was in a good position. However, Nigel Wakefield was hot on his heels and only two points back, but with better discards.

Powell had been praying to the wind Gods, but they hadn’t heard. The wind was a more sedate 6 to 8 knots blowing over the land from the holiday hotspot of Paignton. The fleet started cleanly with a number tacking off towards the Paignton shore, where they thought they spotted more pressure, but it proved an illusion, with those playing the shifts gaining the most. There were some new faces at the front of the field. Leading up the beat by some margin, was the light wind wizard Ian Gregory, revelling in the conditions. He was followed by Barr and then Smart, with Wakefield then Powell a couple of places back. The downwind saw Eplett, and Bridgen slide through with Wakefield finding some pressure to join the leaders. On the second lap, Wakefield played the sifts perfectly to take the gun followed by Barr, Eplett then Gregory followed by Bridgen before Powell squeezed over in sixth.

That meant that for the final race Powell would have to win, with Wakefield fourth or worse for him to retain his title. While the fleet got away safely under a P flag, Powell found himself uncharacteristically trying to extricate himself from the third row. Eplett was now flying, sniffing out the pressure and shifts and leading from start to finish. He was closely followed by Wakefield, who had spotted Powell buried in the pack and sailed his own race to second and overall glory. Gregory was third with Smart fourth and Jolliffe fifth, with Powell almost pleased to come in ninth after that start!

Wakefield had sailed a superbly consistent series to be crowned the Noble Marine Allen 2023 RS100 National Champion. In second place and first Master was Huw Powell with James Ross having done enough in the windy races to secure third place. Nils Jolliffe had recovered from an unusually poor Day 1 to finish fourth, with Bart Bridgen taking fifth.

Completing 11 races in 4 days is no mean feat and so the fleet thanked the Royal Torbay Yacht Club for hosting a memorable championship with great sailing led superbly by the PRO Bob Penfold and his on-water team, with excellent support from the shore team and those in the warmth of the club.

A special thanks was given to the sponsors Noble Marine and Allen for their generous support of prizes.

The fleet move on to the Inlands at Chew Valley Lake SC on 11/12 November.

David Smart

Day 3

Preparations for Day 3 started with a hearty meal of home cooked food on Friday night for the Chew Team chez Smart, although after a short term illness struck 2 of the diners there was a suspicion that Smart was trying to take out the Chew boats ahead of him. 

Back in the bay, the wind returned to the South, averaging 15 knots. That meant that exiting the harbour provided the first challenge, but the wind settled down out on the course. Eplett launched, peeped out of the harbour and decided not today, thank you. 

The comment from the Irish contingent was that the water’s nice and warm!

Race 7 saw the fleet a bit too eager to get going with everyone vying for the committee boat end. The second start under U flag saw better behaviour with most of the fleet going left, although ‘I’m going the other way’ Smart went right and by the windward mark Powell led the fleet with Smart second, but such heights were not to last. There was lots of places to be gained downwind by spotting a good gust, and there were many out there. By the end, the normal suspects were at the front with Wakefield coming through for the win with Powell second and Jolliffe third showing that his earlier season form hadn’t completely deserted him. Steve Jones was fourth to at least remind the Netley Team that Team Chew had turned up. 

Race 8 saw the biggest gusts at 25 knots aka Force Huw! Steve Jones was so excited by his fourth he was OCS and had to do the turn of shame to restart. Powell was in his element, taking the bullet from Ross and Wakefield, with Smart fourth to continue showing a Team Chew presence. 

Race 9 saw Bridgen go early for the turn of shame, with the fleet generally tacking when their bodies said they needed a short rest! Ross came through for the bullet, with Wakefield second, Powell third with Jolliffe completing a Netley sweep. 

The last day will be interesting with Powell having a meagre 2 point lead over Wakefield, but with worse discards, with Ross in hot pursuit and able to win if the results go his way. 

David Smart

Day 2 

A very different day for day 2 of the Noble Marine Allen RS100 Nationals.

With the wind blowing more Westerly off the land at Torquay, we had flat water and big variances in wind strength.

Race 4 was the breeziest of the 3 and Huw put in yet another win, followed by James Ross and the ever consistent Nigel Wakefield 3rd.

By race 5 the breeze was shifting over 30 degrees and it took umpteen attempts to get the race away, once finally racing it was all about shift damage limitation on the edges of the course and sailing to the pockets of wind. James Ross found the best breeze down wind and took the win followed by Nigel and Nils Jolliffe finding his form again and took third.

By race 6 the breeze was easing and there were multiple place changes in each beat, James led but was taken by Matt Johnson who took a left flier and then Nigel dug his way from near mid fleet with a huge left hand gain on the last beat. A tight pack of Nigel, Matt and Nils fought out the run to finish in that order.

A very long day on the water but good racing was had.

James Ross

 Day 1

Luckily storm Agnes had passed through by the time the RS100 fleet set sail for day 1 of the Noble Marine Allen RS100 National Championships, the penultimate fixture on the Rooster National Tour this morning, but the wind was still blowing hard enough to make it exciting on the water.

The first race saw the fleet get away cleanly and Huw Powell lead at the windward mark, followed by David Smart, Andy Jones and Jeremy Troughton, who gybed early to clear his air, was headed in good pressure and then lifted, gybed back and was surprised (as the heaviest sailor in the fleet and not used to overtaking anyone downhill) to be in the lead at the bottom mark. Huw showed his dominance again upwind on the second beat overtaking Jeremy to lead into the second downwind leg, who again played his lucky card downwind leading at the bottom gate, with a nice tight rounding into the third beat – only to notice a shortened course flag flying on the committee boat, so bearing away and sailing down to the finish line to give Huw the win - not a great way to lose a race!  The second group were also confused as to the course change with Andy Jones passing Nigel Wakefield and James Ross in the closing stages to snatch 3^rd.

For the second race, the length of the upwind leg was reduced and Nigel showed the fleet a clean set of heels hitting every shift upwind and down, leading from start to finish.  Huw and Jeremy had a close tussle throughout with Huw (again) coming out on top, with Netley’s Bart Brigden showing good pace claiming 4^th ahead of Stephen Jones.

The third and final race of the day was seeing some tired legs, and for the author, normal service being resumed with the breeze slightly easing, Huw showed his class once again winning, but following a battle with Matt Johnson from Weirwood – definitely one to watch for tomorrow after spinnaker pole issues counted him out of the first two races – outside of that it was the team from Netley completing the top 5 with James Ross 3^rd, Nigel 4^th and Bart 5^th.

Overall a good day for Team Netley with the top 5 places all going to Netley sailors – but the comment overheard in the changing rooms from the Chew Valley team sort of implied that team Netley would self-destruct in the bar ahead of day 2 – time will tell!

Jeremy Troughton

Day 3

Preparations for Day 3 started with a hearty meal of home cooked food on Friday night for the Chew Team chez Smart, although after a short term illness struck 2 of the diners there was a suspicion that Smart was trying to take out the Chew boats ahead of him. 

Back in the bay, the wind returned to the South, averaging 15 knots. That meant that exiting the harbour provided the first challenge, but the wind settled down out on the course. Eplett launched, peeped out of the harbour and decided not today, thank you. 

The comment from the Irish contingent was that the water’s nice and warm!

Race 7 saw the fleet a bit too eager to get going with everyone vying for the committee boat end. The second start under U flag saw better behaviour with most of the fleet going left, although ‘I’m going the other way’ Smart went right and by the windward mark Powell led the fleet with Smart second, but such heights were not to last. There was lots of places to be gained downwind by spotting a good gust, and there were many out there. By the end, the normal suspects were at the front with Wakefield coming through for the win with Powell second and Jolliffe third showing that his earlier season form hadn’t completely deserted him. Steve Jones was fourth to at least remind the Netley Team that Team Chew had turned up. 

Race 8 saw the biggest gusts at 25 knots aka Force Huw! Steve Jones was so excited by his fourth he was OCS and had to do the turn of shame to restart. Powell was in his element, taking the bullet from Ross and Wakefield, with Smart fourth to continue showing a Team Chew presence. 

Race 9 saw Bridgen go early for the turn of shame, with the fleet generally tacking when their bodies said they needed a short rest! Ross came through for the bullet, with Wakefield second, Powell third with Jolliffe completing a Netley sweep. 

The last day will be interesting with Powell having a meagre 2 point lead over Wakefield, but with worse discards, with Ross in hot pursuit and able to win if the results go his way. 

David Smart

Photos thanks to James Clapham, Tim Hedges and Taia Hutchings

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