Author: Wayne Stobbs

It seems to have been a long time coming but the RG65 Nationals weekend finally came and participants descended on Gosport for what was forecast to be a hot and sunny weekend.  Many took the opportunity to tune up on Friday in a good breeze with a number of boats launching for the very first time.

Saturday morning saw bright sunshine but a breeze of little more than 5 knots largely easterly but with sufficient shifts to keep race Officer Chris Durant on his toes and everyone de-camping to control from the South Bank where things kicked off with the skippers briefing.

Skippers and visitors were welcomed to Gosport especially our friends from overseas, Belgian Christel Cracco, Frenchman Gerard Chauvel, Swiss Tobi Laux and Martin Gray from the US.

After a short rejig of the course Heat 1 B Seeding got the event under way and local knowledge seemed key as Nigel Brown swept to victory followed by Tobi Laux and Alex Cory.  Heat 1A with John Tushingham not starting because of repair work, saw Phil Holliday home first from Peter Moore and Liz Tushingam.

Race 2 was to set something of the tone as with the breeze holding pace but continuing to shift, Graham Elliott showing a clean pair of heels to Tobi and by now the recovered John Tushingham.

With the breeze fighting to move more southerly Graham took Race 3 from Mark Dicks and Peter Moore (Nice new boat going well Peter!)

Alex, John T and Graham, finishing Race 4 in that order gave a master class in tactical close racing with Mark, Graham and John T ending the morning’s racing in Race 5

So to lunch with the points still reasonably close.  Graham from John T, Mark, Alex, Peter M and Christel Cracco having quietly sailed pretty consistently.  At this stage also worthy of note that there were 4 different designs in the top 6 boats.  The lunch break also brought the fleet back to the North Bank.

It had been decided that the early post lunch races would be sailed conventionally for the championship but would also be chosen for 3 races to count towards Bart’s Big Little Boat Bash.  Chris was trying to keep the courses as consistent as possible in the still 4 – 6 knot range but with the shifts seemingly moving inevitable more from the South.

During the course of Races 6 – 8, Martin Gray had clearly got the bit between his teeth after a couple of relative stinkers earlier taking first in Race 6 and 7 and second in Race 8 in his brand new Uno which he saw for the first time on Friday.  Not surprising then that Martin also became the fastest timed skipper over the 3 races.

A couple of general recalls in race 8 led to 30.3 U Flag start but the inevitable urge to avoid being flagged over the start line brought a 3 way tangle between John Burgoine to windward of Phil and Graham.  Try as hard as they did to disentangle themselves, it was well over half a minute before they were able to rejoin the race, and subsequently granted redress.

Tobi took Race 8 from Martin, Mark and John.  Race 9 saw Graham and Phil being promoted back up from B fleet to take second and third behind Tobi in A fleet.  The afternoon continued with a little more settled breeze direction but the strength gradually falling away.  Race 10 saw Graham win from Phil and Martin whilst Tobi took Race 11 from John, Martin, Clive Cokayne and Graham.  This 5^th place for Graham would be his second discard and the end of day 1 after 11 races showed Graham with a 12 point cushion over Martin (31), John (33) and Tobi (38).

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Sunday started with bright blue skies although the very light breezes were coming from everywhere, then falling away completely.  Ken led B fleet away getting a commanding lead only to hit a hole towards the final windward mark and watch helplessly as the fleet gradually hauled him in and overtook.  After the completion of the first heat, Chris called a postponement to try and get some consistency showing in the breeze, although it was to be indicative of the difficulties that would be faced throughout the day which would lead to several course changes.

Race 12 went to Tobi, his second consecutive win and his fourth overall.  Alex took Race 13 by the end of which Graham’s lead still looked reasonably secure around the 10 point cushion mark but there was less than 5 points covering 2^nd to 4^th Martin, John and Tobi.

Race 14 and virtually all thereafter suffered from really tricky shifts and swings in wind speed but it still looked as if Graham could hold on, especially since at that stage only 2 more races and the third discard would cut in.

Stinkers for Martin and John in Race 15 meant the top three were bunching ever closer, Tobi taking this one from Graham leaving Graham still clear but John and Tobi inseparable.

Race 16 sailed with the third discard coming into play at the end of it.  Mark took it from Tobi although a major swing in the scores was about to take place with Graham discarding his 8^th place, John discarded the 11^th from Race 15 but Tobi managed to get a Race 3 15^th place out of the reckoning.  10 points now covered the leading 3 boats but they were forging further ahead of Martin, Alex, Mark and Christel.

With the breeze continuing to move more Southerly, the beats more directly across the lake became necessarily shorter.  Christel started to make a move winning Race 17 from Tobi and John but Graham’s 7^th place was enough to change the overall lead.  Another win for Christel in race 18 closely followed by Tobi and John meant that it was getting closer than ever and as 3.45 approached, what would inevitably be the last race got under way.  Martin led this one home, from Christel, John and Graham but could Tobi hold on to his slender lead. 

The answer was that Tobi’s 7^th place was good enough for the event win with net 50, Graham was 2^nd with net 54.2 and John third with net 57.  Top 6 then all different designs.

Our thanks go to the Gosport club and members for putting on a great event and especially Chris Durant and his merry gang of helpers for keeping the racing ticking over.  Stephen Ridgway, Paul Edwards, Richard Filer, Alan Butt, Nick and Christine Ward, John O’Brien, Mike Carter, Mervyn Cook, Tony Millis, Chris Judd, Robert Hobbs, Chris Moore, Trevor Cartwright, Phil Hampson and Tim Rees for their lakeside help, Sue Brown for keeping the kitchen stocked with drinks and cakes, and last but not least, John Smith for organising the event from start to finish.  We look forward to our next visit to this great venue.

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Our report finishes with 2 questions, to which the answer to both was, if you were able to be at the prize giving, emphatic No’s.

Q1 Has anyone, when considering the applause and acclaim from his fellow competitors, been a more popular winner.

Q2 If you saw Tobi after the presentation, has anyone been more pleased with their performance and result.  After 7 year’s trying he had at last won his first regatta in his home designed, home built and relatively old boat.  Just goes to show that persistent time on the water pays off.

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Pictures thanks to Sue Brown from Catsails – many more pictures on Sue’s Flickr Pages

Saturday’s forecast for Round 5 of the TT was at best light and variable.  Who says that the wind always blows in Yorkshire.  The briefing took place as normal with Derek Priestly arriving just in time to pick up the boat being loaned to him by Michael Parkington, and then the wait started.  If there was some wind, it was not suiting the course. PRO John Sharman would get the course reset, only for the wind to die or swing through massive angles.

Racing eventually took place with John Tushingham managing to come to terms with the variable conditions over 14 races taking him to the win with Derek 2nd and Peter Baldwin 3rd.  It was great to see a mix of Scurry, Scram, Pocket Rocket, Sith, Sledge and Manta in the top 10.

The forecast for day 2 and TT6 was much the same, possibly even more variable.

Derek hit the road running with a win in the 1st race before having his mainsheet snapped in race 2 by a rogue whirlwind.  In the end this setback did not not have too much of an impact as he went on to take the event win, with John Tushingham second and Wayne Stobbs 3rd.

Thanks must go to John Sharman and his team of merry helpers for keeping things going as best they could under testing conditions.

Thanks also go to Judith and Peter Baldwin for keeping the score sheets in order and last but not least, Liz Tushingham and the other ladies in the kitchen for keeping us fed an watered during the weekend.

13 Skippers turned out for the 09:45 briefing from PRO Clive Bardell at Watermead for round 4 of the RG65 TT on Sunday 9 June.

Glassy spots on the lake were an indication that the forecast was correct, but in the end the wind filled nicely for the day, well, till the last of the 16 races on the day.  Indeed, 16 races were sailed before the 16:30 cutoff and it is safe to say that the day proved be good fun for all those competing.

Mrs Tushingham beat Mr Tushingham into 2^nd place in race one which clearly upset him as he went on to score 12 wins on the day, tarnishing his overall score with a 2^nd place after the 3 discards.

Phil Holliday managed a brace of wins on his way to 2^nd overall with John Brierley taking 3^rd place on the day.

Great to see the 9 different designs of Rg65 carrying both Swing and Conventional rigs mixing up the racing proving that there is no one design that is running away with all the honours.

Well done to the race team at Watermead for running the day so efficiently.

A good entry of 19 boats of which there were 7 different designs competing for round 3 of the RG65 TT at Birkenhead, where we were met with blue skies and a decent breeze of 6 to 8 knots straight down the lake, with all skippers opting for their number 1 rigs to start the days sailing.

We sailed 4 races before a quick cup of tea/coffee (and a piece of cake) with no one skipper quick out of the blocks. Martin Roberts did take 2 out of the first 4 but also scored heavily in the other 2 sailing a borrowed Scram for the day.

Eight races were sailed before lunch and still no one skipper dominated with 5 different race winners and only a few points separating the top 5 boats it was obvious that consistency was going to win the day.

After lunch with the breeze building and skippers going down a rig at some point during the next four races, it was tight to the finish, finally after 17 races it was Martin Roberts who ground out the win on his maiden venture with an RG65 and gave the lad a smile from ear to ear.

We had two lady helms competing at this event, both enjoyed the champagne sailing with Liz Tushingham finishing in a well placed 7th and Susan Parkington 13th.

Thanks must go to  Judith Baldwin, Bernie, Neil and Chris Westbrook for their help and not forgetting John Brierley for supplying the scones and Bara brith to have with our tea.

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The RG65 circus came to Bournville and what a cracking do!

18 skippers from the length and breadth of the country, Keigthly, Birkenhead to Portsmouth and most places in between. To say Bournville was surprised and delighted was an understatement, there is a burgeoning fleet of RG’s growing there and after seeing how these cracking little boats perform it will grow again. So win win for all.

The wind was a nice top suit breeze from the far end of the lake allowed RO Peter Moore to set a course that used the lake fully in a two lap figure of eight configuration.

There was a good spread of the current designs, Scurry’s, Sledges, Syth’s and the odd Pocket Rocket a mix of carbon and glass hulls, most had swing rigs.

Using the long race format Peter got in 12 races during the day with not too much time out.

John Tushingham lead the way to come out the winner on the day, Clive Cockayne was second, Mark Dicks third and Liz Tushingham fourth.

The racing, as always, was tight throughout the fleet and it was excellent sailing across the board. It can all be wrapped up with that very apt but totally applicable “A jolly good time was had by all” and Bournville is looking forward to the circus coming back again next year