RS600s going from strength to strength
by Lee Bratley 12 Sep 2018 11:10 BST
RS600 UK Nationals at the RS Games © Alex & David Irwin /
www.sportography.tv
It's been something of a breathless season for the RS600s so far this year, so we're currently taking a well-earned rest until our final event of the year at Rutland in November.
With events throughout the year, we've been busy both on and off the water in order to ensure that this is the place to be for the friendliest place to get your high performance sailing kicks.
With decent fleet sizes all year - including 29 at Weymouth for our recent Nationals at WPNSA (not forgetting another 25+ turnout at Grafham for our Inlands) the class has plenty to be happy and excited about at the moment.
As if that wasn't enough, however, the most exciting news from the camp at the moment is that of 'New Boats' being in development!
Alex at RS unveiled a brand-new RS600 at the RS Games for us to cast our eye over - and what an absolute beauty she looked! With up to date construction methods and a few small tweaks here and there, the boat received a unanimous thumbs-up from the assembled sailors and - whilst on display at the RS hub during the games - attracted a lot of interest from other sailors from other classes.
The 600 has always been a good looking boat and the attention it received showed how it can still hold its own in the looks department today, 25 years after being launched.
Out on the water the boat sailed nicely up the fleet as a few ideas were tested by Alex and his team through the weekend, all boding very well for us to see new production runs very soon.
We're indebted to Alex at RS who has spent a huge amount of his own time on this project through the year and the fact that the boat was sailable, competitively, straight out of the box, is testimony to how few changes were required to the basic design of this fantastic dinghy.
With more testing and development taking place through the next few months, we're hoping to finalise the changes needed very very soon - so watch this space!
Too see all the action from a fantastic Nationals at Weymouth as part of the RS Games, check out the Sportography photo gallery (many thanks for grabbing some brilliant shots!).
In the meantime, if anyone is interested in taking a look over a 600 or, perhaps, even try a sail in one, then head over to our fantastic facebook group where you'll find plenty of discussion (and advice) regarding these amazing dinghies.
All are welcome - young, old, male, female - just come on and take a look.
For sure the 600 is a challenge, but it's not impossible and not exclusively a 'blokes' boat either. With some of the Nationals top ten weighing in at under 70Kg you don't need to be of a 'fuller' figure to get the best out of the boat so come on down you lightweights and ladies - the more the merrier!
We've had fantastic support this year from RS Sailing, Allen Sailing, Boatyard at Beer and the amazing Alex Newton-Southon and we'd like to extend our huge thanks to everyone for making 2018 one of our best seasons ever, thus far.
We'll be at the RS 'End-of-Season' championships at Rutland over the weekend of November 3rd/4th so, hopefully, we'll see a few helms out to end the season on a high.
Finally, a massive congratulations to our 2018 National Champion Richard Smith for his 9th overall (2nd Monohull) at the Round-the-Isle-of-Sheppey race, with Michael Iszatt just outside of the top ten and 3rd monohull.