Congratulations to Al Dickson 2016 RS100 National Champion!

 

Fun photos thanks to David Smart. Rob Richardson receiving his silver fleet prize from Race Officer Phil Morrison. Sailing photos thanks to Mike Rice.  See his full event gallery here.

 

Day 4

 

Super Sunday dawned with a sunny Force 3 to 4 forecast, but a millpond in front of the club.  Nevertheless, the boats were released from the slipway and glided over to Dawlish Warren for a walk to the start; an unusual sight of helms strolling along the shore with boats in hand to avoid the tide.  Zephyrs teased everyone into thinking the wind was on the way, only to die away into the glassy sea.

 

Finally at about 1130hrs the breeze appeared over the horizon from the South and the scene was set for some epic battles.  Could Andy Jones catch Al Dickson?  Could Greg Booth keep ahead of Clive Eplett and Steven Lee who were both snapping at his heels?

 

Race 7

 

A port biased line saw those at the pin end favoured and those that held their nerve to the port lay line were rewarded handsomely.  All 3 Chew SC boats were in the mix with Andy Jones, Chris Goldhawk and David Smart all to the fore, with Al Dickson also in the mix.  Chris Goldhawk led round the windward mark, followed by Andy Jones, with Al Dickson third keeping a close eye on Andy Jones.  He needn’t have worried though as clearly Chris Goldhawk was on Al’s payroll.  In true club spirit, Andy suggested to Chris that they had reached the layline and it was time to gybe.  When Chris gybed, Andy followed suit, only to find that Chris had fluffed the gybe and was careering out of control on a broach and aiming straight for Andy.  Andy’s avoiding manoeuvre led to a swim and a discard.  Chris Goldhawk went on to take the win with Alistair Dickson second and Clive Eplett third. Huw was also happy in the breeze taking fourth with Mark Harrison fifth.

 

Race 8

 

While Andy Jones licked his wounds and refused to talk to his former friend from Chew Al Dickson had consolidated his lead, but at this point Clive was looking good for third overall.

 

The line continued with its port bias, and the fleet remained well behaved, getting away cleanly but on this occasion it was the European champion and class Chairman who read the breeze best, leading round the windward mark and never looking back for a stunning win.  Behind him, Al Dickson and Greg Booth fought out for second and third with Giles Peckham giving up his search for a watch and actually sailing rather well to fourth with Steven Lee fifth.  With Andy Jones still struggling to regain focus through the red mist of race 7, Greg Booth had by now moved to within a 2 point striking distance of second overall, although whether his maths skills were up to working this out on the water is debatable.

 

Race 9

 

By now, Andy Jones has regained his focus and shot off the start line, channelling his anger into his hiking and leading the fleet to take the race win and reassert his grip on second place.  He was also desperately trying to keep ahead of Chris Goldhawk who chased him into second place with cries of ‘I’m really sorry!’ to be heard across the race course.  The ever consistent Al Dickson took third and guaranteed his position as National Champion with Huw Powell fourth and Greg Booth fifth.  Meanwhile Clive Eplett had a race to forget and was so far down the pan he didn’t even finish.

 

Race 10

 

Greg Booth needed to beat Andy Jones by 6 places to snatch second place overall or Steve Lee needed to beat Greg by 5 places to snatch third overall.  Alternatively if Clive Eplett could be ahead of Steve beat Greg by four places he could finish third overall.  So the squabbling over the minor places would be epic.

 

While Al could have gone home for an early shower, the conditions were so good that he still took part in the final race and demonstrated just why he was National Champion, leading the fleet from gun to gun, finishing off his campaign in style.  Behind him, David Smart had finally woken up (something to do with a 0400 am alarm call courtesy of Greg, Huw, Al and Giles.  Such childish behaviour, and Oh did they laugh!) and was showing some of his rusty skills had not completely deserted him.  However there were gains to be had and losses to be made across the three short laps.  Steve Lee took advantage of others mistakes to take second and be in with a shout of stealing third overall.  Chris Goldhawk came in third leaving everyone to wonder what he had taken overnight to see his fortunes change so much on the final day.  If only he had performed so strongly earlier in the regatta.  Greg Booth took fourth to snuff out Steve Lee’s hopes of a podium finish with Mark Harrison fifth, David Smart sixth and Clive Eplett seventh.  Andy Jones finished eighth, only four places behind Greg Booth so ensuring he retained second overall.

 

Overall

 

It had been a breathtaking final day, if not just plain knackering.  The weather Gods had smiled on the fleet and Exe SC had succeeded in hosting a memorable championship.  The Race Officer, Phil Morrison, and his support team did a very professional job of setting up 10 great races, turning them all round very quickly and setting the scene for close combat on the water.  Across the 10 races the fleet had seen 7 different race winners to show that it had been a close fought battle and that there is good depth in the class.

 

The club had been welcoming and friendly with free choc ices at the end of racing when tallying off and loads of homemade cakes, all worthy of the Bake Off final, for those needing to carbo-load at the end of the day (If you ever get the chance, go for the chocolate brownie – it was divine!).  The off water festivities had also been carefully thought through with a memorable quiz evening and a great band night.  The fleet gave their heartfelt thanks to the club.  Thanks also to our event sponsors Volvo, Noble Marine, RS Sailing and Geeta foods.

 

Prize Giving

 

The Volvo Noble Marine RS100 National Championship Prizes were awarded as follows:

 

Fidelis Trophy: Mostyn Evans (First helm who has competed in 3 Nationals but finished outside the prizes)

 

Endeavour Trophy: Emmett O’Sullivan (Lowest finisher who finished all races, ie the person who worked hardest for longest)

 

The new Buddy Prize: Chris Goldhawk and Rob Richardson (Had Chris even met Rob?  Chris really needs to work on becoming a buddy with Andy again!)

 

Silver Fleet Champion: Rob Richardson (Maybe he was giving lessons to Chris, which would explain why Chris had such a good final day.)

 

Master:  Andy Jones (over 50 years old)

 

RS100 National Champion: Alistair Dickson (…and a 17 point winning margin.  Congratulations!)

 

The Odds

 

So let’s look at the top 10 against the original betting:

 

Helm	Position	Starting prices	Comments
Al Dickson	1	3/1 Fav	Deserved the favourite tag, but should respect his elders.
Andy Jones	2	7/1	Came out firing on all cylinders. Might be changing clubs to avoid Chris Goldhawk!
Greg Booth	3	6/1 (25/1 post beer)	Great performance on the water.  Always game for a laugh (at your writer’s expense). Should have had more beer.
Steven Lee	4	4/1	Same position as 2015, but so close to the podium.  His time will come.
Clive Eplett	5	25/1	Those starting odds were far too generous.  He is a wily old fox.
Chris Goldhawk	6	4/1	Only turned up on the last day to justify his starting price.  The future is looking bright for him.
Mark Harrison	7	6/1	Unable to carry forward his Europeans form, but represented the fleet well in carrying out his Chairman’s duties.
David Smart	8	500/1	Accurate odds.  Off the pace and work to be done.
Huw Powell	9	4/1 (1000/1 if light wind)	So nearly enjoyed a daily OCS, but failed to be OCS on the final day.  He remains a class act when the wind blows.  He was most disappointed when racing was blown off on Friday.
Ian Gregory	10	10/1	Tried to invent too many ways of nearly capsizing, but a broken pintle really didn’t help.

 

Unfortunately Lord Giles Peckham’s butler (5/1) was too busy ironing the creases into Giles’s wetsuit and learning to dive to recover lost watches of the good Lord, so was unable to figure in the results.  He may well be searching for a new job, so do contact Giles for a reference.

 

The next event for the RS100s is the open meeting at Gurnard on the Isle of Wight over the weekend of 15-16 October.  It will be a great event (according to the butler).

 

Up on Y&Y here

 

Day 3

 

I must start today’s report with an apology to Sue (knees behind ears – don’t ask) Eplett.  She received a text from her brother saying ‘Please explain’.  In order to avoid any embarrassment I must clarify that it was all about Pilates positions.  I am sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

 

Last night ended with an excellent rock band at a local pub where Sue (dance leader) Eplett succeeded in getting the whole pub dancing on the dance floor.  During the gig, Al Dickson was given the Tambourine to play with the beat.  Unfortunately the tambourine and beat never met.  He may be able to sail, but he’s a poor musician.

 

There has been a suggestion that the wives should do the write up of the day’s racing:

• Some blokes (aka old gits) went out on the water
• They came back
• They talked technical b*ll*cks
• They had a drink
• They were all robbed.

 

So, let’s talk technical b*ll*cks:

 

Race 3

This was a light wind race, with a Northerly Force 2 with shifts and holes to catch the unwary.  The fleet was well spread out across the unbiased line.  Clive Eplett started at the pin and went left to be first at mark one followed by Greg Booth and Ian Gregory.  The light wind specialist, Giles Peckham, searched for a lane down the middle of the run with Ian Gregory getting ahead at the leeward mark with Giles second.  Greg decided to overstand the leeward mark to lose out a load of places.  However Giles was able to sniff out the shifts and pressure up the beat  to take the gun ahead of a very rapid Clive Eplett recovering second with Ian Gregory third, Steve Lee fourth and a poor result for Mr Tambourine man in 5^th.

 

The buddy system had been working well, but Lord Giles Peckham misunderstood how it worked.  His buddy, Nathan Muggeridge, had asked for some downwind advice.  However, Nathan found himself ahead of the Lord at the windward mark, so Lord Giles sailed below him on the hoist and then kindly luffs Nathan who capsizes.  Nathan should find a new buddy.

 

Race 4

The breeze remained light and the line was again square, but Clive Eplett had a plan.  He started at the pin again and went left.  This showed no originality as it was identical to his plan in Race 3.  Unfortunately for the rest of the fleet, it worked again.  The others at the pin included Al Dickson, Andy Jones and Stewart Hawthorn.  They led the fleet with Stewart enjoying the view at the front of and vowing to do it again.  The other notable event were the 6 boats OCS, with only 2 returning.  They included Huw Powell who is trying to go for an OCS on every day.  The rest of the race was an attempt to kill Eplett from stress.  Firstly when Dickson and Andy Jones got the right side of a persistent shift on the second beat, then when the Shorten Course was clearly signalled for the RS300s, but whether this applied to the RS100s too seemed to be a secret.  Eplett just about kept Dickson behind with Jones taking third, with Stewart Hawthorn 4^th and Chris Goldhawk 5th enjoying a foray towards the front of the fleet, where he feels he really belongs.

 

Race 5

The wind was slowly building to a steady Force 3, but the start was heavily biased to the committee boat.  Al Dickson was early at the committee boat and caused complete carnage by turning back, and trying to hit every single other boat.  Some technical language was used and Al did a few turns.  Huw was now starting in the third row to avoid another OCS.  Andy Jones led at the windward mark, with John Richardson making a brief show at the front.  However John suffered a silicone moment when gybing, falling over and taking a swim.  He wasn’t happy, but this opened the way for Giles Peckham and Greg Booth.  Giles had said to Greg that they should gybe off, which Greg did, into a hole while Giles sailed on in breeze once John had capsized.  Andy Jones was again snapping at the heels of the leaders and while Greg sailed away for a comfortable win, Andy took second with Rob (the true youth) Richardson 3^rd, demonstrating the energy and great boat handling of a future champion.  He just needs to develop a little consistency (and avoid being OCS).  His time will come.  Mark (The guvnor) Harrison was 4^th followed closely by the ever threatening Steven Lee.

 

Race 6

The wind had built to a Force 3.  The line was pin biased again, but the fleet was shy (not a term used often for the RS100 fleet).  David Smart spotted this shyness and led off the middle of the line and used Clive’s tactic of bagging the left hand corner to good effect.  He led round the windward mark with Andy Jones making a brace of Chew Valley boats to the fore.  On the run David Smart gybed early for the layline, sailing low and slow and leaving a ray of hope for Al Dickson on a charge.  Behind them were Steve Lee and Huw Powell having a ding dong battle, with Steve sailing Huw into the RS300 fleet.  Huw used lots of words that cannot be written down before the 9 o’clock watershed.

 

At the second windward mark Al Dickson had nipped in front and had the temerity to luff David Smart.  David avoided contact, but gave the Youth a tongue lashing for his lack of respect.  While they swapped the lead a couple of times, Al (Tambourine man) claimed the gun, with David 2nd, Andy Jones 3^rd (showing incredible consistency), Greg Booth 4^th and Clive Eplett 5^th.  Steve and Huw were nowhere to be seen.

 

It had been a great day’s racing, although Mostyn was less happy with winning the ‘RS of the day’ award for losing his nut on the beach.  Mark Harrison helped him out as he had a spare.

 

Simon Geyman also deserves a mention for his devotion.  He missed the day’s racing to get to Wembley for a Billly Joel concert on Saurday night.  He returns to Exeter train station at 11.00, but does not yet know that the first race start has been brought forward to 10.30.  He probably won’t feature strongly in that race.

 

Before the final day, the positions are close, with Al Dickson just 3 points clear of Andy Jones and Greg Booth, Clive Eplett and Steven Lee separated by a mere 2 points. There is lots to play for with 4 action packed races promised for the RS100’s Super Sunday.

 

By David Smart

 

Day Two

 

Too much wind and massive waves crashing on Dawlish Warren led to the cancelling of the day’s racing.  However the RS100 fleet is inventive and competitive and they remained in need of competition.  So they decided that an afternoon of Go-Karting would be in order.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

The swap from wetsuits to overalls and balaclavas definitely improved the look for most.  The competition was to see who could post the fastest lap time.  Scores were to be settled on the track, with the drivers briefing clarifying that it was a non-contact sport, but some rubbing and nudging would be allowed.  There were numerous ‘racing incidents’, with Huw (Crash) Powell pushing his luck with Steven (Bumpers) Lee (AKA My other car is a Ferrari) trying hard to drive Huw into the tyre wall.

 

Chris (How many painkillers can I take?) Goldhawk was taking on (or possibly taking out) Andy (I am an Athlete) Jones to reassert his Chew supremacy.  While elsewhere the husband/wife combination of Mark (There is no gap) Cockrill and Roselle (There was a gap) Cockrill were at each other’s throats.  Roselle won that battle.  At the rear of the grid there was a battle supreme between chairman’s wife Liz (AKA Laura Trott) Harrison and Sue (Knees behind ears – don’t ask!) Eplett. 

 

The overall winner was David (Go faster stripe) Smart who was generously awarded the RS of the Day rubber on a chain award.

 

Hopefully normal service will be resumed on Saturday with some sailing, although David Smart was pushing for the Go-karting results to be included in the regatta as a non-discardable medal race.  Everyone else disagreed.

 

Results of the day:

 

Pos	Name	Time (mins)
1	David Smart	27.298
2	Steven Lee	27.301
3	Huw Powell	27.434
4	Chris Goldhawk	27.482
5	Giles Peckham	27.490
6	Roselle Cockrill	27.505
7	Al Dickson	27.518
8	Mark Harrison	27.536
9	Simon Geyman	27.576
10	Simon Jones	27.654
11	Paul Drewery	27.712
12	Chris Cunningham	27.717
13	Greg Booth	27.738
14	Gavin Benbow	28.145
15	Mark Cockrill	28.227
16	Clive Eplett	28.406
17	Andy Jones	28.816
18	Jeremy Gilbert	28.817
19	Sue Eplett	29.845
20	Liz Harrison	40.676

 

Report and Go Karting photos by David Smart

 

Day One

 

The day dawned bright and sunny with some sporty gusts across the dinghy park to add a touch of panic to the 28 sailors preparing their weapons for the wars ahead.  There was much banter in the boat park as old friends met and new alliances formed among the gold and silver fleets helped by the addition of the new RS100 buddy system.

 

The first race had a committee boat bias, but a few of the fleet were trigger happy.  Rob Richardson, Huw Powell and Clive Eplett were all a tad early, but only Clive did the decent thing of returning.  Al Dickson, Steven Lee, Greg Booth and Andy Jones all made a strong showing, rounding the windward mark in a close bunch and setting off down the run trying to work out the time to gybe for the leeward layline.  The tide meant that they all gybed late, leading to some frantic spinnaker drops and white sailing into the mark.  That allowed the chasing pack to close up.  

 

There was little change at the front up the next beat, but it was decidedly shifty, with places changing throughout the fleet and Clive making a charge from the back.  However the leaders decided to repeat the mistake of going for the wrong leeward mark on both the second and third laps meaning that while Alistair Dickson won, David Smart (4^th) could pick off Greg Booth (5^th) and came close to taking Andy Jones (2^nd) and Steven Lee (3^rd).  Greg was only just able to hold off the fast finishing Ian Gregory (6^th) and Clive Eplett (7^th), who had staged the ‘recovery of the day’.

 

Race two had a pin end bias, but Al Dickson took it a step too far hitting the pin and taking his turn in punishment.  Most of the leaders hit the left, but Clive Eplett went right and so nearly led at the windward mark, but that accolade went to Greg Booth who was revelling in the breeze.  Huw Powell had also found his mojo, rounding just ahead of Clive with Al 4^th.  Down the run Giles Peckham was making inroads, but a broken watch strap led to him diving off his boat to rescue it, losing his watch, boat and any semblance of sense.  After 10 minutes of fruitless watch search he called it a day and sailed home.

Meanwhile, at the leeward mark Steven Lee claimed water on Clive to lie fourth behind the fast flying Greg, the chasing Alistair and Huw now in his element and grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

 

The last lap saw some place changing through some very rusty boat handling.  Greg led the way with a delightful capsize bear away at the last windward mark, leaving the way open for Al to win and surely a safe second for Huw.  However Huw decided to avoid his toestraps on his final gybe, rolling neatly out the back of his boat while the grin turned to a pained grimace.  That left the way open for Steven Lee to take 2nd with the consistent Andy Jones 3rd and Greg Booth 4^th.  Class Chairman Mark Harrison had avoided the carnage to take 5^th.

 

The line honours had initially been given to Paul Drewery, but unfortunately he had only finished 2 laps at the time.  However he celebrated his unexpected (and later adjusted) win with a challenging capsize on Dawlish Warren testing the rescue boat’s skills with a tow off the leeward shore.  Paul and his boat survived unscathed and won the class’s new ‘RS of the day’ award.

 

Friday’s forecast looks challenging, so all looked forward to a good recovery after a few pints and a well organised Exe SC games evening, sponsored by the local Otter Brewery.  We will now try hard to forget watching the pelvic thrusts of Mark and Giles trying to use their cucumbers to push oranges around an assault course.

 

By David Smart

See the results below

Shore photos thanks to David Smart

 

Super sailing photos thanks to Mike Rice

 

Runners and Riders

 

It’s only 2 days to the RS100 Nationals being held at Exe SC from 8 to 11 September. There will be a warm welcome for everyone, as is customary in the RS100 fleet.  Some great sailing is expected with a superb forecast suggesting that wind and sun are almost guaranteed. 28 are entered so far, so who is going to be fighting it out for glory?

The jostling for places will be tight throughout the fleet.  With the introduction of Silver fleet prizes for the first time, there will be something for everyone to play for.  A buddy system is also being implemented to ensure that the Gold fleet knowledge is shared with the Silver fleet members.  We can be fairly certain that beer consumption (or whatever is your tipple) will be a key component in the knowledge sharing.

 

Let’s check out the form of the main contenders by Club:

 

Gurnard SC

 

The club on the Island has been a hotbed of recent champions, producing the 2015 National Champion, Brett Aarons.  He has not entered the 2016 Nationals, so there will be a change of champion this year.  Brett has swapped the Nationals for a Worlds (Etchells in Cowes), but will be back!

Mark Harrison (The guvner) has been showing some form recently, taking the European crown at Travemunde.  He has attended every event this year and will no doubt be in the reckoning. (Odds 6/1)

Lord Giles Peckham (possibly with his butler) has been consistent.  He may also be ‘the bronzed one’, which has nothing to do with permatan, but that he has a habit of coming third in every event he has attended this year. (Odds 8/1, although his butler is 5/1))

 

Port Dinorwic SC (Y Felinheli for those from the principality)

 

A remote, but friendly part of the country on the Menai strait.  They also have an ability to sail.

Alastair Dickson hasn’t been seen much this year on the circuit, but made a brief appearance at Paignton and scored a set of bullets.  He will be desperate to regain the National title that he held in 2014.  He remains the class’s youth representative, although there are rumours that he may have moved South recently due to the cold. (Odds 3/1)

Greg Booth has continued to show front of the fleet speed, picking up tips from Alastair.  2^nd at the Europeans and 3^rd at the Inlands.  Can he reach the top step, or will another pint just slow him down? (Odds 6/1, but after the beer 25/1)

 

Chew Valley Lake SC

 

A fast growing fleet at this club on the side of the Mendips. 

Andy Jones is one of the Chew new boys.  2^nd at the Southerns and 3^rd at Paignton, he is showing good form and learning fast.  He could be a dark horse. (Odds 7/1)

Chris Goldhawk has made the step over from the Slowlo, where he was proving hard to beat.  He has mastered the spinnaker quickly (possibly due to RS700 experience) and claims to be enjoying the boat.  He is learning fast and gave Alistair a run for his money at Paignton, finishing 2^nd.  A Chew thoroughbred (Odds 4/1)

David Smart has taken much stick over the years for his wobbly blue stripe, but a damaged shoulder has meant he has been nowhere near his boat for months.  Rumour has it that he is making tentative steps back into his boat. More a donkey at present. (Odds 500/1 and that’s generous)

 

Frensham Pond SC

 

Buried deep in leafy Surrey, and home to some top sailing talent.  It also has a couple of RS100 sailors.

Clive Eplett is a stalwart of the class and has been to most events this year, showing great consistency and always mixing it up the front end of the fleet.  Always willing to pass judgement or assistance, whether helpful or not (in your correspondent’s case).  (Odds 25/1)

Ian Gregory has shown flashes of genius, winning the Southerns, but inconsistent.  Can be blindingly fast at times if conditions suit. (Odds 10/1)

 

Weston SC

 

Buried along the shores of Southampton water, this club often produces great champions.  Steven Lee has been hounding the front of the fleet, with wins at the Sprints and the Inlands.  He is strong in all conditions and his boat handling is impeccable.  A true all rounder.  (Odds 4/1)

 

Red Dwarf Bay SC (or that’s what it sounds like.  Alternatively Traeth Coch to the locals)

 

This is a beautiful sandy bay on Anglesey and home to Huw Powell.  Always in the reckoning, unless the wind is light when he is trying hard to have racing abandoned.  The Exe forecast should suit him.  (Odds 4/1, but 1,000/1 if it goes light)

 

There might be other dark horses turning up to throw the odds completely, including the local fleet from Starcross YC.  Chris (blood and thunder) Cunningham can be brilliant in a blow, but won’t even come out to play if it’s below a Force 6.

 

Parkstone YC have a strong fleet, but don’t seem to possess a trailer.  It would be good if they could club together to send a representative or three.

 

Llandegfedd SC hosted a great Inlands and have a budding fleet.  It would be great if they too could cut the grass from their trailers and get down to Exmouth.  There could be a budding North v South Wales contest to add to the mix.

 

The names above are by no means the only ones capable of lifting the crown, and there is also the draw of the Silver fleet for those who are new to the fleet. 

 

If you’re not entered yet, there is still time and the fleet will give everyone a warm welcome on Thursday, or even just make a weekend of it. See you there.

 

By David Smart

 

Photos thanks to Llandegfedd SC, Sportography.tv and Paul Wyeth