Jason Belben and Mark Asquith Dashing for Cash

The RS800 champions will be at madforsailing's new Southampton Boat Show event - 23rd September

Jason Belben and Mark Asquith picked up the RS800 National title a couple of weeks ago at the first attempt, having borrowed the boat from Jason's wife. This triumph wasn't quite as effortless as it appeared however, Jason and Mark having sailed together for a while across a number of classes.

Until recently, the Boss had been the main focus for the pair, winning the Nationals, Inlands and Euro Cup in '98, and following that up with the Boss Nationals this year. They also raced the 49er during '99, scoring a seventh at the Nationals and doing the Olympic trials in April. After their RS800 success, Jason stayed on for the RS600, the single-hander championship, finishing fifth; while Mark moved along the coast to Abersoch where the 49er Nationals were taking place and finished fourth overall - not a bad effort between the two of them.

Mark is shifting his focus back to the 49er now, and has teamed up with crewman Matt Howard with the long-term aim of campaigning for the next Olympics. Those with a reasonable memory will recall that Jason represented Britain in Seoul in the 470 in 1988, sailing with Andy Hemmings.

When madforsailing.com talked to him, Jason was already thinking about both the new RS700 (for a quick look at the prototype click here), and the new Musto Skiff. He'll get a good opportunity to look at the Skiff in action on September 23rd, at the madforsailing.com Dash for Cash.

This is a new event promoted by madforsailing.com at the Southampton Boat Show. We've invited 24 of the country's top trapeze/skiff crews to come and race right in front of the show in the RS800 and the Musto Skiff. As well as Jason and Mark, the racers will include Paul Bayliss, Andy Budgen, Rob Greenhalgh, Nick Peters, Russell Peters, John Pink, Andy Partington,Tim Robinson and Mark Rushall. We haven't added up how many titles that lot hold, but we probably couldn't count that high anyway. Paul Brotherton's running the racing and to make sure it's exciting to watch, we've come up with a completely new format.

It's a knockout competition, with eight teams in each of the two divisions, Musto Skiff and RS800. The two classes will race alternately, two teams at a time. So the sailors will race in pairs on what snowboarders would call a dual slalom course - two separate courses of four marks. They will weave downwind, gybing through the slalom, and rounding the last as a leeward mark before tacking back through the buoys to the finish. One lap, first one home is the winner and goes through to the next round.

The final will be the best of three races and will be contested mid-afternoon, with £1,000 up for grabs for the winner of each class. But before that, each team in both classes will get one more shot at the prize money, in the Dash for Cash. They will get one more lap on the race course, choosing their own start time within a one minute period. The fastest lap in each class will win another cool grand - £1,000.

Throughout the contest the sailors won't be allowed to cross onto their opponent's course, and the propulsion rules will be thrown in the bin - so it's a whole new style of spectator friendly sailing. If you're coming to the Southampton Show make sure it's that Saturday!