RS600 Rooster National Tour opener at Bough Beech Sailing Club
by Will Russell 12 Mar 11:56 GMT
8-9 March 2025
RS600 Rooster National Tour at Bough Beech © Sarah Seddon
Seven RS600s turned up to Bough Beech for the Rooster National Tour Opener for 2025. With our first glimpse of summer and a nice 8 to 15 knots of breeze, we couldn't have asked for a better day.
With six of the boats finishing in the top six of the 2024 Nationals, there was definitely some unfinished business to determine on the race course. We were also joined by Hugh who had sailed RS600s about 15 years ago and decided to jump back in. The first few races were getting the rust off but by the end of the day, he wasn't far off the fleet - not bad for a 15 year break!
Saturday's plan was to get in four races back-to-back with another two scheduled for Sunday combined with club racing. For many, this was the first outing for the summer wetsuits and some asked around if they could borrow suncream because they thought it was still winter and didn't plan for sunshine and 17 degree heat - a welcome surprise!
The fleet didn't mess around with Race 1 with the racing starting before the start even began. Three boats had decided that a port flyer would be the move with a port end bias, but the rest of the fleet had clocked onto their not so subtle plan with all three of them lined up on port with a minute to go. The other four boats came down the line, also wanting to start on the pin, but gave no opportunity for the port flyer to be executed like originally planned, with Rich Smith bailing out...
This didn't stop George who thought the gap between Jamie and Will was big enough to squeeze in if he breathed in. However, he very quickly realised that this wasn't going to work as Will did have to take avoiding action, and George wasn't crossing Andy either to successfully pull it off. After doing a turn, everyone was making their way to mark 1.
Throughout the race, the fleet was super tight with opportunities to make gains every lap. It was definitely a day of getting your head out of the boat to watch for the pressure both upwind and downwind.
Getting into Race 2, everyone decided starting on Starboard was probably a better idea after the previous experience. However, space by the committee boat started to get quite tight with Rich Smith realising he was out of space with 5 seconds to go causing the individual recall to go out. The following races on Saturday continued to be action packed with anything up for grabs until crossing the finish line. After the fleet came ashore, they headed to the pub for dinner and to share some of their favourite moments from the day.
Going into Sunday, we were warned that the breeze would be more easterly which could be shifty but ended up being another day of fun challenging conditions for the fleet. As we were getting ready for Race 5, a bunch of boats had got themselves ready at the pin end on Starboard as the current shift had created some beneficial bias. However the breeze dropped a bit in the final few minutes making it hard for Jamie and Will to get themselves along the line.
In the last 20 seconds, both of them decided to tack straight onto port and so they could hit the line with speed and save the cost of a tack after the start. Both of them headed to the dam with some speed while the rest had gone off from the pin for a bit before tacking.
Looking across, it was looking quite close for both sides, but Jamie and Will ended up in a bit of a lull by the dam, with Will tacking off to head towards the left, while Jamie stayed on for the lay line. What they hadn't realised was the other boats were set up on the lay line from their port end start and coming in with some speed. Will's decision to go a little left helped round just in front of Jamie but some work was required to catch the others.
As we came round for lap 2, the club racing had started so now it was about staying out of trouble while finding the pressure. A few headed to the dam to keep clear, while others went left which paid off in the previous lap but now had a load of club racers with the same idea. It didn't take long for the fleet to get past the slower boats and get back into clear breeze with Jamie and Will getting back into the mix.
As we got to the finish, it was a photo finish for Rich Bone and Will. Rich Bone was ahead of Will going into the last lap, with Will right on his tail on the bottom reach. Going into the mark rounding, Rich had to give room to a boat in club racing so got a less than ideal rounding to the finish but luckily that boat tacked off to not get too much in his way. Will rounded a few boat lengths behind with a much tighter rounding and a nice lift to help him cross Rich Bone once he had tacked for the line.
Going into the final race, the course had been made wider to help reduce interference between fleets, but also moved the run into a part of the lake we hadn't sailed on all weekend to create a new challenge. Going into the start, Rich Bone stormed off to round the windward mark in the lead with everyone right on his tail but once we got to the run, it got very close with multiple place changes.
As we approached the bottom mark as a big group, the rounding got a bit heated with Rich Smith slipping over and capsizing almost on the mark, just missing the back of George's head! Will had his head in the boat getting his controls only just realising there was a mast in the way as he began rounding the mark and Jamie thought about trying to get on Will's inside but bailed quickly after realising that was not an option any more.
Getting onto the final lap, Will and Rich Bone had another neck and neck race with constant place changes throughout the laps. As we got onto the final run, there were a lot of the club racing boats in the way. Will decides to stay right and go round the fleet in clear air, while Rich decides to try the left which seemed to maybe have some more pressure, but the potential to get stuck at the mark rounding.
As Will got out to the right, he found a nice stream of pressure to take him to the gybe mark and get past the club boats to have a clear reach to the final mark while Rich Bone had a bit of an elbows out situation to get outside boats to give him mark room before rounding behind.
Rich was quick on the reach getting millimetres from Will's transom (but never hitting it!) but it wasn't quite enough to get around or an overlap for the mark. As Will rounded, it shut the door on Rich to stop him squeezing on the inside, so Rich tacked off and headed for the pin, while Will carried on to the right.
A few boat lengths later, Will tacked on a header and started the drag race to the finish as the committee boat end was definitely the shortest path. It was close with Rich going along quickly but a small lull by the pin meant Will was able to finish a boat length ahead again. Another nail biting finish!
Congratulations to George for winning the open with his consistency with Jamie in second and Rich Bone in third! The next open on the Rooster National Tour is the 5/6th of April at Oxford Sailing Club. We look forward to seeing many of you there. After that, we have our Inland Championships at Grafham Water on the 17/18th May which is definitely one not to miss.
See also:
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1005 | George Smith | Bough Beech | ‑1 | ‑1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2nd | 1001 | Jamie Mawson | Notts County | ‑2 | ‑6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 3rd | 980 | Richard Bone | Bough Beech | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑4 | ‑5 | 4 | 12 |
| 4th | 1011 | Will Russell | Grafham Water | ‑5 | 3 | ‑4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| 5th | 901 | Andrew Peake | Medway | 6 | 4 | 5 | (DNC) | 3 | (RET) | 18 |
| 6th | 803 | Richard Smith | Medway Yacht Club | 4 | 5 | 6 | (DNC) | 6 | (RET) | 21 |
| 7th | 904 | Hugh Gabriel | Bough Beech | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | (DNC) | (DNC) | 26 |
| 8th | 918 | Rhys Triffitt | Bough Beech | (DNC) | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 36 |