Latest RS800 News Feedhttp://www.rs-association.comRS800 coaching has been booked on 17 March at Oxford SC. Cost is GBP50 boat coach is the excellent Pete Barton and we will need 6 boats to go ahead with training. Training day must be pre-booked. If you would like to be involved please pay a cheque to RS Association and send to East Hayes Grove Road Lymington SO41 3RN or pay by credit or debit card at http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp?fleet=RS800 and selection=ShopFor directions etc. see http://www.oxfordsailingclub.com/Any queries contact heatherc@rs-association.com The RS800 calendar for 2012 is now available at http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp?fleet=RS800 and selection=events http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp?fleet=RS800 and selection=events and gt; Details of each event will be added to the website over the next few weeks. The NoR for 2012 will also be on the website under Documents by the end of the month. Day 3 of the RS800 Nationals at the RS Games brought a new wind direction and racing out in Weymouth Bay it would be a day or “snakes and ladders” as the shifty NE breeze was rolling off the west cliffs of Weymouth.Race 6 started in 6 to 7 knots but as the fleet split it became apparent that the boats on the left were sailing into more breeze as they approached the cliffs and the left hand lay line this localized breeze dominated the whole race with huge difference in pressure between the windward and leeward marks resulting huge place changes throughout the race. Stevie Wilson/Alain Sign took it all in their stride to take another win followed by Justin Deal/Ollie Page in 2nd and Ian Martin/Jony Clegg in 3rd. As boats struggled to finish the race the AP was hosted and the wait for wind began in a search for more breeze James Gollop moved the course area away from the cliffs and closer to Weymouth town after a relatively short wait the breeze filled in to give a shifty 12-15 knots. Race 7 got underway and again the dash to the left lay line began plenty of place changes ensued behind the now familiar sight of Stevie and Alain’s green spinnaker with the final results being Stevie Wilson/Alain Sign Dave Hivey/James Stewart 2nd and Tom Halhead/Stu Jagger 3rd.A fantastic sail in from the course brought the fleet back through the harbour and past the other fleets providing a beautiful spectacle for the now very busy WPNSA. Portland Harbour delivered a fantastic days racing on the 60 boat RS800 fleet at the second day of the RS800 Games. A fresh breezes of 18-22 knots with gusts as much as 27 knots combined with a flat water of the Harbour is what RS800 sailing is all about - big speeds without fuss. Stevie Wilson and Alain Sign LDC continued their dominance with a 111 to have a clean sweep of firsts in an impressive display of speed and control. It is looking like Stevie may break his duck of 3 times runner up this year. He is going to have go some if he is going to miss winning this one but carelessly he does have a bright green spinnaker so anything might happen! Second best performer of the day was Peter Barton and Paul Davis Harken with a 322 reveling in the windy conditions with some great pace upwind. This moves them up to 3rd place overall behind Ian Martin and Jonny Clegg who recorded a 237. Quotes of the day My best days racing this year and No.8221; said Russell Clark of the nip and tuck racing in strong breezes. I just put my arm behind my head and went on tippy toes like and No.8221; explained Paul Davis of the discovery of their upwind pace. Allyson Oddy is top girl crewing for class chairman Andy Jeffries. On the influx of girls into the fleet as a result of the RS800 being the chosen training boat for the newly formed Womens Skiff Squad It is great seeing so many new girls in the fleet but the changing rooms are certainly getting more crowded! and No.8221; It was a classic opening day for the 59 boats at the RS800 Nationals at the RS Games at WPNSA. Racing inside the harbour there was ideal conditions for the twin wire speed boats with 12-15 knots for race 1 which firmed up for race 2 to 16-18 knots. Stevie Wilson and Alain Sign loved the conditions; they blitzed race 1 to win to have the very definiation of a comfortable win in race 1. Tom Halhead/Stu Jagger were lying second but lost out on a decent size shift on the 3rd beat Dave Hivey/James Stewart took full advantage to jump into 2nd but lost this right on the line to Alex Grove/Will Davies. Race 2 and the fleet split very left and right up the first beat with the leading group coming from the left again led by Wilson/Sign who went on to lead throughout the race. This time Ian Martin/Jony Clegg 4th in race 1 in hot pursuit in second throughout to record a good day. Andy Jeffries/Allyson Ody thrived in the conditions to pull through to 3rd. Hivey/Stewart were 4th to post a very solid first day. Ian Jubb crewed by Bonnie Moody completed day 1 of his 12 day mission to take part in every RS class Nationals during the RS Games scoring 42nd and 47th in the 2 races. They move onto the RS500s today. Of the all girls teams Frances Peters and Nicola Grove are leading in 20th overall; it was a hard day for many of them yesterday. With the wind very much the same for day 2 under uniform low grey clouds the word in the dinghy park is already who can beat Wilson/Sign. Images from yesterday are now online and the video is on YouTube you can see it here: http://youtu.be/c1bRRMtTip8Results from RS800 day one now on line on the website or click http://tinyurl.com/4x8x7gaThe RS Games officially opened at 9am this morning. The 8s have started registering and the 1s and 5s start the coaching briefing at 10.30. Photo: Stewart AplinWhat fantastic conditions for the RS800s at Beer last weekend for their 3rd Gul Grand Prix of 2011!! The results and report with thanks to Dan Kilsby is at http://tinyurl.com/6b59kx7 Next stop is Zhik Eurocup at YC Carnac Brittany on 28-31 May. Loads of details including ferry deal and entry form at http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=40 Enter before 14 May (this Saturday) to get early entry discount. And hurry up booking a ferry spaces are very limited. Some of you have already found the entry form and information on the 2011 Zhik RS Eurocup and we have 20 entries to date over the 6 invited fleets. As we have our RS Games taking up lots of August we have moved the 2011 Eurocup to the late May Bank Holiday - 28-31 May - so you only need to take one day off work. We are returning to the popular venue of YC Carnac Brittany who hosted such a great Regatta for us in July 2009. Pre-entry is essential for this event and there is a early entry discount for those entering before 1 May. Loads of information and entry forms are at - RS200 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=36 RS400 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=37 RS500 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=38 RS600 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=39 RS700 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=237 RS800 - http://www.rs-association.com/champs/index.asp?eid=40 The link gives details of the Tourist Information office who have details of loads of local accommodation. I also have these in document form - if youd like to received contact heatherc@rs-association.com The club have also told me about a local flat for 4 - Residence Maeva contact 0033 (0)2 97 52 22 68 or cko@maeva.com Any queries do heatherc@rs-association.comWith thanks to Ralph Singleton we now have report as well as full results of the RS800 Winter Championships held at Grafham WSC on 12/13 February at http://tinyurl.com/4k4dttlLots of great pictures from Mike Shaw at www.fotoboat.comNext stop Chew Valley LSC for the first Gul Grand Prix of 2011 on 12/13 March. The 2011 racing season for the RS600s 700s and 800s starts on 12/13 February at Grafham Water SC for the Winter Championships. This is also part of the Gul Grand Prix and the end of the Winter Series for the RS600s. Details are at http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp?selection=Event and uid=6 and fleet=RS600 and detailevent=1 First scheduled starts are 1200hrs Saturday and 1030hrs on Sunday with briefing on Saturday at 1100hrs. 3 races/day meal at the club on Saturday night. Directions and accommodation ideas are at http://www.grafham.org/?page_id=2513 Camping is allowed at the club for the truly hardy but needs to be booked via the club in advancWe have organised the main National events in the 2011 Calendar. These are below details will be on the RS800 website under Events shortly. 19/20 February - Winter Championships Grafham WSC 12/13 March - Chew Valley LSC Circuit 9/10 April - Queen Mary SC Circuit 7/8 May - Beer SC Circuit 28-31 May - Carnac Brittany Eurocup 25/26 June - Hayling Island SC Circuit 2/3 July - Lymington Town SC Regatta - Circuit 23/24 July - Eastbourne Sovereign SC Circuit 15-19 August - National Championships and RS Games WPNSA 17/18 September - Stokes Bay SC Circuit 22/23 October - Inland Championships Rutland SC McGrane and Allen win the RS800 Nationals with a day to spare ! For full reports and results see the RS800 webspages. The 6 Gul RS800 Grand Prix events for 2010 have been completed and full results are at http://tinyurl.com/38vq2tnwith thanks to Justin Visser for putting them together. Congratulations to Ben McGrane and Roz Allen our 2010 Gul RS800 Grand Prix Champions. We have held a Handicap system throughout the year. The winners of this are -1st - Charlie Roome/Dave Steed2nd - Brett Ellway/Jay Bick3rd - Jon Bennett/Nick Jerkin/Wayne Coote4th - Edd Whitehead/Sophie Singleton5th - Dan Kilsby/Bart Bridgen Congratulation to these guys! To explain the system - competitors need to have completed at least 3 circuit events to qualify. The results are reflective of performance over the series excluding un-attended events (as this distorts the results) and compared to overall performance in 2009 or the 1st 3 races of this season if a competitor was new to the fleet. This means that a competitor new to the fleet in 2010 will have to have attended a minimum of 4 circuit events to get a final placing in the handicap.Handicaps in 2011 will be based on this years final results or following attendance at a minimum of 3 events. Handicaps will be published prior to the 2011 circuit commencing. The 2010 Prize-giving with lots of lovely Gul vouchers will be at the Last Shout Championships at Rutland SC on 13/14 November. The 6 Gul RS800 Grand Prix events for 2010 have been completed and full results are at http://tinyurl.com/38vq2tnwith thanks to Justin Visser for putting them together. Congratulations to Ben McGrane and Roz Allen our 2010 Gul RS800 Grand Prix Champions. We have held a Handicap system throughout the year. The winners of this are -1st - Charlie Roome/Dave Steed2nd - Brett Ellway/Jay Bick3rd - Jon Bennett/Nick Jerkin/Wayne Coote4th - Edd Whitehead/Sophie Singleton5th - Dan Kilsby/Bart Bridgen Congratulation to these guys! To explain the system - competitors need to have completed at least 3 circuit events to qualify. The results are reflective of performance over the series excluding un-attended events (as this distorts the results) and compared to overall performance in 2009 or the 1st 3 races of this season if a competitor was new to the fleet. This means that a competitor new to the fleet in 2010 will have to have attended a minimum of 4 circuit events to get a final placing in the handicap.Handicaps in 2011 will be based on this years final results or following attendance at a minimum of 3 events. Handicaps will be published prior to the 2011 circuit commencing. The 2010 Prize-giving with lots of lovely Gul vouchers will be at the Last Shout Championships at Rutland SC on 13/14 November. RS Youth Champs at st1:place w:st= and quot;on and quot;st1:city w:st= and quot;on and quot;Northampton/st1:city st1:state w:st= and quot;on and quot;SC/st1:state/st1:place Perfect conditions of sunshine high temperatures and a good south westerly breeze greeted competitors at the RS youth Championships at Northampton Sailing Club. Day 1 in the RS200 fleet saw the start of a pattern with James and Will Rusden winning the first two of their eight bullets from the event and with two thirds Rob Struckett and Archie Law were lying second overnight. Day 2 was another day of perfect weather and force 3/4 breeze. While contested at times by Ian Gill and David Bruce the Rusdens went on to win each of the four races that day and Struckett/Law showed consistency getting three 2nds to remain 2nd overall at the end of the day. The final day of racing dawned breezy which proved a challenge for some members of the fleet with several capsizes in both races. The Rusdens however had no such problems and continued their lead with two more bullets going on to comfortably win the event. In the handicap fleet there was just two boats racing an RS400 and RS800. The overall winners with 7 points were Jack Munnelly and Jack Holden in the RS400. Overall Gul RS800 Grand Prix results are now available at http://tinyurl.com/337qt5f With thanks to Justin Visser.4 of the 6 races have now been held 5th event is at lovely Beer SC on 19/20 June.4 of 6 events count for the Gul Grand Prix 2010. The dreadful weather did not put off the RS800s this weekend with a great turnout of 37 boats at Lymington Town SC. LTSC did a great job and everyone went away happy and exhausted.Full results and report are at -http://tinyurl.com/385lfsx- Clare Turnball from fotoboat was taking pictures on Sunday these will be available on www.fotoboat.com by the end of the week.Next stops - Glyn Charles Trophy on 15 May at HISC then 5th Gul Grand Prix event at Beer SC on 19/20 June further details to follow. Following last years AGM I looked into and have developed a personal handicap system for the 800s which was put to use for the first time at Chew and further at Datchet. It seems to be doing what it is intended to which akin to golf is level the playing field and recognise/reward improvements in sailing ability. Only thing is you need to come to the prize giving for two reasons: 1stly show your respect to the winners and the organisers and 2ndly maybe collect a prize. The system is based loosely on the RYAs general handicap system and that used successfully by the Darts but is based on finishing positions rather than time. I am no mathematician and there may be better approaches (suggestions on a spreadsheet welcomed). The helms personal handicap (PH) for the start of 2010 was based on their performance in the fleet over the past year or 2 as appropriate and is listed on the RS800 Personal Handicaps 2010 document under Other Documents at http://www.rs-association.com/index.asp?fleet=RS800 and selection=Documents This list includes with your most up to date PH which will be used this weekend at Stokes Bay which takes account of performances to date this season. Im not going to go into the details of how your initial handicap was calculated other than to say it takes your best worst and average results into account but excludes shockers resulting from for example: equipment failure. Those in the top 10 percent of the fleet essentially race off scratch (0-100) and are likely to be fighting it out for the main chocolates rather than handicap prizes. Mid-fleeters have PHs of around 500 and those in the lower half of the fleet PHs from 500 to 998. Newcomers to the fleet are given a PH of 999 for their 1st event unless they are known to the committee as and quot;Stars and quot; from other fleets when they will sail off scratch (0) for their 1st event. After each event your PH is recalculated it going up or down by 20 percent of the difference from your PH at start of the event. Prizes are awarded on the basis of the difference ( percent) between a helms handicap coming in to the event at the end of the event. Helm(s) with the most improved handicap(s) win the handicap prize(s). Those in the chocolates or sailing their 1st 800 event are excluded from the handicap results. At the end of the series the plan is to take overall positions and compare to individuals worst PH during the series (will be sanity checked to avoid rigging) with prizes going to those who have improved their PH most over the series that are not in the chocolates overall. With regard to major events we have not yet decided how this will work but it could include using the first 3 races as the basis of your and quot;championship and quot; handicap with major anomalies corrected. Clear as mud? Good there will be no questions then ;-) Cheers Derek Buchanan (1127 - Mines Awareness Group) We have booked coaching at Stokes Bay SC for all-comers on Saturday 1st May. The cost will be GBP35 for SBSC members and GBP40 for non-members of SBSC.Pete Barton ex-RS800 National Champion will be you coach. Start will be at 10.30hrs rigged not changed.For those wanting to stay at SBSC for the rest of the bank holiday weekend there will be racing on both Sunday and Monday both starting at 1100hrs GBP5/boat/day.To ensure that we have enough boats to go ahead with this training coaching must be booked in advance. Please do this by sending a cheque to RS Association to Debbie Darling at The Cottage Butchers Lane Pytchley NN14 1EJ or pay on-line with fee at http://rs-association.com/index.asp?selection=Shop and fleet=RS800 and send confirmation e-mail to debbie@rs-association.comThose taking part in Gul R800 Grand Prix at SBSC on 24/25 April as well as the coaching are very welcome to leave their boats at the club.