RS200 Rooster Championship Tour, Southern Champs, Itchenor 17^th/18th June

Day 1

Race 1 - The fleet were eager to get off, leading to a general recall and black flag. For the second start we felt the committee boat was favored but, as we racked up at the committee boat, it became apparent the wind had swung fairly hard left, making those coming off the pin look rather smart. We were a bit too far back to see what was happening at the front of the fleet but after a sprint-like race lasting just 20 mins, Alex/Callum claimed the first bullet of the event followed by Murray/Phoebe and Karen/Jo in 3rd.

Race 2 -  The breeze was starting to build and the line seemed fairly even, with the two leading boats at the windward mark coming from each end of the line. Ben/Lorna took the lead in this race with Alex/Callum in 2nd and Murray/Phoebe in 3rd.

Race 3 - With the wind building a bit more, boats were fully hiked upwind. This time the right paid on the first upwind. We took advantage of this but failed to consider that the tide was also flooding out from course left to right at the windward mark, meaning we overstood whilst Alex gained lots by judging the layline accurately with Murray close behind. Alex gybed quickly at the windward mark whilst we carried on a bit before gybing. As Alex gybed back we managed to land a gybe on his breeze and soak onto him giving us the lead at the gate. Those who went too far course right on this downwind made big losses as they punched the tide, allowing the boats who kept more to the left to roll them. On the upwind we managed to extend a bit more and held a safe lead to the finish line whilst Alex protected 2nd from Matt/Bethan and Merrick/Victoria.

At the end of the day Alex/Callum held first with a very respectable 1,2,2 scoreline and 3 boats of Brendan/Ellen, Murray/Phoebe and Ben/Lorna tied for second. It was going to be very tight for day 2 of racing, which dawned with decent breeze but rain looming on the forecast for later in the day. On the course, the wind was going through large 20+ deg shifts as the breeze blew over the land.

Race 4 - Felt like deja vu as the fleet got general recalled, leading to a black flag, and a left shift favoring those starting near the pin. The only major difference being that Alex got black flagged, denting his otherwise impressive scoreline. Murray did well again to win the race, followed by Owen/Anabel and Steve/Sarah who seemed to have found more pace after fiddling with their rig overnight. 

Race 5 - We managed to get off the start line quite well in this one and rounded first with Alex and Murray hot on our heels. On the downwind the 3 of us gybed fairly early and covered each other down the run, each boat edging ahead a little at different points. Into the gate Alex just edged into the lead with us following and Murray splitting to the other side. A few bad tacks left us floundering whilst Alex and Murray shot off. We managed to close it up slightly towards the top mark, meanwhile Andrew/Jill Peters rocketed into contention after a good beat. On the final downwind,  Andrew demonstrated some sublime soaking to rocket past us and Murray and grab 2nd place, Alex held onto the lead and Murray placed 3rd.

Race 6 - Going into the last race Alex had a decent lead, but Murray still had a chance of beating him if he could finish 4 places ahead and a few other boats had an outside shot. The fleet were edgy, leading to the 3rd general recall of the event but this time under a black flag! The fleet trundled past the committee boat like naughty school children to see if they’d been spotted, 4 boats were picked out and sent home but none of the leaders had been flagged. With everyone a lot more nervous going into the second attempt, the fleet got off cleanly with a lot of the normal front runners back in the pack. Down the first run a few boats managed to get onto the plane, getting back into contention. Karen/Jo had managed to eek out a decent lead though followed by Andrew/Jill and Will/Faye rounding off in 3rd. Going into the last mark Murray got on the inside of a stack of boats using some team racing tactics to convert Merrick/Vic through to 5th but with Alex still sitting in 6th it was not enough to wrestle the lead from him.

In the end Alex/Callum won with Murray/Phoebe in 2nd and the ever consistent and speedy pairing of Ben/Lorna in 3rd.

Thanks to all at Itchenor and to our Championship Tour, Rooster.

Don’t forget to join in the fun this coming weekend at the Salcombe Gin RS Summer Regatta at HISC or the ‘Cornish Nationals’ at Restronguet, and for youth sailors, sign up for the youth champs at Itchenor on the 8/9th of July!

Ben Teague