#RS – After a few weeks rest following the bumper turnout RS Nationals in July, the action moves to the new RS400 fleet's home at Ballyholme in Bangor.

Ballyholme has seen a great influx of RS400s to go with the RS200s already there, and has attracted some of Ulsters top racing talent, evidenced by July's two top Irish performances from Bob Espey/Mike Gunning, and Michael Ferguson/ Jeremy Tomalin at the Nationals. Whilst they will undoubtedly form the strongest teams to beat this weekend, there will be plenty of other talent tackling them, with Irish 49er Olympians Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern flying back for the weekend from Marseilles, multiple Irish Laser and SB20 Irish Champion Gareth Flannigan, and recent top youth helm at the British Nationals, Chris Eames.

All the old timers will be there, licking their wounds from the recent shoeing handed out by the new boys in the fleet. Liam Donnelly will be fresh from the UK Nationals, and always as competitive as ever, at 60 something years of age, spearheading the RNIYC charge, along with Whitehead's John Lewis, another Scorpion veteran, who will be keen to see how he goes in his first RS400 event. From RNIYC, former Squib Irish champion Gordy Patterson has been spotted practising, and seems to be getting to grips with the faster boat (though he has years of SB3ing to call on), and someday Ruan O'Tiarnaigh will get his boat out too; whilst the Southern efforts will be led by Emmet Ryan and Simon Herriott, along with up and coming Sean Cleary and Any Verso from Greystones.
Rumour has it 4-5 good teams from the Cork area are on the brink of getting 400s, which could lead to further strengthening of the fleet in Ireland, along with some good new Dublin sailors, and 5 new boats have arrived into other Northern clubs in the past fortnight, so turnouts should be increasingly strong going into 2014.
McCready Sailboats have recently been appointed as RS Boat Dealers for Ireland, following a few years of direct sales only, and are especially keen to push the RS Feva, supplying three boats for crews to test, and hopefully we will start to see a resurgence in this great youth boat next year, with their support.
The RS200s at Ballyholme will face some stiff competition from the ever strong Greystones contingent, who usually take the prizes home, and it would be great to see this class strengthening in the north as the RS Family gain a stronger foothold.
Racing in the Bay runs Saturday and Sunday, with beer and grub on Saturday and some decent northerly breeze looking set to roll in some surfing waves and maximise the craic. 

#RS – A record breaking turnout of 72 RS dinghies descended on Belfast Lough for the three day Irish Nationals and Euro-Cup making it one of the biggest dinghy sailing events to be held in the country this year. The fleet was made up of 44 RS400's, 19 RS200's and 9 RS Feva's.
The top quality race management on the water was matched by a fantastic reception ashore by all involved at the Royal North of Ireland YC.
In the RS400 class a strong contingent made the journey from Scotland with several of the top boats from the English circuit making the trip too. Also joining the class were several Irish Olympic campaigners and former national champions including James Espey (Laser London 2012), Fraser Brown (49er Athens 2004) and Gareth Flannigan to name but a few.
With such a quality fleet and tactically testing conditions the slightest boat handling error or missing of a wind shift would cost over ten places instantly and clawing back up through the traffic was easier said than done.
Despite local sailors Bob Espey and his crew Mike Gunning putting up a strong fight for the first half of the event it was Roger Carter and Ian Robertson from Scotland who managed to master the predominantly light and shifty breezes. In second place and only one point off top spot was former Enterprise World Champion Stewart Robertson with his wife Sarah crewing. In third Place were Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin of Queen Mary SC.
The top three Irish 400's were Bob Espey and Mike Gunning in 4th, Michael Ferguson and Jeremy Tomalin in 5th and Emmet and James Ryan in 8th place.
The turnout for the RS200s, showed continuing steady growth in this class. The fleet included three UK entries. The eventual winner counting four firsts was John McKelvie and Sarah Watson from Strangford Lough YC followed by Julian Bradley from the UK. In the light and fickle winds there was much place changing during all the races and after a slightly shaky start to the event Roy Van Maanen and Glen Reid improved their performances to take third overall and second Irish 200. Third Irish went to Frank O'Rourke sailing with his son Kevin also from Greystones SC who finished their series with an impressive win.

RS 200 start. Photo: Thomas Anderson

A new feature in this year's fleet was the high number of Youth sailors. First under 19 200 went to Stephen Craig and Conor Foley from the Royal St George YC. The lads counted a very creditable four 2nds in their overall tally. Greystones mother and daughter team, Sarah and Ciara Byrne took the first ladies RS200 title.
In the Feva class there were 9 entries including the very talented Laura Gilmore who took the Topper National trophy last year and the experienced Optimist and Laser 4.7 sailor, Holly Campbell. Both sailed McCready Sailboat Fevas. RSGYC duo Jack and Henry Higgins sailed a fine series to eventually win the Jack Craig memorial trophy. They managed to just edge out Laura Gilmore and crew Molly Fekkes who fell afoul of an OCS in the last race. Emer Rafferty and Laura Coleman also from the RSGYC took first U15. All these boats took line honours in a number of races showing how close the Feva racing was. The U14 was won by Triona Hinkson and Kate Kelly and U13 by Rachel Eggers and Helen O Beirne.
A notable bonus of the three RS fleets running a combined event meant it was possible for whole families to be out racing together and in certain cases against each other, the definition of domestic bliss!
One stroke of event management genius was to have Windguru forecast 1 knot with gusts up to 3 knots for Sunday. Most crews took this as a green light to pull the trigger socially on Saturday evening with the expectation of no sailing the for the final day, only to awake to a pleasant 8 to 10 knots and three cracking races.

RS200 RS400 & RS Feva Irish National Championships

Feva Class
Sailed: 10, Discards: 2, To count: 8, Entries: 9, Scoring system: Appendix A
Rank SailNo Club HelmName CrewName R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Nett
1st 2512 RStGYC Jack Higgins Henry Higgins (5.0) 2.0 4.0 2.0 1.0 (6.0) 2.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 15.0
2nd 5239 SLYC / EABC Laura Gilmore Molly Fekkes 3.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 (4.0) 4.0 (10.0 OCS) 17.0
3rd 5231 RNIYC / DSC Holly Campbell Lucy Burrows (4.0) (5.0) 1.0 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 19.0
4th 3115 RStGYC Emer Rafferty Laura Coleman 1.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 (5.0) 4.0 (6.0) 3.0 3.0 4.0 22.0
5th 1776 RStGYC Triona Hinkson Katherine Kelly (8.0) 4.0 5.0 (7.0) 4.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 34.0
6th 1595 RStGYC Rachel Eggers Helen O'Beirne 2.0 7.0 (10.0 DNF) 5.0 7.0 (8.0) 5.0 6.0 7.0 3.0 42.0
7th 3661 RStGYC Eoghan Cassidy Greg Arrowsmith 7.0 6.0 7.0 (10.0 DNS) 6.0 5.0 (8.0) 7.0 6.0 6.0 50.0
8th 1654 RStGYC Conor Little Roisin Foley 6.0 (10.0 DNF) 6.0 6.0 8.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 (10.0 DNC) 56.0
9th 5240 CYC Oonagh Jordan Kurtis Frazer 9.0 (10.0 DNF) (10.0 DNC) 10.0 DNC 10.0 DNC 10.0 DNC 10.0 DNC 9.0 9.0 7.0 74.0

RS200 Class
Sailed: 10, Discards: 2, To count: 8, Entries: 19, Scoring system: Appendix A
Rank SailNo Club HelmName CrewName R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Nett
1st 860 SLYC / WSC John McKelvie Sarah Watson 1.0 (3.0) 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 (20.0 DNC) 14.0
2nd 1263 WSC Julian Bradley Alice Hudson (10.0) 1.0 1.0 4.0 4.0 2.0 4.0 (6.0) 1.0 5.0 22.0
3rd 1534 GSC Ray Van Maanen Glen Reid 5.0 (7.0) 3.0 5.0 1.0 (6.0) 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 22.0
4th 1315 GSC Frank O'Rourke Kevin O'Rourke 3.0 5.0 4.0 2.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 (8.0) (8.0) 1.0 32.0
5th 771 RStGYC Stephen Craig Conor Foley 2.0 2.0 (9.0) 6.0 6.0 (13.0) 2.0 2.0 6.0 8.0 34.0
6th 1479 GSC / RStGYC Graeme Noonan Heather Louise King 6.0 8.0 5.0 3.0 (9.0) 3.0 8.0 (10.0) 7.0 6.0 46.0
7th 1352 NYC Clive Coffey Helen Cassidy 4.0 9.0 (20.0 DNF) 7.0 3.0 8.0 (12.0) 9.0 9.0 3.0 52.0
8th 624 SDC / HYC David Johnston Louise Flynn-Byrne (11.0) (14.0) 11.0 10.0 8.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.0 52.0
9th 706 NYC / RStGYC Conor Totterdell Myles Kelly (16.0) 13.0 10.0 11.0 10.0 11.0 (14.0) 4.0 4.0 7.0 70.0
10th 727 EDYC Trevor Fisher Emily Watt 7.0 (12.0) 8.0 12.0 (13.0) 9.0 9.0 7.0 10.0 9.0 71.0
11th 1131 WSC Roger Wilson Renata Sapazinskaite (13.0) 11.0 7.0 9.0 7.0 10.0 6.0 (12.0) 11.0 11.0 72.0
12th 1478 GSC Sarah Byrne Ciara Byrne 8.0 6.0 (20.0 DSQ) 8.0 12.0 7.0 11.0 11.0 14.0 (16.0) 77.0
13th 778 BYC Rob Milligan Sharon Doherty 9.0 4.0 6.0 14.0 11.0 14.0 10.0 (15.0) (16.0) 10.0 78.0
14th 898 GSC Aaron Jones Conor Clery 14.0 (15.0) 12.0 (15.0) 14.0 15.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 13.0 110.0
15th 1156 RStGYC Clodagh Hinkson Adrian Hinkson (18.0) 16.0 (20.0 DNF) 13.0 17.0 12.0 17.0 13.0 12.0 14.0 114.0
16th 1480 RStGYC Rosanna Cassidy Maeve Cassidy 15.0 10.0 (20.0 DNF) (16.0) 15.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 13.0 15.0 116.0
17th 495 SLYC / BYC Emily Smyth Sandra Halliwell 12.0 (18.0) 13.0 (17.0) 16.0 17.0 15.0 17.0 17.0 12.0 119.0
18th 548 GSC Celine McGuire Joanne McInerney 19.0 19.0 14.0 18.0 (20.0 RAF) 19.0 18.0 (20.0 DNC) 20.0 DNC 20.0 DNC 147.0
19th 417 GSC Gabrielle Igoe Nicky Smith 17.0 17.0 (20.0 DNF) 19.0 18.0 18.0 19.0 (20.0 DNC) 20.0 DNC 20.0 DNC 148.0

RS400 Class
Sailed: 10, Discards: 2, To count: 8, Entries: 44, Scoring system: Appendix A
Rank SailNo Club HelmName CrewName R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Nett
1st 965 WBC Roger Carter Ian Robertson 1.0 3.0 4.0 (9.0) (7.0) 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 7.0 20.0
2nd 1319 RFYC Stewart Robertson Sarah Robertson 3.0 4.0 (13.0) 3.0 (6.0) 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 21.0
3rd 1251 QM / DSC Howard Farbrother Dan Martin (14.0) 1.0 (8.0) 4.0 2.0 8.0 5.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 32.0
4th 1001 BYC Robert Espey Michael Gunning (13.0) 2.0 1.0 2.0 4.0 7.0 8.0 (11.0) 11.0 5.0 40.0
5th 1138 BYC/RUYC Mike Ferguson Jeremy Tomalin 7.0 10.0 7.0 1.0 5.0 4.0 (11.0) (14.0) 6.0 4.0 44.0
6th 1161 SDSC / RFYC Ben Robertson Emily Robertson 6.0 (13.0) 12.0 (14.0) 8.0 2.0 6.0 9.0 3.0 2.0 48.0
7th 1117 ELYC James Sinclair Ben Wilcox 2.0 8.0 (10.0) 8.0 3.0 9.0 3.0 7.0 10.0 (13.0) 50.0
8th 1140 RStGYC Emmet Ryan James Ryan (22.0) 9.0 9.0 (18.0) 9.0 3.0 4.0 3.0 9.0 11.0 57.0
9th 1395 L&LSC Paul Allen Michael Allen 9.0 11.0 2.0 10.0 1.0 (22.0) 7.0 (45.0 OCS) 13.0 6.0 59.0
10th 1196 SDSC Peter Snowdon LenMetcalfe 16.0 5.0 3.0 6.0 (19.0) 6.0 16.0 6.0 (17.0) 17.0 75.0
11th 1313 LSC / BCYC Pete Vincent Darren McNamara 4.0 (19.0) 16.0 17.0 11.0 (45.0 OCS) 13.0 12.0 5.0 8.0 86.0
12th 1414 HISC James Gardner Anne Gardner 5.0 6.0 (45.0 DNF) 13.0 (30.0) 17.0 10.0 10.0 16.0 15.0 92.0
13th 1351 AYC Ian Robson Sandy Johnson 11.0 12.0 (17.0) 11.0 13.0 13.0 9.0 (16.0) 8.0 16.0 93.0
14th 840 BYC / RUYC James Espey Chris Penny (20.0) 14.0 11.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 14.0 (45.0 DNF) 19.0 12.0 95.0
15th 1200 DBSC Keith Bedborough Martin McCrew 15.0 (23.0) 15.0 16.0 12.0 14.0 (19.0) 8.0 12.0 9.0 101.0
16th 1405 RNIYC Liam Donnelly Chris Law (28.0) 7.0 5.0 12.0 14.0 12.0 (45.0 OCS) 15.0 21.0 20.0 106.0
17th 1018 ELYC / RFYC Richard Bolton Hannah Robertson 18.0 17.0 6.0 (24.0) 20.0 11.0 18.0 17.0 (23.0) 14.0 121.0
18th 1259 BYC Gareth Flannigan David Fletcher 19.0 27.0 (45.0 DNF) 25.0 (36.0) 18.0 12.0 4.0 7.0 10.0 122.0
19th 440 A&SYC Robert Yeamans Nadia McMinn 8.0 16.0 14.0 (31.0) 23.0 28.0 20.0 13.0 (35.0) 29.0 151.0
20th 1406 RNIYC Dave Cheyne Steve Kane 34.0 22.0 (45.0 DNF) 7.0 17.0 16.0 15.0 34.0 (45.0 OCS) 19.0 164.0
21st 1017 GSC Sean Cleary Steven Tyner (33.0) 21.0 (45.0 DNF) 15.0 25.0 23.0 30.0 18.0 15.0 22.0 169.0
22nd 1292 BYC Christopher Eames Niall Eames 29.0 25.0 (45.0 DNF) 27.0 18.0 20.0 (45.0 OCS) 22.0 14.0 24.0 179.0
23rd 1176 GSC Andy Verso Lisa Smith 23.0 26.0 (45.0 DNF) 30.0 16.0 29.0 17.0 19.0 (31.0) 21.0 181.0
24th 877 DBSC Phil Britton Joe Ellingham 37.0 18.0 (45.0 DNF) 21.0 (39.0) 24.0 26.0 20.0 26.0 26.0 198.0
25th 728 RNIYC / CSC Rob Hastings Neil Calvin 27.0 15.0 (45.0 DNF) 20.0 24.0 (39.0) 25.0 24.0 28.0 36.0 199.0
26th 1352 RNIYC Simon Hutchinson Stuart Annesley 21.0 (38.0) (45.0 DNF) 19.0 21.0 15.0 23.5 35.0 36.0 33.0 203.5
27th 475 A&SYC Chris Dowie Naomi Moran 17.0 24.0 (45.0 DNF) 26.0 32.0 34.0 (36.0) 29.0 25.0 18.0 205.0
28th 0001 RYA David Harcourt Jillian Harcourt (39.0) 31.0 (45.0 DNF) 22.0 27.0 25.0 28.0 30.0 20.0 32.0 215.0
29th 589 CSC Trevor D'Arcy Alan McClarnon 26.0 (37.0) (45.0 DNF) 29.0 33.0 31.0 31.0 23.0 18.0 25.0 216.0
30th 1197 RCYC Aidan McSweeny Ian Heffernan 12.0 35.0 (45.0 DNF) (43.0) 29.0 38.0 27.0 27.0 27.0 27.0 222.0
31st 1276 GSC Fiachra Etchingham Sarah Hoolahan 31.0 36.0 (45.0 DNF) (40.0) 22.0 21.0 29.0 32.0 29.0 28.0 228.0
32nd 1178 CYC Brian Holmes Jonny Campbell 10.0 32.0 (45.0 DNF) 41.0 34.0 40.0 22.0 26.0 24.0 (45.0 DNF) 229.0
33rd 1136 GHYC / RStG Arthur Mehigan Jay Stacy (38.0) 20.0 (45.0 DNF) 36.0 28.0 27.0 21.0 31.0 32.0 35.0 230.0
34th 802 RNIYC Gordon Patterson Ross Nolan (45.0 DNC) (45.0 DNC) 45.0 DNC 42.0 26.0 36.0 23.5 33.0 22.0 23.0 250.5
35th 1307 GSC Robert Gilligan Eoin Corcoran 25.0 29.0 (45.0 DNF) 37.0 15.0 19.0 (45.0 OCS) 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 260.0
36th 1025 RNIYC Mark Diamond Neil Mathews 42.0 30.0 (45.0 DNF) 23.0 31.0 35.0 38.0 (45.0 DNC) 34.0 30.0 263.0
37th 586 RStGYC Richard Tate Jim Foley 32.0 40.0 (45.0 DNF) 39.0 35.0 (45.0 OCS) 33.0 21.0 33.0 31.0 264.0
38th 512 SLYC Charlie Horder Wendy McCaughan (40.0) 33.0 (45.0 DNF) 33.0 38.0 26.0 34.0 25.0 39.0 37.0 265.0
39th 441 CSC Simon Grey Super Woman 24.0 34.0 (45.0 DNF) 28.0 (42.0) 33.0 37.0 38.0 38.0 40.0 272.0
40th 1308 GSC Gerry Cannon Avril Cannon 36.0 (39.0) (45.0 DNF) 35.0 37.0 30.0 32.0 36.0 37.0 34.0 277.0
41st 601 PSC / MSC Fraser Brown John Malone 41.0 42.0 (45.0 DNF) 34.0 (45.0 DNF) 32.0 45.0 OCS 28.0 30.0 39.0 291.0
42nd 1195 A&SYC Oliver Webster Palo Bellezze 30.0 28.0 (45.0 DNF) 38.0 41.0 41.0 (45.0 DNF) 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 313.0
43rd 1188 RNIYC Neill Strain John Ferguson 35.0 41.0 (45.0 DNF) 32.0 40.0 37.0 (45.0 DNC) 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 45.0 DNC 320.0
44th 888 GLYC Anthony Glendinning Lucy Glendinning (45.0 DNF) 43.0 (45.0 DNF) 44.0 43.0 42.0 35.0 37.0 40.0 38.0 322.0

#rssailing – Dun Laoghaire pair Roger O'Gorman and ex Laser Olympic campaigner Roger Craig took an impressive win today at the RS400 Eurocup in Carnac, Brittany.

The pair are one of two Irish boats flying the flag in the 25 strong fleet of UK boats competing.

Also racing are Royal St. George club-mates Emmet and James Ryan.

Champagne sailing conditions again in Carnac saw the fleet enjoy races 6,7 and 8 in an offshore north-easterly of force 3-4 occasionally gusting up to 5.

Race six was a question of carefully picking the right shifts downwind and then reading them again upwind. Andy Hatch and Dan Hawkins handled the shifty conditions well and pulled through to take the lead at the end of the first run which they held to the end. They were,
however, pushed hard to the end by a number of different crews with Emmet and James Ryan eventually pulling through to finish second and Howard Farbrother and Tiny Anderton in third.

Race seven was dominated by John Cooper and Becci Wigley in 1325 who played the shifts perfectly on the first beat and led by more than 50 yards at mark one. Although the chasing bunch closed up a bit on the run, John and Becci held on well to take the gun from Jack Holden and
Ollie Miller with Mike Hart and Sally Kilpatrick third.

After a brief delay to allow the wind to settle (and the 200 fleet to misbehave again at the start) force eight was led off by Roger O'Gorman and Roger Craig with a perfect pin end start. They were never headed and by the finish an exhausted but exhilarated fleet was led in behind them by Andy and An with the Ryan brothers from Ireland taking third - and clearly winning the day with their second, third and a fourth in race 7.

Following last night's gourmet barbecue hosted by members of YC Carnac tonight sees all the 400 fleet gathering for dinner at one of Carnac's numerous restaurants before the final two races tomorrow.

Overall after eight races and counting two discards Howard and Tiny lead with 16 points, the Ryan brothers are second on 23 and there's a three way tie for third with Mike and Sally, Jack and Ollie and Andy and Dan all on 24. So plenty left to play for!

#RSSAILING – As has become a tradition in the RS200 and RS400 fleets in Ireland, the final showdown of the season will take place this weekend in the confines of Dun Laoghaire's Harbour walls, with a crash bang wallop series of races, comprising the RS Sprint Trophy.

This is essentially a programme of single lap races, over a square course, with barely enough time to catch a breath, let alone pop and drop a kite. Obviously the emphasis is on boat handling and heads out of the boat, as the usual 90 degree shifts in the harbour can make one's track very short, or very long, depending on how you go about it!

The usual suspects will be there from the two asymmetric fleets, with a few new owners keen to make an entrance, but probably hoping to spare a few blushes too...

All good fun and games, and the weather looks perfect, so why not pop down to the harbour to see the fleets in action.

Matters commence at 11am, and run throughout the day to the final rounds late afternoon.

#RS – The weather Gods promised lots of wind, then none, then some, and then in the end there was some, then none.

That said, the excellent Race Team managed to get 3 terrific races in on Saturday in a shifty F1-2, and even more impressively managed to squeeze something out of nothing to get a two lap race in on Sunday morning when it looked like nothing would happen.

14 RS200s were immediately under pressure from local form man Graeme Noonan, who was ably assisted by the top crew Heather King, fresh from helping Trevor Fisher to top spot in the 200s at the Northerns a few weeks ago. The team put in three bullets on Saturday, and were only topped on Sunday when a left hand shift in the start sequence caught all but Roy van Maanen and Glen Reid on the hop, and they were able to launch a mighty port tack start on the pin, to clear the fleet by 40 metres and disappear off the radar to take the win. As usual, lots of jockeying for the rest of the spots, with Frank O'Rourke finishing third overall behind Van Maanen.

Top Junior boat in the 200s were David Johnston and Louise Flynn-Byrne of Howth Yacht Club.

In the 400s, with 15 entries, Bob Espey and Michael Gunning were making short work of the job, by leading home the first two races, before coming under pressure in Race 3, being caught out by some left shifts coming off the land in the dying breeze, to count a 4th in race 3. With some better sleep on the Saturday night, and some readjusted drinking techniques, they were quickly into the groove on Sunday to hold off Sean Cleary who sailed a great race after a cheeky port tack start, to raise them to third spot overall. Despite getting a Black Flag on the Sunday morning, Paul McLaughlin and Mick McKinley from Cushandall had done enough on Saturday to hang on to second spot. Rob Hastings (Bosun Bob) sailed a blinder to really up the ante and picked up fourth, whilst Andy Verso and Oisin Baugh continue to show great promise to pick up top Junior boat. Brian Holmes started to move forward, despite his dental issues and vomiting during Saturday, and a warm welcome to newly weds, Avril and David Doherty of Monkstown in Cork, who arrived with next to no time in the boat, and showed it won't be long before they are fully in the thick of it. Great too to see a girl driving an Irish 400, showing us all that it is not just a bloke's boat to helm. Sufficiently impressed were we, by their enthusiasm, that we are convinced that we should visit Cork for the Southerns in 2013, and have our Nationals there in 2014.

In the Fevas, Emer Rafferty and Roseanne Cassidy from the George took top prize ahead of Molly Wheeler abd Megan Callen of Howth YC.

So that concludes the circuit for 2013, with just the Sprints in 2 weeks time at RStGYC in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 20th October. Some new faces will be appearing for that one, as new, second hand 400s (if you know what I mean) especially, are being purchased on a weekly basis, which should boost the fleet greatly next year. We are hoping to see James Espey, Ireland's Laser Olympian straight legging it for entire races next season, as well as a smattering of new faces (mostly blasters from the past) joining the fray – all very exciting times for the RS fleet

Thanks of course to Greystones Sailing Club for laying on the usual great hospitality with complimentary burgers and healthy side dishes with green stuff and beans for the hungry arrivals ashore, and a great evening in the clubhouse with the rugby on the big TV, a smashing meal and a real welcome for the visitors, which went on the wee small hours – great stuff Greystones!

Fifteen RS 400s, from as far South as Glandore and as far North as Cushendall formed the main appetiser for the latest RS Ireland traveller series event. A smaller group of RS200s and RS Fevas also battled it out over the two days of the RS Northern Area Championships on glorious Strangford Lough. The racing came courtesy of the most hospitable of hosts at Strangford Lough Yacht Club and their team headed up by Emily Smith and Charlie Horder.

Saturday's racing was a blustery game of snakes and ladders with the RS 400 fleet continually trading blows and producing a different winner in each of the three races.

In the RS200's Heather Craig advised Trevor Fisher on how to do it, as they led overnight with three straight bullets.

In the Feva class, local boys Robbie and Peter Gilmore came good to lead overnight with an impressive score of 1, 3, 1.

The evening brought some "sensible drinking" and fine dining courtesy of event sponsors www.MashDirect.com . Rumours of some out of tune singing also circulated the following morning with some labelling it as Karaoke.

Sunday dawned a bit wet, but as the sun came out, it got even wetter for the back half of the RS 400 fleet as a whooping 30 knot right handed squall cuffed those taking too long to reach the windward mark in race 2, with entertaining variations on how not to bear off, hoist, gybe, stack it etc. Those who did set kites, (which was all but one) where treated to a somewhat out of control reach, (in which most helms would agree, they played very little part) as the mild mannered 400s decided they would steer themselves safely at 20 knots to the downwind position some 200 metres to the right of the last mark. Much swimming was done. There was a welcome rest whilst the PRO rearranged the course for the final race, in lovely sunshine, with some cheeky puffs that allowed all to arrive ashore nicely enthralled by the day's activity.

In the final mix, the Ballyhome duo of Bob "The Laser" Espey and Michael "The other Laser" Gunning took top spot by in RS400 class. Five different winners in six races showed that it was no push over for the lads.

In the RS200 class Heather Craig and Trevor Fisher had the luxury of discarding a second place, the only blot on an otherwise perfect score card to round out a clinical win.

In the Feva class Robbie and Peter Gilmore continued with Saturdays fine form with a 2,1,1 score to take a decisive victory. Perhaps Santa might have to squeeze an RS200 down the Gilmore chimney this year!

Next up for the Irish RS Classes is Greystones and the Sothern Championship on 6th and 7th of October. The local contingent will no doubt be ready to repel the Northern invaders, who are currently very much growing in strength and numbers.

#RS SAILING - Howth Yacht Club hosted 54 boats in three classes for the RS400, RS200 and RS Feva National Championships over the weekend (click HERE for photos).

The Irish version of the 'RS Games' proved a big hit with all competitors. The race management team, headed by PRO David Lovegrove, did a fantastic job to get 10 races in for all three classes in spite of some shifty conditions.

This was all the more impressive as each course change required the moving of up to 10 marks. No mean feat, but the Howth Yacht Club team took it in their stride.

In the RS400 class, bothers Emmet and James Ryan from the Royal St George Yacht Club took the top spot. They didn’t make things easy by using up a discard on the first race of the event and only snatched the win on the last run of the last race having rounded the final weather mark in fourth place.

Greystones class stalwarts Simon Herriott and Tom Moran took second place, while in third place, and the top youth RS400 team, was a very impressive display by Andy Verso and Oisin Baugh, also from Greystones.

In the RS200 class it was another family affair and another Royal St George win with father-and-son pair Sean and Stephen Craig taking first place. It was extremely tight at the top of the 200 fleet with only three points separating the top four boats in the end.

Teams from Greystones filled the next two podium places with Frank and Kevin O’Rourke taking second and last year’s champions Roy Van Maanen and Glen Reid taking third place.

In the Feva class, GB sailors filled the top three slots with Elliott Wells and Jake Todd taking the title on count back from fellow Hayling Island sailors Tom Darling and Will Dolin. Chay and Stirling Taylor took third place.

In the battle for local/Irish bragging rights, Eoin Lyden and Brian Stokes from Cork got one over the Dublin rivals to claim top Irish Feva spot.

Full results can be found at the Howth Yacht Club website at www.hyc.ie, while photos of the event are available HERE.

#RS – UK visitors are among the teams expected to compete in the RS Class National Championships - incorporating the RS Feva, RS200 and RS400 divisions - that will be hosted by Howth Yacht Club from August 17th-19th. A schedule of 10 races for each class is planned by top race officier David Lovegrove and his team.

Entries for the 3-day event from North and South of the border are expected for the RS200 and RS400 championships while the RS Feva event will feature boats from the established fleets in Dun Laoghaire, Greystones, Cork and the host club plus some UK boats travelling over too.

The Feva is a familiar sight in Howth and event chairman Chris Howard says his team are looking forward to also welcoming the 'bigger sisters' in the RS Class for the National Championships which is being supported by a number of sponsors.

#RS – The second event of this year's RS400 and RS200 traveller series was held at Newcastle Yacht Club Co. Down. The picturesque race area at the foot of the Mourne Mountains proved to be a tough test for both crews and hardware. A strong force six westerly brought plenty of gusts and shifts down the course on both Saturday and Sunday. This provided lots of thrills and occasional spills. Two masts from the twenty six boat fleet paid the price on Saturday. Unfortunately for John Lowry and Emmet Connon, they lost their mast on completion of the final gybe to the finish line with a healthy lead over the rest of the RS400 fleet.

Despite the challenging conditions, race officer Robin Gray from Ballhomle and his team did a top job to knock out six races for the two classes.

In the fourteen strong RS400 fleet, reigning national champion Simon Herriott and Shane Mac Carthy came out on top. They were pushed all the way by Paul Mc Laughlin and Michael Mc Kinley from Cushendall, with the pair only two points off top spot. Brothers Emmet and James Ryan from The Royal St George finished in third place. With multiple race winners over the two days the overall standard in the Irish 400 fleet is certainly starting to tighten up. Any minor mistakes were severely punished.

In the twelve boat fleet of RS200's, Graeme Noonan and Brian Mac Carthy dominated proceedings. The pair had a convincing win, scoring five firsts and a second. Current national champions Roy Van Maanen and Glen Reid had a comfortable second place. Local Newcastle crew, Clive Coffey and Helen Cassidy took the final podium spot.

Next up for the RS fleet is the Irish Nationals which will be held at Howth Yacht Club from the 17th to the 19th of August.

#RS SAILING - UK RS Association chairman Pete Vincent will be running another RS200 and 400 demo day from the Royal St George Yacht Club on the weekend of 24-25 March.

The well-known expert on RS boats is being brought to Dublin by RS400 owners Richard Tate and Emmet Ryan, who are "really keen to get an RS fleet up and running" in Dun Laoghaire.

"After the huge attention our boats have drawn both ashore and on the water, we feel there is already a keen interest from a broad cross section of sailors to learn something more about these incredible hiking dinghies," says Tate.

"There is a ready-to-race format for both RS200s and 400s to have a full season of racing every Tuesday and Thursday in Dublin Bay right from the go."

The RS200 is described as a "natural progression" from the RS Feva, while the RS400 "takes the concept one step further and way beyond". Both classes provide high performance assymmetrical racing for all age groups.

If you are thinking about moving into an RS200 or 400, this is the perfect opportunity to help you make your decision.

All demo sails must be booked in advance by contacting Pete Vincent directly at +44 7812 899 043 or [email protected].