Sailing Today	The RS700 associations  e-Newsletter
December 2005
Welcome Welcome to the first addition of RS700 Sailing Today, the new regular e-newsletter from the RS700 association. We plan to bring you the latest news, views and technical articles and anything else that maybe of interest to the RS700 sailor! Enjoy! Duncan Ellis GBR907
RS700 committee With the change to the constitution last year, there was a clear need to pull a committee together for the ‘RS700 Owners Club’. The enthusiastic group Alex has built for 2006 come from a variety of sailing backgrounds and can be found sailing at various levels within the fleet.
Alex Newton-Southon – Class Representative and Liaison. Seems to have been involved in the class for a very long time, possibly due to his having been there at the conception. Duncan Ellis – Website and Data Coordinator- A 600 sailor of old, Duncan has now returned to the RS fleet after a few years sailing Contenders and Lasers. He was instrumental in starting our latest fleet at Hunstanton. Jerry Wales – Rules – a 3 times RS300 National Champion, Jerry moved into the 700 a couple of years ago and is usually found competing for the prizes at open events. Jerry is at the heart of the very lively Queen Mary fleet.		John Heissig – Events Co-ordinator - John is another ex 600 sailor who has made the leap, he can be found at most of the circuit events or sailing at his home club of Lymington Town. Andy White – Training Co-ordinator – Recently moved up to Draycote, Andy has a long history with the RS fleet having previously been a 600 and I14 sailor. Ian Nolan – Communications – After many long years sailing Lasers at club level, moved into the RS700 last year and has never looked back. “The 700 has saved me from a slow death on the golf course”. Also sails at Hunstanton.
The 2005 Gul RS700 Inlands Championships 25 sailors ventured to Rutland Water for the 2005 RS700 inland Championships. With 6 races over the weekend it was Andy White who was crowned Gul RS700 Inland Champion 2005. Final Results: 1st RS700 900 Andrew White   Draycote 2nd RS700 933 Matthew Humphreys   Weston 3rd RS700 944 David Cummins   Queen Mary 4th RS700 922 Dave Smithwhite   Hayling Island 5th RS700 882 Jon Heissig   Lymington Town		Nigel Walbank sailing upwind at the recent Inlands at Rutland
Holt Tide Ride - 8th/9th October With 35 RS700's and 16 Musto Skiffs this was always going to be a great event.In the end the Musto Skiffs showed the way. Congratulations to Ian Turnbull for becoming the 2005 Holt Tide Ride Musto Skiff/RS700 Champion! Final Results: 1st Ian Turnbull Musto Skiff   Sunderland 2nd Richard Stenhouse Musto Skiff   Rutland 3rd Peter Greenhalgh RS700   Hamble 4th Simon Reynolds Musto Skiff   Whitstable 5th Rick Perkins Musto Skiff   Whitstable 6th Dave Smithwhite RS700   Lymington Town		Action from the Holt sponsored Tide Ride
RS700's head down under Two RS700's will be making there way to Sydney Australia this Wednesday(14th December 2005) . These are the first RS700's to be shipped to Australia. With boats already in Canada, Dubai, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Wales and not forgetting England the RS700 is beginning to be seen far and wide!
Focus on the RS 700 French fleet With only one boat back in 2004, the fleet now consists of seven sailors who compete in the Open French skiff circuit. The 2005 circuit, which also attracted many French RS 600 and RS 800 sailors, was actually won by Gilles Gras in a RS 700. Most of the fleet gathered in La Rochelle for the European Championship and were happy to get together and to learn a lot from the English sailors. As a result, during next winter, the numbers should again increase as many people are interested in a boat which provides good racing and a lot of fun and excitement whilst still being quite easy to handle.		Action from the Euro Cup at La Rochelle back in July
During the Open skiff event in Carnac over the 8th, 9th & 10th of September 2006, we will hold the French RS National Championship which we hope some of you will be able to attend. In 2007 we expect to organize another National championship that could be part of the RS Eurocup Series. Cédric Fraboulet RS700-FRA928 http://www.breizhskiff.com
Club Corner This is planned to be a regular spot and to get it started the spotlight is on Hunstanton Sailing Club. The club is based on the wash, which incidentally is England’s largest tidal estuary and includes the largest expanse of mud flats in the UK! It is now home to 5 RS700 sailors who have sailed a variety of classes in the past including lasers, contenders, RS600's and OK's to name a few. The sailing takes place from April to October every Sunday with 2 races back to back on windward/leeward courses. The club have about 150+ members who are a mixture of dinghy sailors, windsurfers and kitesurfers. So come and join us next year on the 22nd/23rd April for the RS700 Fat Face Circuit event!		Hunstanton Sailing Club from the air!
Our survey say's? Thanks to all of those who replied to the survey. Over the coming months we shall issue some of the results here in our newsletter. This month we shall look at the subject of age! It turns out that the average age of an RS700 sailor is 39. Our oldest RS700 sailor is 66 and our youngest is 17! A lot of us are also parents with 60% of the members having children, 2/3rds of whom are of school age.  Next edition we’ll be sharing a few facts about our sailing habits including what we’ve sailed, where, when and for how long?
The 2006 RS700 Fat Face fixture list You should all have received notification from Heather on the first part of the 2006 program of events.  This includes an exciting new format for the Nationals at Eastbourne and a new venue for the Fat Face Circuit at Hunstanton.  However, there are still quite a number of events which we are still working on.  These include: A much improved program of Coaching and Training events. A two leg Club Challenge series to be held at Queen Mary and Hayling Island Some more joint events with our Musto Performance Skiff friends. You’ll be hearing more about these events in future newsletters and via the website.  Fixture List for 2006		Action from La Rochelle
21 Jan Datchet Water SC Gul Great RS Pursuit race 11/12 Feb Hayling Island Gul Winter Championships   11/12 Mar Chew Valley Fat Face Racing Circuit   22/23 Apr Hunstanton Fat Face Racing Circuit   6/7 May Stokes Bay Fat Face Racing Circuit   3-6 Jun Eastbourne Sovereign Gul National Championships	8/9 Jul Lymington Town Fat Face Racing Circuit 24-28 Jul Riva del Garda, Italy Fat Face Europeans   12/13 Aug Weston Fat Face Racing Circuit   26/27 Aug Weymouth & Portland NSA Fat Face Racing Circuit   9/10 Sep (Tide Ride, HISC) Open   7/8 Oct Inlands, Grafham Gul Inland Championship
		Peter Greenhalgh - National and Euro Cup Champion 2005
In the December RS News Watch out for the following articles of special interest to the 700 fleet in the next RS Newsletter.  This should be dropping onto your doormat over the coming month.   Meet the 700 Committee – but this time with pictures! The 2006 Master Plan – a brief outline of what we feel the priorities are for the coming year Focus on Clubs – Hunstanton – a full review of the latest addition to the Fat Face Circuit complete with contact information, website links etc. Supercharging  your Spinnaker Systems – a guide to some of the improvements you can make to the standard pump system within the class rules.		More action from this years Holt sponsored Tide Ride
And finally.. Merry Christmas to all RS700 sailors around the world from all the RS700 committee!
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