Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals at Prestwick - Day 2

Racing on day 2 of the Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals © Alan Henderson

Credit where credit's due. For once the forecast was spot on, regarding both the wind and (unfortunately) the rain. Well done Windguru. It quickly became apparent that 12-16 knots from the south kicks up something of a sea state at Prestwick.

Here's a question – why do the waves always look so much bigger and steeper when you're going upwind? The waves were to play a major role in how the races panned out. With the waves slightly offset from the wind direction the beats were difficult with much slamming into the waves on port tack – in my boat at least. Some coped better with this while others fared better in the surfing conditions downwind.

Race 3

Going quickly upwind, Dave Acres arrived first at the windward mark for the third race in a row. However, this was at least partly due to Tim Keen breaking his rudder downhaul on the final tack to the mark. Maintenance Tim, it's all in the detail. Steve Bolland, however, was not far behind and managed to surf through on the first run. These positions stayed the same over the next three laps but with never more than about 10 boat length's separation. Keen recovered well to third with fourth going to Steve Sallis.

Racing on day 2 of the Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals - photo © Alan Henderson

Race 4

Race 4 was slightly shorter after the marathon race 3. It was characterised by two things – a large rain squall hitting the fleet on the final beat with a big right shift, and Paul Watson going like an absolute express train upwind. Clearly low and fast is quick in waves but it does require a certain amount of fitness which rules it out for the majority. If his tacking and downwind speed matched his upwind work he would be unbeatable! This was a pretty close race overall – Watson initially led but Acres wriggled though downwind. Acres was then the first to spot the squall and tacked off. Despite this Watson sailed over the top and would have led at the final windward mark had he not almost binned it on the tack. Acres was away and Watson just, just managed to hold off Bolland on the final reach to the line. Paul Rigg had a return to form with fourth.

Racing on day 2 of the Volvo Noble Marine RS300 Nationals - photo © Alan Henderson

Race 5

The wind was probably at its strongest for the final race of the day. Again, Acres and Watson were in jet propulsion mode upwind and arrived at the top mark together, followed by Keen and Rigg with Bolland just about finding a gap following a high-risk port tack approach.

The positions remained largely unchanged downwind but there was some compression between the main contenders. For once, left paid up the second beat and Bolland closed the gap on the leaders although it was still Acres and Watson up front. By the leeward mark it was Acres from Bolland by about a boat length and it was game on!

In a final lap of two halves Acres extended his lead upwind with Bolland trying to keep the gap manageable before his favoured downwind legs. Watson was also back in the frame but Bolland took both he and Acres on the stunning first reach, last time around. Unfortunately for Acres, Rigg also had the afterburners on and also came through to leave the positions at the finish as Bolland, Rigg, Acres, Watson, Alistair 'flyweight' Mclaughlin.

Saturday morning, day 3. The rain has stopped but so has the wind. Forecast 9-11 knots from the SouthWest. Hopefully Windguru has under-estimated as it will be painful in that breeze if the chop remains from yesterday. We will see.

Results after Day 2: