Photo: Richard Phillips, www.e-sailor.com

RS800s race to the sun - courtesy of Murciatastic

A competitive fleet of 28 came to Lymington Town’s 5 fleet RS UK circuit event. Consistency over varying conditions was key with a variety of wind strength, direction and tide providing ever changing race conditions and strategic challenges. Sunday proved to be perhaps the best RS800 racing of the season so far with the wind increasing from 14 to 18 knots over an ebb tide with glorious sunshine.

New pairing, Andy Jeffries and Adam Broughton in ‘Kiss My RS’ came out strong with three 1sts demonstrating their ability to win in both light and heavy airs. “We worked hard on our set up, then tried to keep it clean and simple, escaping the start line and to the right side for the tide”, said Adam.

Peter Barton and Roz Allen in ‘Murciatastic’ made a Sunday comeback nailing the bullets in the 1^st two races and pulling through from 5^th to 2^nd in the last race to win by a slender point in a nail biting finish. “Lay lines in tide are very hard to judge but absolutely critical. Before racing we identified accurate lay line transits both upwind and downwind. After ducking transoms we pulled out a 100m lead on the pack who had over stood in the tide. We then had to remember to vary these transits downwind due to the increasing breeze, which caught us out initially!”

Stokes Bay winners, Chris Webber and Jim Baldwin proved they are a force to be reckoned with in the breeze as well as the light showing great pace in both to put a consistent series together to take 3^rd from Spod Olive and Guy Fillmore in ‘Harken’ who also staged a comeback in Sunday’s breeze.

Mick Whitmore and Sarah Smith won the Silver Fleet in 7^th, including a win in shifty race 2, demonstrating both excellent strategies and their ability count!

As ever Lymington Town SC covered all the bases from excellent race management, streamlined launching and recovery and even importing a feisty 20 strong hen party to liven up their evening disco! After escaping the hen party, Ollie Page was later crowned RS800 Pool champion of 2009 in a tense sloe gin fuelled late night knockout tournament.

Many thanks to event sponsors Muciatastic who, in conjunction with Pro-Vela, provided 15 prizes of luxury Spanish accommodation and boat use together with a 20% discount on accommodation to all RS Association members. Further information at www.murciatastic.co.uk and www.pro-vela.com .

Next stop on the RS800 UK circuit is the ever popular Hayling Island on 18/19^th July which will be the last chance to refine form before the Carnac Eurocup a week later. Bring it on!