Light and Shifty Conditions at Chew, the opening event of the Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour 2026

Chew Valley Lake SC hosted the opening event of the RS400 Southern Tour sponsored by Sailing Chandlery for a one day open alongside the RS100 and RS700 Inland Championships and laid on glorious sunshine but not such glorious wind conditions – optimistically 4 knots and shiftier than a teenager in a hoodie.

Clearly getting his weather forecasts mixed up, National Champion Edd Whitehead headed out to the start, having swapped his traditional RS400 spinnaker for the pint-sized RS200 one.  Should have gone to Specsavers, Edd!  Thankfully a short postponement allowed a kite upgrade but when race one got underway a big right shift on the first beat split the usual suspects and put Paul and Anna Smalley into the lead, chased hard by Tim and James Le Couilliard.  With the big shift persisting, the race turned into a bit of a procession and the Smalleys took the win, with locals Alex Knight/Chris Bateman slotting into third.

More postponements for the second race and more big shifts kept shuffling up the order but this time it was Rob Henderson/Rebecca Videlo leading, chased by Tom Halhead/Paul Hilliar and Sam Knight/Chris Bownes.  Tight racing with constant place changes were the theme of the day, with Knight/Bownes keeping it close and nailing the final shift downwind to take the win in the final 200m.

By race three the enormous wind oscillations had started to even out somewhat and the wind conditions were generally improving.  With race officer Arky Wainrwright resetting the course, the RS100s went off first and acted as a big wind indicator for the subsequently starting fleets.  Halhead/Hilliar took a decent early lead that got closed right up at the leeward mark by Knight/Bownes and the chasing pack.  It all stayed super tight for the next lap, with Knight/Bateman and Whitehead/Ian Mairs closing fast so that with a lap remaining, the leaders split at the leeward gate.  Turned out it was the left gate that paid when the next shift rolled through, sealing the win for Knight/Bateman from Whitehead/Mairs.

The best wind of the day came through for the fourth and final race, 6-8 knots and still gloriously sunny.  The Smalleys picked the first shift to come in from the left but it was Halhead/Hilliar who led at the first mark and extended on the downwind.   Knight/Bownes came through to second but never got quite close enough to engage for the win.  Whitehead/Mairs downwind speed proved that swapping the RS200 spinnaker for the larger, class-legal RS400 one had indeed been a good move and pulled through downwind to take third.

The fleet came ashore after an excellent day on the water with a variety of conditions and a different winner for each race.  No one truly got their head around the shifting wind but Halhead/Hilliar did just enough to win by a single point from Knight/Bownes and Knight/Bateman.  Given the highly changeable conditions, the race team did an excellent job to get the races in.

Thanks to all at Chew Valley for hosting us.

Next up on the Sailing Chandlery Southern Tour is the inimitable Salcombe May Bank Holiday Regatta, the best attended event on the tour last year.

For those that are keen to get back on the water as soon as possible, Leigh & Lowton host the RS400s next weekend at their new Flash Dash, with 10 boats entered already!

If you are looking to boost skills, there is an RS Class Association funded training day at Parkstone on 25^th April.

Paul Hilliar

Photos thanks to Arky and Gus Cameron.