RS400 Nationals 2026 – Punters and Bunfighters
You’ve had the low-down on all the superstars and Gold Fleet Commanders attending this year’s RS400 nationals – but as we all know, the glory of the podium is nothing without the struggle of the fleet behind them. This year’s championships promises up to 50 boats battling it out in the real business end of the fleet, where competitors have to worry about all the boats in front as well... So let’s take a deep dive into some of the crews who could be fighting for the few inches separating 28th and 29th across the line.
Dan Blight and Chet Downs
The dream team of Hampshire, the Commodore and Deputy Under-Bosun of the illustrious Guildford Pond Model Yachting Club make a dynamic pair on the race course. Despite his numerous duties as Chairman, Dan has still found time to get Chet round with a notepad to watch the ‘Higher and Faster’ training DVD four times in August to try and prepare for the size upgrade from their usual command. They mean business at the nationals, and are trying to get back on the horse after recently losing their club’s penant to arch rivals Bill and Ben Flowersham in the Guildford IOM invitational.
Watch for: Hooking and dragging the windward mark, after perspective gets the better of them.
Brian Pinch & Emma Bark
This pair have recently been absent from the glamour of the RS400 class as they attempt to conquer the gritty, no-holds-barred street-fight that is the Graduate class championships. Having finished that bloodied - but holding Silver - they have decided a return to the 400 should be a piece of cake. Known to look for performance in every last detail, they have agreed to optimise their ropework by using the smallest dyneema size possible for every line onboard.
Watch for: blood on the deck at the leeward gate, after Emma’s been flying the kite on 2mm dyneema sheets.
Todd Norris and Phil Guymore
Regular listeners of Todd’s podcast will know just how seriously he and Phil have been taking their 400 campaign – and the America’s cup style of management. Reported to have only carried out their practise sails at night (so the competition can’t spot any boat handling tricks), and kept the boat-on-boat development to simulator runs against an AI opponent, the fleet is keen to see how their data-centric preparation will play out on the course.
Watch for: load cells fitted to shrouds, mast ram, and rudder pintles.
Jim Hogan & John Tweed
If rumours are to be believed, this pair have been going all out trying to push the boat measurement rule to it’s absolute limit, and weight savings have got extreme: the gelcoat thickness is down to 0.13mm, all lines are 10% shorter, and the recon team have seen a suspicious number of helium bottles lying around the dinghy park… And they could be onto something if the results from last Wednesday’s Royal Llandudno Yacht Club pursuit race are any indication; where this pair finished just a boat length behind a particularly well sailed Scorpion.
Watch for: a squeaky call for ‘Water!’ and the windward mark, when the hull’s charge starts leaking at the shroud plates.
Stephen and Sophie Rogers
Stephen and Sophie have been taking podiums together since the early fifties, and competing in the RS400 fleet since 1984. Sophie maintains the 400 is the connoisseur’s choice of dinghy as the wing wang gives one the speed of an asymmetric spinnaker, and the timeless elegance of dipping your pole through the gybe. They were forced to adapt when the aft-main rig was outlawed in the early noughties, but their speed around the course is still impressive for a pair holding a total 5 hip replacements between them.
Watch for: any noise of a crack during maneouvres, which could be the hull – or could be the crew.
Ricky Martin & Eddie Wedder
Ricky is coming into this year’s nationals at the top of his game, having just strung together an impressive set of results in the King’s Lynn Boat Club ‘Summer Sundays Series’ to finish medalling bronze with former crew Tom. He’s known for taking no prisoners on the race course: he’s spent the summer practising sailing one handed, so that if incoming crew Eddie tries to rest his legs Ricky can keep his arm across and hold him on the toestraps.
Watch for: Eddie sailing upwind with both arms above his head and the jib-sheet between his teeth.
Ella and Ben Farmer
Brother and sister team Ella and Ben have a point to prove on the course. After winning their group round-robin at BUCS team racing playoffs last year, they’ve fallen out the top of the university sailing fleet and have come to show everyone what the Firefly hotshots can do when given a third sail. They know their Rule 42 from their Rule 17.3, but can they convert it into a winning combination in the series results?
Watch for: laying a mark trap at the windward gate. Enter at your peril!
Harriet & Reggie Roberts
Husband and wife team Harriet & Reggie know their business when it comes to a nationals campaign. After attending the last three nationals and demonstrating clinical consistency with back to back 35th place each year, they’re on a mission to pull out all the stops and get into the 20s this year. They’ve done extensive research on youtube; taking notes from all the Olympic teams, and have seen the new fashion in Olympic skiffs for starting on port. And as everyone knows, you don’t climb the leaderboard by being predictable…
Watch for: the lone wolf approaches the herd from the left.
Angus Marshall & Naomi Moran
Angus is famous for his mindset-based approach to eventing: “start the race when you leave the house, and when you hit the start line you haven’t had time to slow down and underperform”. To this end, he’s scheduled to leave Edinburgh ~5am on Thursday, so that he and Naomi can reach race 1 with a full 8 hours at max speed under their belt. That is, if he has finished hand-writing all his reports and jokes (like a Luddite) in time to leave home…
Watch for: a dramatic drop in performance after race 1.
All of this said, for the Punters and Bunfighters, the real racing will be to the bar…
Will Roch Elfris steer Pandy Howell through the dark and stormy nights to victory, or is he indeed better after a storm?
Will the youngsters of the fleet be ready to run to the aid of grand masters Ron Jeynolds, Robert Stewartson and Shatt Meehan, carry them to the bar and buy them the beers they deserve?
Will Nam Sight, Glamish Hedhill and Haul Pilliar’s tactics be good enough to bring in new ballast and share the load at the AGM? The current crew have been staring at the same horizon for a long time and are in danger of running out of ship's biscuits!
And finally will Fian Lynch catch the youngsters and make a mini blockbuster, contradicting the evidence above that the 400 fleet is full of grandmasters, tail-end Charlies and spinners of sea yarns?
This time next week we will know!”
Author: Mangles Partial, with a little input from Callie Sambell
