Results / NEW Rooster RS Virtual Sprint Championship Virtual Regatta - 25/04/2020

Thank you to our fleet captains for hosting smashing VR racing for the Rooster RS Sprints: Mark Harrison for RS100, Will Taylor for RS200, Paul Watson for RS300, and Jacob Ainsworth for RS400.

Congratulations to all those who virtually sailed together!  We're looking forward to getting out together on the water for real as soon as safely possible!

Thank you to Rooster for sponsoring this stand alone event.  The winners will receive a specially branded Rooster RS National Tour 2020 10 litre signal blue dry bag.  Why not treat yourself to some of Rooster’s fleet custom kit?  Grab your 20% discount by using promo code “RSCA20” at the checkout here

Our Rooster Virtual Sprint Champion hall of fame is as follows:

RS100 Ethan Dawson

RS200 Ed Harris

RS300 Paul Rigg

RS400 Phillip Murray

Click on your fleet to go straight to your report:

RS100

RS200

RS300

RS400 report not yet received as at 1 May 20

RS100 Rooster Sprints 2020

Once again, the RS100 Class Association has knocked it out the park!

Six upwind/downwind races in ideal conditions in exotic locations such as Sydney Harbour, San Francisco and of course, Portsmouth.

Some of the usual faces were absent, notably Clive Eplett (who would prefer there to be real water involved) and Giles Peckham who forced his wife to cycle round the Isle of Wight rather than do the gentlemanly thing and let her race in his place (as Mostyn Evans did).  Dave Smart made a guest appearance on Zoom but did not race, presumably because he was not allowed to race in his own boat with the wavy blue line down the side.

Fortunately, there were a few willing participants from the RS Vareo fleet, so we were joined by Paul North, who organised the Zoom session, and Mike Dicker.

Cindy Donnecke-Herz brought her RS100 from Germany to make this a truly international event and put plenty of us to shame including one of the usual front runners, Greg Booth.  Greg seem constantly distracted by sheep, leaving his helming position and disappearing from view.  This was a shame because despite his poor performance he still reached the fastest speed overall, albeit in the wrong direction.

Greg also won the award for most swearing, although that did not translate into penalties.  Huw Powell appeared to be on the top of his game in terms of penalties, particularly when it counted and he was up at the front.  Nevertheless, even Huw could not beat Paul North for the greatest number of penalties but these mostly occurred before the start and did not affect his performance overall.

The battle really turned out to be between Ethan Dawson, Mark Cockrill and Paul North with Ethan scoring two firsts, three seconds and a third to win the event overall.  Mark Cockrill had put his time in isolation to good use to come second overall and will be content to know that his appalling result in the second race would not have made a difference.  We can now see why Paul North was so keen to set up the Zoom link, as (despite his self-deprecating comments) he had clearly also been practising and came in third, four points ahead of Mark Harrison.

Mark Harrison improved throughout the racing, winning the fourth race and constantly vying with the front runners in the last race, eventually coming third in that race to come fourth overall.  No doubt wearing a buoyancy aid and sailing cap enabled him to achieve this magnificent feat.

One person unusually missing from the podium was Al Dickson who kindly set up the event and ran it.  It appears that Al entered race five but failed to start, despite actually being in charge of the start sequence – pretty impressive!

The back of the fleet had its own tight racing with Cindy, Greg and Pippa all vying for last place.  It was close, with them all (at one time or another) driving their boats through each other, incurring penalties, or generally going the wrong way.  Eventually Pippa achieved the cachet of last-place, presumably due to the interference by Mostyn who won the award for best (or worst) backseat driver.

Thank you to Rooster for sponsoring this virtual event in place of our real sailing Sprint Championship.  The winner wins a 10 litre signal blue dry bag emblazoned with the special Rooster RS National Tour logo.  The next event will be hosted as soon as safely possible.  Check out the RS100 website to keep up to date and follow the RS Class Association on facebook.

Report by Mostyn Evans

Up on Y&Y here and Sailing Anarchy here

RS200 Rooster Virtual Sprints 2020

With over 20 entries at the beginning of the weekend, it was decided to run the racing in two flights.  This worked well with smaller fleets and tight racing where everyone had a moment at the front of the fleet.  Racing in J70s the fleet quickly learnt how to skillfully control the boats without the use of navigational aids.  At the end of the six races on Day One, it was the Taylors leading the pack with Chay Taylor in first, Chris Taylor in second and Will Taylor in third (must be something to do with the Taylor surname).

Day Two saw the flights reassigned so you would race more of the fleet.  With more beautiful sailing conditions, where even helms could enjoy dry feet sailing, another six races were completed for each fleet.  Leading the pack after 12 races was Chay Taylor, followed by Will Taylor in second, with Ben Rolfe in third.  At the end of the weekend, the top 20 qualified for the medal racing on Monday morning where positions were carried forward and three medal races would take place.

Unfortunately, not all competitors were able to compete in the medal racing most notably leader Chay Taylor.  Racing in the medal races was furious with racing hard but fair like normal RS200 racing.  With no discards every race was important.  The first race saw Charlie Whittaker take victory from Ed Harris and Stephen Videlo.  This brought both Ed and Charlie into contention after finishing the weekend in 5th and 4th.  The second race saw a turn in fortunes for the leaders all counting results outside the top three.  The meant going into the final race there were just five points separating the top four with any one of them capable of winning the series.  As cliché as it sounds it all came down to the final run with all four inside the top run and a difficult run to contend with as the gusts had disappeared.  Crossing the line first was Charlie Whitaker - would it be enough?  In second was Ed Harris, followed by Will Taylor.  Unfortunately for Ben Rolfe he got a penalty on the final gybe pushing him down to 6th.  With the points calculated the winner of the RS200 Rooster Virtual Sprints is Ed Harris (aka “Calypso_2”).  Congratulations to Ed and all other competitors for competing over the weekend.

Thank you to Rooster for sponsoring this virtual event in place of our real sailing Sprint Championship.  Ed Harris wins a 10 litre signal blue dry bag emblazoned with the special Rooster RS National Tour logo.  The next event will be hosted as soon as safely possible.  Check out the RS200 website to keep up to date and follow the RS Class Association on facebook.

Report by Will Taylor

Up on Y&Y here

Rooster RS300 Virtual Sprints 25-26 April 2020

In place of our yearly trip to Rutland this year’s Sprints, like many other events at the moment, involved a whole lot less travelling.

But rather than focus on the differences, or the racing, I thought I would draw upon what was similar between sailing an RS300, the ultimate hiking single hander, round a course to tapping some keys to make a J70 virtual day boat do the same thing.

Pre-Start

Where we’d normally be unpacking our boats from trailer mode to the ultimate sailing weapon mode, consuming fried goods and drinking coffee, the pre-start of a VR J70 race was even more relaxed.  Once the zoom meeting had been set up, so we could ‘encourage’ each other round the course, all that was really needed before the start was to decide whether to put your pint down to concentrate or keep hold of it for moral support.  Inconsistences in the results table suggest most of the fleet opted for both options on different occasions.

The Start

Normally hotly contested on the water, there was really little difference during the VR game. Penalty whistles aren’t normally a thing at an RS300 event, but the fleet seemed to revel in the idea of them as the gun approached, letting our inner keyboard warrior out to ensure you could slow the boats down around you.

The only slightly odd thing was the purple boat that normally sits comfortably at the pin end at an RS300 event was mixing it up. We are still not sure if this is a sign for the year ahead or whether the beer may have been having an effect.

The First Beat

There are few boats that are more comfortable or more rewarding to sail upwind than an RS300. The boat responds and gives back to every bit of effort that you put in.

The VR J70 on the other hand was a little slow to offer the feedback we are all use to.  It was however pretty comfortable.

The Top Mark and Bear Away

Approaching a windward mark in 25 knots would normally cause a somewhat escalated heart rate for even the most hardened RS300 sailor.  Choosing just how far back down the boat you need to be before committing has been the undoing of many great sailor.  Fortunately, the majority of the fleet now has this manoeuvre sorted and often wait until later for their first bath.

The VR J70 caused no such heart rate fluctuations, it did however give the umpire boat another opportunity to get the whistle out.  Murmurs of ‘time and opportunity’ were even heard over Zoom as people crash tacked in the zone and proceeded to wipe the virtual transom from other competitors.

Downwind

As those who sail unstayed single handers know, the fasted way to the bottom mark isn’t always the shortest.  This is very much the case in the RS300, playing the gusts and angles (within a few degrees of straight) will inevitably get you to the bottom mark quicker than someone sat there pointing at it.  There’s a reason why Rooster Sailing’s Steve Cockrill is so fast downhill, and it isn’t because he is sat there not doing anything.  His upwind and downwind videos are worth a watch if you haven’t seen them.

Back in the realms of a VR J70 it was again all about the angles, but this time slightly larger ones. They even have this turbo booster sail fitted to the front which involved a different key on the keyboard, more confusion and a couple more whistles.  It soon became clear who had an idea about how the game worked, or who had ‘unlocked’ the most help to prevent the need to constant attention.

Overall

Coming off the water, shattered and ready for a cold pint, warm meal and a good catch up about the day’s racing and all sorts of other things, the end of the day at an RS300 event is a social affair and really is a massive draw for many when coming along to the events.  While VR racing doesn’t quite cut it in terms of ‘earning your calories’ it was still a great excuse to catch up with mates, have a beer, cuppa or whatever else is in the cupboard and keep that fleet spirit alive.

Oh yeah, the racing… we did 10 races, 8 to count.  It took roughly 2.5 hours over 2 evenings and in the end a chap called Paul Rigg from East Lothian YC won, beating 16 other competitors.  Rumour has it he has been practicing in a club series…

Paul is the lucky winner of a shiny new Limited Edition Rooster National Tour 10 litre Dry Bag, generously provided by Rooster sailing who continue to support the fleet despite that fact we are mostly stuck at home.

The next on the water event will be hosted as soon as safely possible.  Check out the RS300 website to keep up to date and follow the RS Class Association on facebook.

Report by Paul Watson

Up on Y&Y here