Sailing Today Previous issues: Dec 05 Jan 06
The RS700 associations e-Newsletter		February 2006
RS700 Breaking News... The Gul RS700 winter championships take place at Hayling Island this weekend (11th & 12th February 2006) The 2006 RS700 UK Gul National Championships are now less than 4 months away!!!! Congratulations to Chunky for finishing 2nd overall in the Steve Nicholson Memorial Race at Northampton Sailing Club.
It's February already... Welcome to the February addition of RS700 Sailing Today. The RS Racing Calendar starts for real this weekend with the Gul sponsored RS700 Winter Championships at Hayling Island.  Then its time for the Dinghy Show at the beginning of March at Alexandra Palace. We then have 3 Fat Face circuit events including Chew Valley, Hunstanton and Stokes Bay which are then followed by the "big one" The 2006 RS700 Gul sponsored National Championships!!!! We have included a preview from Eastbourne to wet your appetite, venue of the 2006 RS700 UK Gul National Championships written by the commodore Mick Whitmore who can often be seen on the RS circuit in an RS800 or close to the bar! In this issue we have: Bloody Mary The London Boat Show post report Boat Show Pursuit Race RS700 UK Gul National Championships Club corner - this month we take a look at Queen Mary Sailing Club Do you have problems covering your tackle And finally Cedric Fraboulet informs me that things are getting exciting for the new season in France with a good turnout likely for there first regatta at Easter with boats possibly coming from as far as Germany and the Netherlands. See you on the circuit. Duncan Ellis GBR907 [email protected]
Bloody Mary on the 7th January The 2006 Bloody Mary took place on the 7th January in very little wind with a total of 219 entries including 170 finishers from 86 clubs in 60 classes. This year  6 RS700's took part with Matt Humphreys leading the RS700's across the finish line in 47th position. Matt Humphreys 47th Ben Cooper 58th Daniel Azzopardi 110th Eddie Gatehouse 125th Leigh Albrecht RTD Rob Chaplin RTD
The London Boat Show post report The 2006 London boat show was very successful for the RS700 with 9 boats sold over the 10 days. 5 of those boats are two new owners which I welcome to the fleet and looking forward in seeing out on the 2006 racing circuit. Recently the 700 sales have gone from strength to strength over the past few months with a further 2 new boats in Germany this month with a few 2nd hand boats to follow. Also further boats are going out to Australia early Feb and with the positive outlook from the boat show its looking very exciting for 2006. Also want to thanks Matt Humphries for braving the elements at a cold and windless Excel docks during the boat show in flying the RS700 flag by doing the boats how pursuit race . Alex Newton-Southon RS700 Class Rep. GBR 927 Direct line. 023 80 246 334 [email protected]
Boat Show Pursuit Race (We asked Matt Humphreys to describe how it really was!) What can I say about the Boat Show Pursuit race? Good spectator sport I suppose, lots of vantage points to watch sailors trying to deal with wind bouncing off of frigates and buildings. Plenty of people getting dunked as the wind suddenly switched off, or even came from the other side of the sails. Lets face it if even a Snipe can be capsized by a gust from the wrong direction what chance does a trapeze boat have? The course this year was up and down the dock, what a surprise. Since the wind direction was allegedly across the dock that meant 2 reaches and no chance to fly the kite (I tried it once and nearly hit the wall). I soldiered on until near the finish when the mirror dinghies drifted back past me, then I was thrown into the very cold water by a gust bouncing off the frigate. At this point with 10min left on the clock and being expected to do another whole lap I decided enough was enough. With sense of humour failure rapidly approaching I turned round and skulked back ashore before the optimist could overtake me! This is definitely not an event to do in a trapeze boat, I would definitely advise against any trapeze boat entering this event, it is not fun. cheers Matt
RS700 Gul National Championships 3rd-6th June 2006 Planning for this years RS700 National Championships is already underway, not only by the RS700 committee, but also by us at Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club. We have over the last couple of years run Fat Face events for the 700 and other RS classes, those of you who attended will know already that when it’s good at Eastbourne, it really is very good! We certainly have the experience to provide you with a great event, and those of you who do the circuit will know our resident 700 sailors Dave Geal and Alex Koukourakis whose input the club will be putting to use.   Our racing area is in Eastbourne Bay, an open expanse of water right off our beaches, just a very short sail and you will be on the race course. No real problems with the tide, it goes in and goes out, up the English Channel and down again, no rocks, no dry sand to fill your wetsuit and no mud either. What about the beach, what about launching and recovery? Questions normally asked about Eastbourne. Let me put your minds at rest. The entire sailing season of 2005 at Eastbourne we lost two days sailing, one of those was the Saturday of the Fat Face event when it was perfectly suitable for launching but just too windy, the other was an October club event, when the only safe place to be was in the Bar looking out the window. We have a good reputation at Eastbourne for Beach Parties, and believe me when I tell you, if we cannot launch and recover you, you really wouldn’t want to be out there anyway! Those of us use to beach sailing normally lift in and out of the water, it will be great to have a class with boats light enough not to completely knacker our beach party on day one! You’re Principal Race Officer and on the water race team will be aboard our own Committee boat “Seahorse” There is no missing her, she is a bright yellow Catamaran, purpose built for us by Cheetah Marine on the Isle of Wight. Try not to hit it, you will come off worse! Now, onto the important bits. The bar will be open, according to the new licensing act 2005, as much as possible. There will be a party evening, probably on the Saturday, food will be available throughout the event. You will get to know us all; we are a very friendly club We have a nice patio overlooking the beach and race area; ideal for those expert “patio sailors” you know who you are! And great beaches for the family to enjoy. So what about Eastbourne itself? God’s waiting room. Full of the blue rinse brigade. Well just between you and me, and make sure this goes no further, we actually put out that propaganda to make sure we keep it all for ourselves. We have it all. And it’s ours, all ours. You can share it with us for four days if you like.
Fabulous Beaches, The South Downs and surrounding countryside, The spectacular Beachy Head for those of you who feel suicidal (only kidding, don’t do it) Hotels, Guest Houses and Camping. Eastbourne is a town with a population in excess of 90,000 (only 29% are over 60) and the recently built Sovereign Harbour was the largest complex of its kind in Europe. Chic Restaurants and Bars prevail over tea rooms and bingo for sure.   My guess though, is the thing most of us remember about an event is the actual sailing. I love sailing at Eastbourne, but as Commodore I am bound to say that. Have a look at the photos, support your 2006 Nationals, come to Eastbourne and make your own mind up.
Club Corner - Queen Mary Sailing Club Queen Mary Sailing Club is a Sailing and Windsurfing Club with a Training Centre, Sailing Shop and Caterers. The club is based on a reservoir with over 700 acres raised high above the surrounding countryside which gives good wind conditions. The Club is professionally staffed and safety cover is provided at all times that the Club is open – every day in summer and 5 days a week in Winter. During the summer the club remains open late during the week if it is windy. We have 20 RS700 members now, with 8 of us having attended open meetings or nationals or European championships last season. Sunday racing is based on windward – leeward courses, and with two races back to back. The largest attendance we had for a Sunday club race last year was 12 during the summer, and a core group are still sailing regularly although the weather is now bitterly cold. On Boxing Day, four RS700s raced at the QMSC pursuit race, open to all club members, and was won by Jerry Wales on the RS700 (of course!).	Dan in action!
The standard of RS700 racing is high with our members, Jerry Wales and Leigh Albrecht coming 1st and 3rd respectively in the 2005 Fat Face circuit, and Dave Cummins who obtained a 3rd position in both the European Championships at La Rochelle and the Inland Nationals in Grafham. I am always surprised when I go to the sailing club mid-week to get some sneaky practice in, to find other RS700 members practicing – this is the big advantage of sailing at a sailing club that has rescue cover throughout the week.  In November, we organised a training event for RS700 club members of all levels where we were video taped and later analysed our techniques (much fun was had at my expense!). We hope to organise a few more of these training events next season to benefit both the beginners and the top end of the fleet. On New Year’s Day we have another club pursuit race, the Stewards cup, all good preparation for the Bloody Mary on the 7th January.   Although there will not be a Fat Face circuit event at QMSC this season, we look forward to welcoming you to the QMSC Cup Challenge event (date - to be announced). Dan RS700 Fleet Captain Queen Mary Sailing Club
Do you have problems covering your tackle? A bit of a one for the newcomers tip here, but I often see some of the regulars fighting with to pull LDC’s woven blue cover over their forestay tackle so this might be of use to them as well.  Some people have opted out and have stolen some of the pipe work from behind the washing machine as an alternative.  However with a little thought, the standard cover can be made to work well.  Here are a few hints. Minimise the clutter, You don’t need 10 metres of rope tail in there.  Adjust the tackle so it will just allow you to fix the lowers on safely when you are stepping the rig.  Remove the rest, tie a knot in the end and save some weight in the bow!  If you are worried about wear, simply top and tail the rope after a while. Reduce congestion.  The problem point is always the cleat so minimise the congestion in this area. Always attach the tube at the top with tape and pull down over the cleat because the cleat tapers at the top. When you’ve applied the tension, put a locking knot around the whole tackle as this pulls in the bottom of the cleat reducing the overall diameter. If you need to tie off the tail, run it neatly alongside the cleat and tie it off above the top pulley.  This ensures it can’t bunch while you pulling the sheath down.
And tape it off.  And when it’s all done, tape off the bottom of the cover to ensure there’s no snag point for the kite. Everything should now work very smoothly indeed! p.s. And of course you’ve noticed the two marks on standing part of the rope to help give consistent tension on shroud holes 3 and 4. Ian Nolan
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