Class Association
Day three of the Noble Marine Rooster RS200 National Championships, was finally a day when everyone managed to make it out to the racecourse. With the wind dropping, we planed out to the East Bay course. The day was all about ‘soaking’ which made the downwind legs much more tactical.
The first race of the day started in 15 knots, & yet again left was the way to go. The whole fleet set off looking for the wind divergence hoping to pick the right place to tack onto the port lift. Arran & James managed to pull away from the fleet up the first beat. Hard on their heels were Ian & Emma who seemed to have a slight speed advantage in the marginal conditionals as the wind dropped. They took the lead on the final downwind. The top five or six boats seemed to have mastered the ‘chop’ & had pulled away from the bulk of the fleet. Race 5 finished with Ian & Emma in first, Arran & James in 2nd with Scott Wallis & Emma Baker 3rd.
The wind started to drop for race 6 making tactical decisions even more critical. Ben & Lorna were in front at the windward mark in 14 knots of breeze. Again, a core breakaway group battled it out at the front as the wind dropped to 12 knots by the finish. Nearer the middle of the fleet the crews had to work hard to pick the right downwind routes as here were where the biggest gains & losses could be made. Henry Hallam & Ashley Hill had some real downwind pace to overtake Arran & James & snatch 3rd behind Ian & Emma in 2nd with Ben & Lorna scoring another bullet.
The legendary RS200 fancy dress party kicked off with a delicious paella in the ELYC marquee. The Space theme saw lots of kitchen foil moulded into various disguises. See the RS200 Class Association UK Facebook page for pictures of the revelry.
Written by Adam Catlow
