Record turnout

The RS200 National Championships are underway in Hayling Island

A record 136 RS200s have gathered at Hayling Island Sailing Club to compete in the 2008 National Championships. Most of the fleet spent Saturday practicing and bimbling in glorious summer sunshine, hoping that was a pointer for the rest of week!! Waking up on the first day of the regatta, tents were being blown away in the campsites and the rain was lashing down – proper British summertime!

However, after an hours postponement the fleet launched into a lovely 15-18 knot south westerly breeze, with the sun also peeping out from behind the clouds. The fleet had one practice gate start before getting down to business.

The early leaders in race one were Andy and Jeraldine Peters, who were last out of the gate but first to the windward mark by miles! Slowly but surely though, like death and taxes, Roger Gilbert and Jane Willan powered through to take the winning gun. Behind them, the Peters hung on to take second, with Nick Charles and Juliet Kingsnorth third.

The second race started after a long delay, following some large windshifts as the result of a mini front coming down the Solent. The fleet got away at the first attempt, but as the result of a windshift, the windward mark could almost be laid on port tack out of the start. Unfortunately, a fair few members of the fleet failed to spot this, which gave the unusual sight of boats hoisting spinnakers on the beat! Ben Saxton and Kate Macgregor showed the best awareness to win the race, with Tom and Jo Hewitson in second and James Peters and Alan Roberts third.

With many of the pre-event favourites having picked up a discardable race already, the early leaders are Robbie Burns and Victoria Lee-Simpson, repeating last years good showing, followed by Sam Littlejohn and Becky Hyde and James Stewart and Toby.