RS 400s and beyond

Champions Roger Gilbert and Nick Craig on how to get ahead in the RS400 and where they are going next

Yesterday we talked with Roger Gilbert and Nick Craig, winning helm and runner-up respectively, about the Endeavour Trophy.

Both have dominated the RS400 fleet for several years and with the Endeavour being raced in 400s you could say they had a little bit of an advantage over their competition. Despite the race track being on the river Crouch, and short sharp racing, essentially taking the competition away from boatspeed and more into a tactical battle, does this years results mean that if you’re not a good 400 sailor then you are unlikely to do well?

Nick Craig seems to think that the 400 is the right boat for the event. “The 400s are a pretty well matched fleet, they last pretty well so even the older ones are competitive, as long as you have a decent set of sails. There are not too many speed differences, so they are a good boat to do it in that sense.”

For Roger Gilbert, he’s happy to acknowledge that those extra few boat lengths around the course are difficult to squeeze out - “it’s not a difficult boat to sail to be honest. It’s a difficult boat to sail really well, most people get just get into it and be pretty close to speed.”

And from yesterday’s article, the choices for a replacement boat are quite limited. The interesting thing is when you ask Roger and Nick, how they have approached the RS 400 fleet and how much additional work these two helms have put in.

“What happened was Nick (Craig) and I actually put in a bit of effort about four years ago together” says Gilbert. “We did a lot of two boat tuning and we made quite a jump on the fleet and to be honest no-one has really closed that gap down. So now, even three years later we’re basically racing it out between ourselves.”

If anyone doubted that Gilbert was a handy sailor, among other things he achieved this year was coming fourth at the GP14 Worlds - having never sailed the boat before.

So just how good is the 400 fleet? Again Gilbert is pretty convinced that it produces some of the most competitive racing in the UK. “With all the millions of classes there are at the moment there’s bit of a limit choice of decent classes in the UK to be honest,” continues Gilbert, “I sit here thinking what should I sail next and the 400 is probably as competitive as any, with the exception of the Olympic Classes.”

The style of racing of a 400 is quite different to a lot of classes. For Nick Craig it’s a “great boat to race, upwind it’s good tactically because it's manoeuvrable and you can tack a lot. And downwind you have the same thing - it’s very tactical, there’s no better boat for close tactical racing.”


Nick Craig trying to work it out

For both these sailors the boat also accommodates their larger frame too. Nick is 14 stone and says he would love to sail 505s and Fireballs but for this he would need to be ten stone.

Roger has won the nationals in the class for the past four years, with Nick hot on his heels. This year's nationals went down to the last race with Nick leading Roger, but an OCS handed the opportunity over to the defending champion.

Both Roger and Nick have been busy in other classes over the past year or two and for the 2004 season, both will be changing their priorities away from the RS400. For Roger it will be the 49er and Nick will be focusing on his OK racing.

The one fault with the 400 is lack of international competition, as it’s an almost entirely UK-based fleet. “That’s what I have missed with the 400,” says Gilbert, “I did Lasers for a couple of years and really enjoyed the international events - you tend to get rather heavily beaten.”

The OK class is the big attraction for Nick. He won the Nationals this year, although he admits the sun was shining on him: “To be honest at the OK Nationals I was a bit lucky really. I had a few big wind shifts that I just happened to be on the right side of! So I’m not sure I deserve that one!” (funny the way that happens to all the good sailors). But again it is the International aspect of OKs that Nick enthuses about, “It’s just great international racing. There’s not many amateur classes these days that have a good international scene. It’s one of the few boats that gets a 80 boat entry at the Worlds which is limited entry, so the international racing is awesome.”

40 boats regularly sail in UK with what Nick describes as “very solid” turnouts. 2004 will be the big year for the OK in Britain. “It will be really good year next year in the class. We have the worlds in Britain, they only come to the UK every 10 years ago. So I am going to have a really good go at that. A Brit has never has never won it in about 40 years, so it’s about time one of us did it!

The OK Nationals will be held one week before the Worlds in June at Parkstone so it looks like the class in the UK will get a real boost next year.

This aspect of a new challenge is also why Roger is changing focus next year. “It’s difficult to keep remaining motivated I suppose. You certainly get motivated for the events, but you don’t quite get the same thrill winning it for the fourth time in a row! So I think it will be good for me and good for the class to have a change. I still love the 400, it’s still the best boat designed in my opinion. To me it’s just got everything – Its fun, it’s tactical.”

Roger is going to be doing more 49er sailing. “I’m not looking to do too much internationally. I can’t afford to do it professionally at the moment and it’s quite a big leap to do that” he says. “So it’s really just to try and get to the top end of the UK circuit. Ignoring the Olympic guys, which are in a different league. I would like to do a few of the European events, like the Europeans.”

Roger feels that he has to sell his 400 to give his 49er sailing a chance. “The problem with having the 49er and 400 is that whenever a 400 event came up I would sneak off and do that because it would be fun. Then your 49er sailing suffers because you don’t practise.” He is also dabbling in the world of crewing too: “I’m crewing at the Fireball worlds at Christmas, sailing with Shane McCarthy. I did the Europeans with him. We had a good laugh, and so we’re going to do the Worlds as well. I’m not much of a crew in a symmetric boat so it’s quite fun.”

So where does that leave the RS 400 fleet next year? Nick will still be turning up for the Nationals. Roger thinks it will between three helms - Nick, Craig Burlton and Chris Jennings. The RS 400 also has an established circuit through the year and Roger thinks this could go to Craig Burlton.

What is not in doubt is the just how good the social scene is in the RS classes. Both Roger and Nick will be getting into various RS boats through the year to ensure they don’t miss out on the party as Nick explains: “It’s one of the huge advantages of RS racing: the socials are excellent because all the classes are there.”

This year has seen the classes not all race together as their combined size was becoming a logistical nightmare. Notes Nick, “because it’s got so big now they have started to split the fleets. So sometimes we’ve stood their thinking ‘mmmmm, we need more classes here - it's all blokes!”

Next year the Nationals for the 200s and 400s will be held at the same time, which will ensure a big turnout - and a mixing of the sexes. Roger definitely has this one pencilled in the diary. “It’s being held at North Berwick. It’s a fantastic club up there as well. It will be a brilliant week. I am sure I will be there in some shape or form, probably not in a 400 though.”