Results / Noble Marine RS700 RS800 National Championship Castle Cove SC - 09/09/2021

CONGRATULATIONS TO THEO OUR 2021 RS700 NATIONAL CHAMPION!

CONGRATULATIONS TO TOM AND GUY OUR 2021 RS800 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

Find results right at the bottom. Photos thanks to Richard Bowers and RS Sailing.

Richard has published his gallery here.  He is happy for you to download the photos for free.  He can edit the photos for you for a small fee.

Click on the heading below to be taken directly to it:

RS700 Day One

RS700 Day Two

RS700 Day Three

RS700 Day Final Report

RS700 and RS800 Day One Vid by Jon Emmett

RS700 and RS800 Day Two Vid by Jon Emmett

RS700 and RS800 Day Three Vid by Jon Emmett

RS700 and RS800 Day Four Vid by Jon Emmett

RS Sailing short edit vid

RS800 Day One

RS800 Day Two

RS800 Day Three

RS800 Final Report

RS700 Nationals' Form Guide

RS800 Nationals' Runners and Riders

RS700 2021 Noble Marine National Championship Form Guide

By Matt Conner

Up on Y&Y here

Runners and Riders at 2021 RS800 Noble Marine National Championship

Has anything actually happened since we lined up in Portland Harbour for the last nationals?  With very few events to go on in the build up to this one it really is anyone’s guess as to who is hot to trot and who is trying to remember which hole the forestay goes in.  However, with the awesome Castle Cove lined up as hosts and some added levels of heroic inspiration after watching the sailing and the ping pong at the Olympics I’m sure it will be a classic.

So who is going to prevail?  Does it matter?  What colour is smaragdine?  What’s the average weight of a cumulus cloud?  Here we go...

OK so dropping in with Tom Morris (AKA “Mozzy Sails”) and Guy Filmore (AKA Hard As Nails).  Whilst these guys are probably the favourites with their impeccable sailing and a track record of doing the business they do often add a bit of chaos to spice things up.  Whether this is mast snapping escapades or an attempt by Guy to cut his own leg off, weird stuff happens.  Alongside the penchant for chaos, this year Tom will be having to deal with the weight of 16.9k YouTube  subscribers looking on after becoming the YouTubers everyman of the America’s Cup. He is the now the household name for colourful lines on screens and heavily inferred Dean Barker criticism. If Tom and Guy do prevail we should all prepare ourselves for some unskippable ads mid speech.  I KID.  The channel is fantastic and only 314.1k subscribers behind a channel where a guy called Ben silently sits and smiles at the camera for four hours at a time.  I’m not actually kidding this time. Let’s all pray for the world.  OK back to the matter in hand.  If anyone can keep the chaos at bay and keep focus it is the calm and collected influence of Guy.  They will be up there.  Will they win? Subscribe to “Mozzy Sails” to find out.

Next in focus we have Luke and Emma McEwen.  Dripping in pedigree (disgusting) these two have won it all and then some.  Year after year Luke and Emma have been sailing into the distance and making us all look a little foolish in the lighter stuff.  I don’t know what horrible things Luke says to Emma downwind but she can normally be found sheltering on the spinnaker pole.  There is a sit forwards mode and then there is the McEwen version.  They wrapped up the RS Summer Champs earlier in the year and will be eager to add to their amazing CV in the RS800.  Between you and me they are definitely ones to watch and will be right up there (not just the spinnaker pole).

Okay dokay Rob Gullan (the Alan Hansan of “Mozzy Sails”) and NA.  Neil Armstrong?  Nikolay Alexeyev?  Nathan Ake?  I’m pretty sure Rob is finding it tough to find a crew after showcasing the largest sunglasses seen on a human being at the Summers.  Whoever and whatever he manages to persuade to jump on board despite a week of absolutely no face, let alone eye contact, will likely see themselves (reflected in the glasses) standing on a podium at the end.  Rob won the Inlands last year in a mix of conditions and pushed hard at the nationals last time around so is a decent bet for the pointy end.  Please send applications to crew for Rob in the post by the end of August to be in with a chance of winning (please see terms and conditions below).

Can you even call it an RS800 event if Phil Walker and John Mather haven’t spent at least one race day in a local spa?  The old timers in the 29er are now in danger of becoming class stalwarts in the RS800. Only entering once they were sure Rendezvous would be open these two are a bit of an enigma. Sometimes fast, sometimes upside-down, often late, they have the capacity to turn it on.  As consistent as the Great British Summer time they will be hoping for a heatwave.  Such a cringy line.  See you at the bar guys.

Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire.  Bit awkward writing about myself and so I asked Laurie (one year old son) how he thought we’d do and he did a kind of “raaahaaaroar”.  I guess that’s a good thing?  Who knows.  After the disapointment of falling off the pace halfway through last year’s nationals the boat has been going great in the breeze with a 2nd at the Inlands and a win at Lymington.  Actually not sure if this was the boat or my lockdown belly?  Anyway, as long as we don’t go above Fiona’s daily hoist quota we’ll be OK.

Next in from the watering hole of Beaver are James Penty and Eddie Grayson.  Clearly formidable on lakes after a smashing result at Garda a couple of years ago, these chaps will be looking to bring it home for the freshwater folk.  One expects a mastery of tight turns and quick tacks after a lifetime of trying not to hit the bank.  James and Eddie will be looking to re-find their form from the 2019 Euros and will be hoping the water isn’t too salty.

There are so many others in the fleet that deserve a mention.  Whether its Ralph Singleton and his never say die attitude to doing a port flyer no matter what, Cameron and Darrol Moss in the BIG BREEZE, Ben Palmer and Bruna masterminding their way to the front or will it be the Chris Martin gun show also starring Chris Catt?  How will the class newcomers of Maria Stanley and Tom Darling, and Nick Redding and Crew do?

So many questions waiting to be answered at the 2021 RS800 nationals. But more importantly smaragdine is a kind of uninteresting green and the average cumulus cloud weighs 498951.607kg (about 100 elephants).  Phew.

See you soon.

By Hugh Shone

Up on Y&Y here

RS700 Day One Thurs 9 Sept 21

The Noble Marine RS700 Nationals started with a fresh breeze with a gust of 25 knots and very low visibility, however the majority of the fleet proceeded to sail out to the start line to compete the first race.  Just before the first five minute warning signal Rob Higgins decided to tack and reverse into Richard Wadsworth.  This caused a double capsize for them.  The first race started but unluckily Richard was still capsized while Rob had managed to get away.  Theo Galyer travelled upwind at a lightning pace and rounded the windward mark with Rob close behind.  As the fleet headed downwind many sailors decided they fancied a swim.  Jack Napolitano took advantage of this and moved into third.  The second lap and race finished with Theo leading, Rob close behind and the rest of the fleet following shortly after.

The second race started swiftly after the finish thanks to the great race committee.  The start line became very busy at the committee boat and a few boats found themselves in the wrong place and got pushed off the line.  These boats included Jack who ended up crossing the start line at the very back.  He managed to claw his way back to the front but Theo had already pulled away from the fleet.  While sailing downwind Matt Conner was observed taking the safe option of dropping the kite and tacking rather than gybing in the breeze.  The race continued to be really competitive with many position changes.  Theo pulled out a considerable lead and finished the day with his second bullet.

I would just like to thank Castle Cove SC on behalf of the RS700 fleet for the great racing today and for the nice warm pasties when returning to the beach after a hard day of racing.

Report by Jack Napolitano

RS800 Day One

After three weeks of sunshine and light fluky Easterly winds, Weymouth turned on the breeze for day one of the eagerly awaited Noble Marine RS800 Nationals.  Possibly a bit more breeze than most of the 38 teams were expecting and possibly a tad more than most had practiced in over the past year… a solid force 5 from SSW with gusts of 24 knots whirling around Portland.

The class is really happy to be back at Castle Cove Sailing Club for their championship and has received the club’s renowned warm and friendly welcome, including great bacon baps before racing and tasty come-ashore pasties afterwards.  With so little racing this year, this is the first time many of the sailors have had a chance to catch up with friends and it’s great to see lots of new faces joining the fleet too.

The race team, led by “Portland” Bill Barker, set a good-sized course right across the harbour.  In a break with tradition, the RS800s started ahead of the RS700s to do the outer loop course, bringing a new set of challenges (“er… what do we do on a reach?”).  Many sailors had sensibly got the day’s capsize practice in before the first start.

Amazingly the fleet started cleanly at the first attempt, partly thanks to a nice square line and sensible use of the U-flag, partly perhaps due a little rustiness amongst the sailors.  Reigning national champions Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore made a fast conservative start mid-line, next to last year’s runner up Rob Gullan sailing with the current European champion crew Tom Partington.  Tom and Guy tacked first to go right, a smart move which put them in a good lead by the windward mark.  As predicted, the long top reach under Portland was very gusty and lully, putting several of the leading pack in for an early swim including newcomers Morgan Peach and Will Ward, who up to that point were showing great speed.  Tom and Guy held their lead to the finish, chased hard by Rob and Tom, with Luke and Emma McEwen clawing through to third on the final beat ahead of Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire.  James Penty and Eddie Grayson sailed a solid race to claim fifth despite various bits of the boat falling off on the way round.

The second and final race of the day had a third lap for good measure, great for the fleet who by now were revelling in the conditions.  This time it was Rob and Tom who had the edge on the first beat, rounding ahead of Tom and Guy and keeping their cool to take the race win.  Many more places changed in the chasing pack; Phil Walker and John Mather sailed a blinding run after spotting a big veering gust to pull up to third at the leeward gate, where they very generously stopped for a little dip in the refreshing waters of Portland Harbour, letting Hugh and Fiona through to another fourth behind Luke and Emma.  Tom Bucktrout and Dom Burke pulled up through the fleet to a well-deserved fifth place.

Tomorrow promises even more excitement with a little more breeze forecast, three races and the possibility of a trip into Weymouth Bay.

By Emma and Luke McEwen

RS800 Day Two

Day two of the Noble Marine RS800 Nationals saw three cracking races in champagne conditions.  The decision was made by the race team this morning to not send us into Weymouth Bay.  This proved well informed considering the building wind as the day progressed, with a lovely 20-25 knot breeze for the final race.  The wind had swung round to a steady south westerly overnight meaning we got three, three lap races across the full length of Portland Harbour.  The RS800 fleet has been unusually well behaved so far with not a single general recall, or U flag penalty in sight!  Today was no exception with three clean starts off three great start lines from the race team.

In Race One Tom Morris and Guy Filmore, and Rob Gullan and Tom Partington, as they had done in the two races yesterday, did their trick of sailing off into the horizon leaving the rest of the pack battling it out for third.  Best of the rest was Phil Walker and John Mather who seemed to be in fine form today.  James Penty and Eddie Grayson followed in fourth, managing to hold off Luke and Emma McEwen to round off the top five.

Race Two saw a much closer battle for positions early on as a big bunch rounded the first windward mark together onto the almighty (and occasionally pretty sketchy) drag race that is the two sail reach.  I had to check the results to find out the placings in this race as a capsize at the final gate before the finish left me thinking more about my breaststroke form then who was sailing past us.  I’m reliably informed that Tom and Guy claimed the bullet again.  And the usual suspects found their way into the following places: Rob and Tom took second, Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire took third, and Paul and Peter Jenkins with a much better day today took fourth with a solid fifth from Maria Stanley and Tom Darling.

Safety crews had to deal with Chris Feibusch’s new porthole which led to a lengthy postponement before we could get Race Three underway.  Crews who had got a bit chilly in the long wait were quickly warmed up as we set to it in the biggest breeze of the day.  It didn’t seem to matter which side of the beat you hit as long as you were sailing flat and fast and Tom and Guy once again showed us why they’re defending champions as they led from start to finish.  Rob and Tom sailed another fantastic race to finish second but the pack, unlike the first race of the day, were hot on their tails.  James and Eddie finished off the day with a third and Castle Cove sailors Sam Pascoe and Isaac Lines closed out a solid day with a fourth and Phil and John took fifth.

A fantastic day’s sailing saw Tom and Guy posting three bullets, claiming the yellow bibs and leading overnight.  Fingers crossed for more good breeze tomorrow!

By Eddie Grayson

Thanks to sponsorship from RS Sailing the sailors were welcomed ashore by a can of chilled pop or booze in return for handing in their tally.

Our daily prize giving was sponsored by Noble Marine.  Tom and Guy, and Rob and Tom collected insulated water bottles.  Tom and Guy also collected caps, After Eight Mints and this season’s smart RS Class Association UV neck sleeves for their race wins across day one and two.  Thank you Noble Marine and very well Tom and Guy!

RS800 Day Three

Day three was another day of being blessed with awesome Weymouth sailing conditions: sunshine and 15 knots South Westerly.

Rob Gullan and Tom Partington took off in the first race and led until the final beat when a match race with Tom Morris and Guy Filmore really took hold.  There are numerous questions about whether the 2nd cross actually happened up the final beat, but the problem was that they were so caught up in each other that Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire sailed a blinding beat to power through from the left hand side.  Things went a bit light down the last run but Hugh and Fiona held on and managed to break the monotony of the Tom/Guy and Rob/Tom show with a race win.  The race for second was incredibly close with four boats rounding the leeward mark all overlapped.  Out of the closely fought battle between Tom and Guy, Rob and Tom, Phil Walker and John Mather, and James Penty and Eddie Grayson, Tom and Guy snuck through to take second with Rob and Tom in third.

The left-hand side came good up the first beat of the second race, with Maria Stanley and Tommy Darling winning the pin and setting off at pace.  Rob and Tom came through by the windward into first, with Hugh and Fiona in second.  Despite Hugh and Fiona’s best efforts at being “traffic”, Tom and Guy pulled through to second and set out to catch Rob and Tom.  Hugh and Fiona took third with Phil and John in fourth and James and Eddie in fifth.

In the third race, Rob and Tom turned on the accelerator and headed off into the sunset.  Following were Tom and Guy, James and Eddie, and Phil and John.  There was a twist in the tale however with a few obstacles catching Rob and Tom on the final run, making way for Tom and Guy to sneak through into first.

Much to the fleet’s shock, there was a fourth and final race just to test how tired the crews actually were. With another three laps to contend with the only solace was that the breeze was dropping every so slightly. Rob and Tom declared themselves “lightening quick” upwind on the first beat, and took a storming victory. The first windward was rather busy with Phil and John, Maria and Tommy, Sam Pascoe and Isaac Lines, and Peter and Paul Jenkins all rounding in hot pursuit.  Most boats chose to hoist slightly early on the reach of death but the fleet had to deal with a fully capsized moth (surprise surprise) bang in the middle of the reach.  A few more gusts and shifts came through which caught a few people out downwind.  Reportedly Peter and Paul have been taking turns to fall in, and Cameron and Darrol took a few punchy layline downwind.  In the end Rob and Tom took first, with Phil and John in second, and Tom and Guy pulled through into third.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a light wind drifter where we may well see some new faces at the front - Ralph Singleton perhaps?  First and second places are wrapped up but there still a hot competition on for the rest of the places in the top ten.  Congratulations to Tom and Guy, and Rob and Tom for sailing a great championship.

By Fiona Hampshire

Thanks to sponsorship from RS Sailing the sailors were welcomed ashore by a can of chilled pop or booze in return for handing in their tally.

At our Noble Marine daily prize giving our race winners were awarded a range of goodies.  Race six winners Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire won two insulated water bottles.  Race seven and nine winners Rob Gulland and Tom Partington won two caps and two limited edition RS Class Association UV neck sleeves.  Tom Morris and Guy Filmore won Toblerone bars for race eight.

Today was Hyde Sails day.  At our evening party we had a sailor raffle for a brand new RS800 spinnaker generously donated by Hyde Sails.  The lucky winners were Chris Catt and Chris Martin.

RS800 Final Report

With an extra race brought forward and sailed on Saturday, Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore had clinched the RS800 National Championships with a day to spare.  In fact, with only one race remaining, second place was also wrapped up by Rob Gullan and Tom Partington and opportunities were thin on the ground for movement further down the result sheet.

As it happened the late-Summer sea breeze never stabilised sufficiently for race officer Bill Barker to attempt the tenth race.  With his decision to bring the ninth forward thoroughly vindicated and a stellar championship series in the bag, an end was brought to proceedings at 1230hrs with raising of N over A on the Castle Cove flagpole.

The three hoots also allowed Fiona Hampshire to put down the match racing playbook as the final podium position was declared in her and Hugh Shone’s favour. Phil Walker and John Mather, almost certainly completely unaware of the confrontation that had awaited them, remained pleased with 4^th place despite just falling short of their previous best finish of 3^rd in 2016.  Perhaps this situation was for the best as skiffs trying to match race in 5 knots is an ungainly affair.  

The morning’s wait did allow some reflection on the state of play within the fleet and the building blocks of success in this enduring skiff class.  Since 2017 the fleet has allowed a choice of helm (traditional) or crew sheeting.  After the first day of racing murmurs circulated that the debate had finally been settled when previous deck sheeting proponents Luke and Emma McEwen turned up with the new set-up and promptly posted two third places completing an initial boom-sheeted lock out of the podium.  Yet boat park chat was premature and by day three they had been replaced by Hugh and Fiona and their traditional set-up, ensuring deck sheeting retains its credentials of having always provided a podium place over the five years since the rule change.

Commenting on the techniques required to be successful with this set up Hugh said “It is always going to be harder to play the main as fluidly as crew sheeters but I think you have a really good feel for the boat because as the helm you’ve got the forces of the rudder in one hand and the throttle in the other so you know when things are ticking and when they are not.”

Not only was Hugh first helmsheeting boat, but Fiona was won first female crew.  The result marked a return to the podium for Fiona who won the champs last time they visited Castle Cove in 2015.  The pairing has made good progress in the last year, something Hugh puts down to improved starting and better big breeze speed (very helpful during a series raced in 15-25 knots). “I’d say that we’ve improved our starting which I have always struggled with.  We now have more of a routine and plan which has helped us be more proactive and less reactive to the chaos around.  We didn’t always have great first beats this year but we gave ourselves a better chance with cleaner starts.  Last year we also fell off the pace when the wind picked up which as a fatter helm really bugged me.  This time around we are using more downhaul and Fiona has developed some really helpful ways to help me focus in on achieving a flat mode and keeping it”

One undeniable benefit of crew sheeting is it opens the helm role to smaller sailors.  2021 was the fourth consecutive year with new female helm in the top ten.  This year it was the turn of Maria Stanley, ably crewed by Tommy Darling.  They put in a very credible performance in an older boat, with old style sails. Maria commented on their class debut: “I had a great first RS800 event, everyone was very welcoming and open to giving advice and tips, as a newcomer this was much needed!  The racing was good, and the boat was great fun to sail, it was a huge learning curve for Tommy and I and thoroughly enjoyable.  I’m keen to come back again next year!”.  If Maria can find some more time in the boat to match their impressive boat speed with more consistent manoeuvring then she will be a contender for first female RS800 champion helm.   Maria and Tommy won the Spinlock 1999 Prize for first old style RS800 with sail number lower than 1118.

2021 will be remembered for its consistently breezy racing with nine hard races in full on flat wiring conditions.  Adding to the challenge was a new course layout.  The racing took place on a trapezoid ‘outer loop’ course to accommodate the RS700s’ long held ambition to race pure windward leewards!

Rob Gullan and Tom Partington were undoubtedly kings of the first beat, leading to mark one in seven out of nine races, but they struggled along with many others, to pick the right line on the windy two sail reaches. “Trapezoids which had a 0.5nm two sail reach was really tricky, getting your mode right definitely helped you defend and gain places.  Due to the wind strength it was easy to be blown below the rum line as boats could easily spin out when being brought back up through the death zone during gusts” commented reigning European Champion crew Tom.  He also saw big gains to be made at the widely separated leeward gates during the week. “Typically, the leeward gate was quite wide with one mark significantly favoured.  It was always worth going for the favoured side even if it meant an extra gybe, which due to wind strength, did make you think is it worth it from a being safe perspective”.

With such a good performance on the opening legs we asked Tom where he thought Morris and Fillmore had found their edge. “I think the real separator was time in the boat.  Although we had very good boat speed at times, we would have times where we would struggle.  Ultimately, we were unable to match the well-oiled machine of Tom and Guy around the racecourse when under pressure.  It always felt they were in a position to capitalise on a mistake, whilst we kept waiting for them, but even when they lost their tiller (race three) and again their trapeze line (race six), they would manage to survive what we could throw at them.”

2021 was the third title for Tom and Guy and with nine races in 15-24 knots many would have been unsurprised to find them at the top of the leader board in their favoured conditions.  Yet over nine races Gullan and Partington really brought the fight, and the match up was tight.

Guy believed some of their edge was born out of regular club sailing. “It sounds maybe a bit far-fetched, but I genuinely think the time spent club racing on varied courses allowed us to adapt quicker to the new reaching legs.  Gullan and Tom (Partington) were often leading at mark one, but we knew if we could close the gap on the reach, we stood a good chance of putting pressure on their gybes on the run”.

Morris places the difference in the hands of his crew, the defending champions have been prone to calamities at previous events yet with a bit more experience this time they were able to avoid high scores when things did not go their way. “We’ve had races in the past where something broke and the event imploded for us. This year Guy really took control in those moments. In race three we lost the port tiller extension whilst leading, but Guy was able to retrieve the spare and attach it without us losing a place.  Then in race six my starboard trapeze wire broke whilst again leading with a lap to go.  Guy steadied the boat, got us on to port and it allowed us some time to assess how we were going to adapt our set up and strategy with only one person wiring on starboard.  We did lose a position to Hugh and Fiona but were able to keep Rob and Tom behind and that ultimately won us the regatta.”.

The RS800 Class Association would like to thank Castle Cove Sailing Club and their race team.  Their hospitality made up from purely volunteers was first class.

The event was also bolstered by the support of Championship sponsors: Noble Marine, RS Sailing, Hyde Sails, Rooster, Spinlock, Sea Change Wine and Fernhurst Books.

Our next event is RS800 Rooster National Tour event number seven the Inland Championship at Grafham Water SC 2-3 Oct.  The eighth and final event of the tour will be the RS End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland SC 6-7 Nov.  We look forward to seeing you on the water.

By RS800 2021 National Champion helm Tom Morris

Noble Marine RS800 2021 National Championship Prize Winners:

1^st Weekend: Sam Jones and Richie Thurlby from Hillhead SC

Endeavour: Stephen Brown and Philip Bairstow from Ullswater YC

1^st Youth Helm:  Cameron Moss from Lyme Regis SC

1^st Youth Crew:  Isaac Lines from Castle Cove SC

1^st Master Helm: Luke McEwen from Royal Lymington YC

1^st Master Crew: Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC

1^st Lady Helm:  Maria Stanley from HISC

1^st Lady Crew:  Fiona Hampshire from Swanage SC

1^st Silver:  Joe Joyner and James Wallace from Lyme Regis SC

Spinlock 1999 Prize:  Maria Stanley and Tom Darling from HISC

6^th place:  Luke and Emma McEwen from Royal Lymington YC

5^th place:  James Penty and Eddie Grayson from Beaver SC

4^th place:  Phil Walker and John Mather from HISC

3^rd place:  Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire from Swanage SC

2^nd place:  Rob Gullan and Tom Partington from HISC

1^st place and 2021 RS800 National Champions:  Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore from HISC

Up on Y&Y here