Results / RS Games: RS Vareo Noble Marine Nationals and RS400 Regatta Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy - 29/07/2022

Congratulations to Ollie Groves and Sam Waller, RS Games RS400 Celebration Regatta Winners!

The 400s joined the RS Games for 3 days of racing for a Celebration Regatta that certainly reminded us all of everything great about the enduring RS400 fleet.  Weymouth delivered perfect weather, loads of sunshine with a mix of conditions light, medium and a full on foam up super Sunday to give something to everyone.  This coupled with relaxed and friendly camaraderie amongst the fleet both on and off the water made for a memorable event. 

A short delay before the forecast breeze set in on the Friday afternoon got us away in a light wind.  Good starts and eyes out the boat was order of the day.  Steve and Sarah Cockerill, got off to a fast start and did the best job of reading a 90 degree wind shift halfway through the first downwind leg to deliver a convincing win, which they followed up with a second bullet in race 2 which saw the breeze build from the new direction.  Howard Farbrother and Louise Hosken were looking very quick with a second and third and Kevin Podger with Heather  Chipperfield sailed consistently to round out the top 3 at the end of day 1. 

Saturday dawned with more wind forecast, racing was started on schedule by the super on the water race team who didn’t put a foot wrong all regatta to deliver superb and fair racing for the fleet.  Steve and Sarah’s ominous start continued with another convincing win in race 3, followed by Howard and Louise with Ollie Groves and Sam Waller starting to get their new boat going in third place.  Were the Cockerill’s going to storm away or could any of the fleet step up and challenge the momentum they were building.  The breeze started to build a little more for races 4 and 5 and with that Ollie and Sam found their form and delivered two bullets that would propel them up the leaderboard. Howard and Louise continued to sail consistently to keep in the fight and Kevin and  Heather were always there or thereabouts to keep in the game. 

The fleet headed out on Sunday morning to be greeted by a solid mid twenties breeze and a rapid ride down to the start line towards the West end of Portland harbour.  Sam and Ollie set out their intent from the off and reveled in the conditions with a faultless day that earned them three wins from three.  Heavy weights Ben Williamson and Jon Willars were keeping the pressure on Ollie and Sam with two seconds and a third and lightweights Steve and Sarah sailed skillfully to keep around the front of the fleet throughout the day.  Neil Bevington and Alan Skeens and Paul Smalley and Anna Kerslake also found the conditions to their liking and were consistently knocking around the front of the fleet all day to move up the leaderboard. 

So after 8 fabulous races, Ollie and Sam took the regatta by 1 point from Steve and Sarah, with Ben and Jon finishing third overall. 

A massive thank you to everyone at WPNSA, all the on the water race teams, RS Sailing, the RS Class Association and sponsors Rooster for delivering a superb Celebration Regatta at the RS Games. 

Bring on 2026 and we can do it all again!

Ben Williamson

Day 2 photos to follow soon

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