17 sailors from 7 countries took part in the Dutch RS100 Grand Prix, the first stage of the four-part RS100 European Tour hosted by Aquavitesse.  The 100’s were paired with the RS500’s also staging the first leg of their European Tour.

7 competitors took part in a training day run by Paul Childs on Friday, enjoying some thrilling (and spilling) sailing in a gusty South Westerly Force 4 to 5.  David Smart gained some confidence from two virtual wins in the practice races, ahead of Mark Harrison and Greg Booth.

Saturday dawned with a solid Force 4 from the North West.  Paul Childs was hoping to repeat his win from 2011, but events did not start as planned as the downhaul patch pulled off his new kite just before the first start for the 500’s.  This necessitated a trip back to the slipway and an expected discard.  Fortunately for Paul, the badly behaved 500’s and a windshift meant that when Paul returned 30 minutes later, the race still hadn’t started.

Race 1
While there was a small starboard bias on the line, Greg Booth started at the pin end and gained pressure and a lift up the beat to make it first to the windward mark, followed by Mark Harrison, who had played the shifts up the centre, followed by Paul Childs, Sam Vaughan and Jon Holroyd.  Paul made a rapid hoist and as Mark had half hoisted his kite, Paul shouted ‘SPREADER’!  Greg and Mark had completely missed the spreader mark which meant Greg had to beat back up to it, although Mark didn’t lose as much time getting back to it.   By the Leeward mark the order was Paul, Sam, Jon Holroyd, David Smart, who’d made up five places on the downwind leg, a fast approaching Clive Eplett and Mark Harrison.   Places were almost unchanged for lap 2, except Mark overtaking Clive, but at the final windward mark, David hoisted just behind Jon, who luffed and protested.  David had to drop his kite to execute the 360, letting Mark through.  At the leeward mark, Jon tried to hold his kite on the short tight fetch to the finish line, but a gust knocked him over, leaving the final result of Paul winning followed by Sam, Mark, David, Jon, Clive and a rapidly closing Lars Holm.  Greg finished a despondent 8th.

Race 2
Another slight starboard bias on the line led to a bunch at the committee boat end, but a clean getaway for the fleet.  Mark played the shifts up the beat to lead by a healthy margin at the top mark.  This coincided with Paul’s hangover kicking in, so Sam was second  followed by Paul, then Jon Holroyd and a gaggle including Lars Holm, Tom Partington and David.  Jon made an unusual mistake in taking a quick swim before the spreader mark.  Tom and Lars continued to play the shifts up the second beat but by the second windward mark, Mark had pulled out a large cushion, followed by Paul, with David having pulled up to third.  After Jon’s swim on the fetch to the finish line, everyone dropped the kite for the 50m reach, except David who was suffering from cramp, but succeeded in just holding on to cross the line and then capsize.  Tom finished 4th followed by Lars and Jon.  At the end of the second race, Greg needed to sort out his rig, so sailed over to the nudist island 1 km away for some R&R, coming back a refreshed man!

 Race 3
Another starboard bias led to an individual recall for Gerard Vos, however both Greg and Lars also returned, with Greg probably distracted by his antics on the nudist beach.   Paul and Mark continued to scrap it out at the front followed by David in close combat.  David couldn’t quite close on Mark, although he came close up the second beat, and Paul continued to sail well for the bullet.  Jon battled hard for his 4th, followed by Sam, Clive, Tom then Lars.

Paul then donned the ‘Class Rep’ hat and told the Race Officer Arky that we should not try for a fourth race.  Many suspect the hangover was too bad, although after 3 hard races, bodies were starting to cramp up so nobody complained too much.

After the ‘walk through Chinese’ of Saturday night, Sunday welcomed the sunshine, but very little breeze.  Arky told everyone to launch into no wind at 10.20, but there was a mutiny ashore until David Smart decided it was time to go, to much jeering from the rest of the fleet.  The wind filled in gently with a very shifty Westerly.  The line had a starboard bias up to two minutes to go, but then shifted hard left.  This was only spotted by David and Mark, who made a beeline for the pin.  David won that race and they tacked onto port on the gun to cross the fleet by 50m.   David pulled away throughout the first lap, but Mark was caught on the run by those behind in a gust, and proceeded to start the beat with his spinnaker still up.  Jon went left up the beat and Paul went right, with Mark up the middle, finding a big hole and watching Jon and Paul both race into the windward mark ahead.   David took the win, followed by Paul, Jon, then Chris O’neill revelling in the shifty conditions, Mark, Tom and Sam followed.

The wind then vanished and after a long drift, the fleet was sent home to pack up.

At the prize giving, the European class chairman, Lars Holm awarded some special prizes to Emmet O’Sullivan for his long travel from Ireland, as well as braving out with a 10.2 sail in the fresh conditions of Saturday, and Urlich Rubelmann from Germany was rewarded for his endeavour in surviving Saturday and taking his battered and bruised body out to finish the race on Sunday.

The top three places were taken by Paul Childs with an impressive 1, 1, 2 to count, followed by Mark Harrison and David Smart, with only one point separating them at the end.

Everyone had enjoyed a fantastic couple of days hosted by the ever friendly and welcoming Aquavitesse.

The Queen has recognised the importance of the Noble Marine RS100 Nationals at Paignton SC and decided that we should all have a double bank holiday to celebrate the event held from Saturday 2nd to Tuesday 5th June.

Over the past three years the RS100 has grown in size with over 320 boats sold worldwide showing the success of the class nationally and overseas. This will be the third edition of the RS100 nationals. The past two editions have been very successful with excellent racing had by all throughout the fleet.
We are looking forward to what is widely expected to be a year where the entry exceeds the previous year’s total of 47 boats.

With two time 8.4 title winner Neal Freeman entered (and spotted practising at the POSH event at Paignton) and the previous winners of the 10.2 title, Huw Powell and Paul Childs plus at least 8 other national championship winners show that the event will be hotly contested. Competition is sure to be great but the class are also renowned for their sense of fun, both on and off the water and this will be a great event to experience this.

Racing will be in wonderful Torbay, we are planning 10 races over the 4 days.   There will be a full social programme, including nights at the club, crazy golf tournament and  go-karting.   

There is coaching with Paul Childs planned for Friday 1 June you can book with your entry.   There will also be coaching seminars during the event.

Naturally we are hugely disappointed that the RS900 has not been selected as the women’s Olympic skiff. It was recommended for selection by ISAF’s Equipment Committee who carried out the most detailed examination of all the entrants and judged it to best fit the criteria – a spectacular boat that would suit the size of sailors specified.

However, in the end the argument around the ISAF Council table focussed on the advantages of an elite skiff (RS900 or MacKay 49erFX) versus the universality offered by the 29erXX through low cost and existing distribution of the 29er hull. This focussed the voting and the MacKay won out due to its advantages of an established common platform with the men’s skiff and the fact it was liked at the trials due to its performance through being the biggest.

We at RS are proud that we met the criteria and developed an ideally suited boat that is a true credit to our own team, the suppliers involved and the RS name.

We will, of course, forever be convinced that the RS900 would have been the best boat for the women’s skiff, able to be sailed by Asian women as well as their western counterparts – affordable enough to build a wider class and develop women’s skiff sailing into a significant part of our sport. So we are genuinely sad tonight that this is not to be.

I would especially like to thank the many international sailors whose encouragement and support for the RS900 has been incredible.

We congratulate MacKay Boats on their successful selection campaign and wish the FX Class well for the future.

www.rssailing.com

New RS International Class Associations and Websites

RS boats are spreading around the world fast and a new structure for each of the Class Associations has just been launched to support this growth and enable RS sailors everywhere to join their International Association.

Any RS sailor can now join their International Association – the cost is low and it gives everyone a say in the future of their Class, plus access to a vast amount of information and some fabulous events! In countries where a National Association already exists, the fee is a little higher and automatically gives membership of both the International and National Associations.   Joining one fleet’s International Assocation gives you reciprocal membership to the other RS Associations.
We believe the launch of our new International Associations is an exciting step for the growth of our classes all around the world.

The International Associations are responsible for major event planning, maintenance of Class Rules, Class communications (including websites) and all other aspects that allow every owner and crew member to enjoy their RS. All this work creates the one-design ethos which ensures RS boats hold their value long term. It is, therefore, crucial that all RS sailors support their International Class Association by joining.

You can access and join each RS International Class Association via www.RSsailing.org – and navigate from there to the National web pages.  These new RS websites are all new and are still being tweaked; we would appreciate your comments.   They are yours so if there is anything you would like to add at any time – news, tips, photos – please let us know.   The new sites have forums – these will be the place to find the answers to your technical questions and chat with fellow fleet sailors.   They will ultimately replace the yahoo groups. The forums are linked from the UK and International websites making us a truly international community.  

Please join up.

Heather Chipperfield
heatherc@rs-association.com

I visited Fraglia vela Riva last week for a meeting about the large multi-fleet event in July.  As usual the club was very welcoming and professional but I was delighted by the environment.  Instead of the building site we saw in 2010, the rebuild of the Spiaggia degli Olivi next door has been completed and is now an excellent restaurant and lively night spot.  The lagoon has been dug to 3m and is available for our use, together with surrounding boat parking.

Spiaggia is separate to the sailing club, but they are working closely together and we hope to have some lovely parties there in July.

I hope loads of you will make the journey to Riva del Garda.  It really is worthwhile!

Full details and entry form at http://rs100sailing.org/champs/cindex.asp?clselect=Home&eid=402

A select group of six hardy sailors appeared at Leigh & Lowton SC for the Gul Grand Prix, despite the gloomy forecast, with 4 races scheduled for Saturday and two on Sunday.

Race 1 - A gusty first race saw the lead change a few times.  Alex Morrison led round the first mark, followed by Sam Vaughn before both going for a swim in a big gust.  Mark Harrison stormed into the lead followed by David Smart.  Some very close racing ensued, but on the last downwind, Mark stuffed the last gybe to let David through to take the win followed by a late charging Chris Cunningham, with a disgruntled Mark taking third.

Race 2 - Greg Booth found the shifts up the first beat followed by David and Mark , pretty well rounding the windward mark together.  Greg pulled away, but a monster gust took him out, with some synchronised swimming also being practiced by Mark and David.  This let Chris through to take the win, followed by Greg and David.

Race 3 - After a well needed hour’s rest for a late lunch, the fleet took to the water again, with large gusts still coming through.  David won the pin end and nearly crossed the fleet.  Chris led round the windward mark, followed by Greg, although a port starboard downwind incident led to Chris catching No Rights David’s spinnaker pole sending him swimming.  Greg and Chris then scored a full 6.0 for synchronised capsizing, leaving Alex and Sam to take the lead. Sam then fell in, leaving Alex to take the bullet, followed by Mark and Greg.  There was then a long wait for No Rights David, while he spent a long time swimming.

Race 4 - Alex led round the windward mark and went for an early swim.  This left the way clear for Chris to storm past in one of the many monster gusts, followed by David which led to some close covering by Chris until David capsized on a gybe, letting Mark through.  Chris was well away, so took the safe option of dropping early and tacking round the gybe, allowing him to take the win, followed by Mark with David third.

It had proved to be a challenging day, with big gusts and big shifts testing all the sailors.  The closeness of the sailing meant that everyone led the races at some point, so all could rue their mistakes, although Chris won bragging rights with an impressive two first and a second, with David second overnight but with the pack close behind.

Sunday dawned with a little more breeze, around Force 5, and some monster gusts with rain and air temperature of 4 degrees.  The hardy soles weren’t desperate to get on the water, but a little chivvying from the Race Officer got almost everyone moving.

Race 5 saw a close first beat for everyone, apart from Chris who had capsized to windward just before the start gun.  Alex rounded first, with David close behind.  Alex and David hoister, but Mark followed and with a timely hoist and gybe set into a huge gust and surged into the lead.  David dropped his kite and tacked round, only to be flattened by a humungous gust which drove his mast into the mud, allowing the rest of the fleet to fly by laughing.  Alex sailed well to take the race win, followed by Chris, with a great recovery after the start with Greg taking third.

Race 6 saw some even bigger gusts track down the lake.  Chris and Greg both capsizd before  the start, but Alex again succeeded in rounding the windward mark first, but then fell out the back of his boat in a gust.  Greg and Mark rounded next, side by side until Greg did an impression of a submarine.  Mark copied David’s antics in digging his mast into the mud and watching the fleet vanish in the distance before the mud let go of its gloopy grip.  Greg came back with some impressive heavy weather survival sailing to take the win and second overall, with Chris second to secure his overall win.  Clearly the best tactic was to capsize before the start.  Alex was third in the race to secure third overall and first big rig.

Leigh & Lowton had provided a very warm welcome for a cold weekend and laid some excellent courses, keeping the races short to squeeze them all in.

David Smart

RS100 277

Delighted to see 20 of you already entered for the Noble Marine RS100 UK Nationals at Paignton SC on 2-4 June.   Loads of information and entry form on the Championship site at
http://www.rssailing.org/champs/cindex.asp?clselect=Home&eid=33

Please note that the late entry fee comes into play on this Thursday 3rd May, so to get the 4-day event with social and training seminar programme for the bargain price of £99 please enter now.

We've got 12 RS100s from 6 countries, and 12 RS500s from 4 countries signed up to the 1st Magic Marine Euro Grand Prix of 2012 at La Bruinesse, The Netherlands on 12/13 May.

RS100 entry is just €20/£18; RS500 entry just £30/€27, plus €20 or £18/person for the social on the Saturday evening. However there is a late entry levy for anyone entering after 15th April - THIS SUNDAY. There is no need to pay when you enter - you can pay at registration if you prefer.

There will be free coaching on Friday 11th which must be booked in advance with your entry.

RS Sailing are offering UK sailors a fab deal. They will take out you and your boat for just £100 including your entry fee. This must be booked and paid in advance - do this on the entry form.

More information and entry form at -

RS100 - http://www.rs100sailing.org/champs/cindex.asp?eid=331

RS500 - http://www.rs500.org/champs/cindex.asp?eid=354

Any questions - contact me on heatherc@rs-association.com

Regards,

Heather