#rssailing – RS Sailor David Cheyne reports from Day four of Royal North Ireland's (RNIYC) Autumn Series on Belfast Lough.

You know the way you can want something so badly that you can convince yourself it is something entirely different, well that is what happens when you haven't sailed for 4 weeks due to a truculent weather God, and the relaxed kite pop in 15 knots turns out to be an underestimate by about 100% as you nearly shoot out the back of the boat..... Well, after a drifter on the first Sunday and a couple of hurricanes' backsides on Days 2 and 3, racing of a sort got underway at last at RNIYC today, in a rather fruity 15-29 knots of sunshiney gloriousness.

Why would you sail a simple single hander when you can sail something much more complicated and thus amplify the opportunity for snarl ups, as ably demonstrated by Chrs Penney, who arrived late, with no sheets. Once the appropriate strings had been commandeered from a variety of sources, the Irish Champion, taking time out from his intensive youth squad coaching duties (i.e. Boat preparation, racing tactics etc) promptly yotted off to the race area under limited control, due to his tiller extension not being attached to his tiller, really....

Lots of bits fell off today, including Laura O'Hallorahoolahan, from 1230, and the evergreen Ginge from 825, launching himself unnaturally skyward, into a high tariff dive which drew no applause from Trevor D'Arcy, who was probably wondering if getting back into the class again was going to be as simple as it might have been. For some reason the old timers also decided to drop their kite by pulling the pole out of the front of the boat and cutting the launch line.... always carry a sharp knife when big boat sailing – old habits die hard. Slot gaskets were inspected by all, and by some, such as Dr Hutch and Stuart A, repeatedly, despite Dr H's assertion that No More Nails was just as good as the correct glue. Well I can tell you that it doesn't work as well, and my temporary fix using NMN at Mounts Bay finally succumbed to the endless high wind battering we have had since then, to deliver another fine torrent of foamy sea through the middle of my cockpit. Boat preparation is key it seems.

So onto racing, because that was why we were there, albeit those ashore having lunch might have queried what exactly we were all up to. 12-14 ships set out, and in charge if cat herding was as ever, our long suffering Race Kommandant, Gerry Reid. After giving up waiting for all the boats to be the right way up at the same time, hostilities were commenced, with only one boat capsized on the start line as the sequence started (probably a tactic). Entering the fray, rather later than planned, were Charlie and Wendy, hosing in at mach 2, with their pink kite slightly dictating play, demonstrating that it was still pretty windy. Not sure what happened then, as they came third, so presumably got her spun round in double quick time. Boshing upwind in 20+ knots, DrC and Stevie K punched out a few lengths, and approaching the first mark went for a conservative rounding, which was of course, a red rag to our very own Dick Turpin, Uncle Liam, who saw the gap and snuck through to take the lead. Some fishing by DrC allowed Liam to extend quickly, before a game of hunt the leeward mark broke out. The cleverly camouflaged buoy, sea green in colour, was eventually spotted deeper than expected, taking all the excitement out of the run. Well, there was of course the option of sending it and popping a couple of gybes, but that seemed unwise, and everyone bumbled boringly to the bottom of the course. Lap 2 got a bit livelier again, and it all kicked off at the second top turn, as the gauge strained and, as DC went all softy and declined to pull the trigger on the hoist, the lemmings behind all sniffed a chance, as chutes were launched. This prompted Uncle Liam and Johnny O to stack it and send it over the handlebars, followed by everyone else, who seemed to think this was part of the game. A healthy lead thus established, DrC further embarrassed his family by tacking around at the gybe, providing a good view of the swimming competition behind.
As it looked worse than it was, the rescue cavalry arrived, including the Start/Finish RIB, only to discover that everyone was in fact enjoying the communal activity, leaving Dr C to round the last mark, with no line to finish at. True to form, our erstwhile mobile Race Officer reappeared like Mr Ben, as the leaders arrived at the finish, and rewards were handed out to Dr C/ Steve, and then the two lady crew, with Laura and Paul in second, and Charlie and Wendy in third. The rest all bumbled in thereafter, and with Gerry declaring the whole thing unwise, we all headed for shore. Well, we were meant to, only it was too much fun, so kites were hoisted here there and everywhere, as we all, rather unhelpfully, to the safety teams, went for a quick last blast before bedtime. No harm done, and apologies duly offered and accepted by the Race Team, I think.

Day 6, races 2-4, Report

15 races scheduled so far, one completed, things could only get better, and so it came to pass, the sun came out, the wind appeared from a glassy lough, and we were offski. Crew swapping done, leaving Liam to speak to his attorney, we headed off for a jolly good bunfight in the shiftless NE 5-7 knots, albeit too light for any injuries or embarrassing scenarios to arise.

DrC nipped out in Race 1 of the day, and a procession ensued, Darcy in first loser spot, followed by event sponsor Bosun Bob, of the little shop on the corner opposite the Marina, doing a great pre-Christmas deal on ships in a bottle. Not a very exciting race really, but it served to double the achievement to date.

Race two was a bit more of a shuffle, with traffic jams at the bottom mark leading to inversions of order, and some shoddy roundings by most. Darcy snuck through by taking the great circle route round the fence stallers, jumping up 4 spots to take the lead coming to the top for the second time. DrC made some ground and tried to snare the men from Carrick, but missed the catch, momentarily, before managing to poke them up the bum with his pole, and conceded to a quick spin to relieve the impropriety. Bit more shuffling and Paul McLaughlin nipped through to take the first of his two first-loser slots of the day. Darcy rumbled on to take the biggest rosette.

Race three was abandoned half way up the beat, after a 30 degree leftie as the start gun fired confused everyone, and left Cushendall man McLaughlin leading the lopsided fleet in a straight line to the first mark. Some felt this to be the right decision by Gerry Reid, our erstwhile Race Officer, though Paul knew fine rightly it was because he was from Cushendall.

Determined to flick his thumb off the underside of his top teeth at the process, Paul promptly raced into a lead in the final race of the day, and looked to have it in the bag, when a masked man on a galloping horse made an unexpected appearance, riding in to pinch it off him.

The day's top performer was probably Bosun Bob, with some great speed and a very consistent 3,4,4, showing his blue boat has clearly exorcised the demons of his red hull of yore.

Steady Force 4 and blue skies on the cards next Sunday, so bring it on again in a week.

Results sheet downloadable below.

#rssailing – Sunday 16th dawned bright and breezy, but as the RS fleets launched into Dun Laoghaire harbour, the breeze had dropped right off to a shifty five knots for the DMYC Frostbite Series. The fleet was sent outside for racing, and fortunately the breeze decided to play ball and built to a pleasant 10-15 knots from the North East.

After a short postponement, the rs's were the third fleet to start, with a favourable pin end. The fleet jockeyed to get of the pin, with four boats OCS, Mark Nolan and Heather Craig, Andrew Algeo and Paul Nolan, Marty O'Leary and Rachel Williamson and Chris helme and Alan Claffey.

Marty and Rachel were the sole boat to turn around and restart and were left to chase the fleet up the first of 5 beats. By the windward mark, the fleet had compressed, with some snakes and ladders up the beat. Marty and Rachel rounded first, hotly pursued by Sarah Byrne.

Up the second beat Sarah Byrne broke into the lead, only to be reeled back in by mark and heather sailing 1015 and Marty and Rachel sailing 1170.

Th final order of the 200s was to be Marty and Rach followed by Mark and Heather only to realise they were OCS, leaving second place to Sarah Byrne, 3rd spot went to Chris and Emily Arrowsmith.

RS400 Fleet

The 6 strong 400 fleet had a battle royale from the off.

After what can only be described as a pin end frenzy of a start - Leg 1 saw Andrew Algeo & Paul Nolan (1335) and Emmet & James Ryan (1339) nip out in front from the left side of the course. These were closely followed by newcomer Rumball, with Kingston and Cleary joining the chase from the right side. The first windward mark saw the 5 frontrunners pop kites almost simultaneously, and peel onto a lively leg 2 in surfable swell. Ryan's hoist resulted in a slightly ripped kite, and Rumball (1143) slipped back to 4th, allowing Kingston to slot into third as the pack settled, and planed on downwind.

The next 3 rounds of the trapezoid course saw position changes on almost every leg. Chased hard by Kingston, Algeo (subsequently scored OCS) hung on to pole position for a good portion of the race. The Ryans gallantly powered on with their ripped kite in 3rd, and managed to keep Alexander Rumball, Sean Cleary (1017) and Brian O'Hare (582) at bay. Kingston & Mcnamee finally managed to reel Algeo in on the third round, and went on to put a good distance between themselves and the fleet over the final 2 laps to take another win in the 400 class and the DMYC mug for the day's racing.

#dmycfrostbites – Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, with a gusty 15 knots in Dun Laoghaire harbour writes Marty O'Leary. A record 16 RS dinghies gathered on the startline for the first race of the series of the DMYC frostbites, enjoying exceptionally warm weather for this time of year. Dun Laoghaire welcomed several familiar faces, as well as some visitors from Greystones and further afield.

The race officer set the course at four laps of a trapezoid course based inside the harbour, and racing got off to a clean start, with just one 200 being called back for being a bit too keen.

The early leaders popped out from the left, however no one was safe, with lead changes every leg. First to the windward mark was Sean Clery and new crew Donal Murphy in the 400, followed by Marty O'Leary and Rachel Williamson in the 200. Both boats opted to gybe early at mark two, and were left to watch as the boats that continued on sped by on the right hand side of the run.

It was then the turn of Emmet and James Ryan to take the lead up the second beat, and were looking comfortable as they hoisted the kite - until they managed to get tangled up in a laser, leaving the way clear for George Kingston and Ian McNamee to nip in, and take the lead, chased hard by Andrew and Paul.

The 200s were having their own battles,with O'Leary and Williamson taking an early lead, as class president Frank sailing with Heather Craig, had to turn back and re-cross the line for being OCS. Frank and Heather sailed hard, and chased down the pack and had a great tussle with Conor Totterdell and Myles Kelly. They successfully climbed back to 2nd, but didn't manage to catch O'Leary and Williamson, who collected the weekly mug for the RS's.

#rssailing – The Royal Cork Yacht Club was buzzing at the weekend, with what was a great precursor to next year's dinghy week. The RS fleets were in town for their final event of what has been a bumper Irish calendar full of well attended competitive and fun events by David Rose (RS-Association Ireland).

Tents were being welcomed and pitched on the lawn, and dinghies were arriving in great numbers on the Friday night and Sat morning. The weather was playing ball and giving us wind and the impression that it was still summer. The red carpet was rolled out by a club that draws on its people and facilities to run top class events in a really friendly way. Small details make these occasions and there was little left undone, with shore helpers and soup waiting at the top of the slip for competitors, and a few free pints to help ease the aching bones on the Saturday night. Celine McGrath not only ran the event ashore but also helped on board the OOD boat during the racing. Results were hitting the website as the boats were finishing, just another detail that makes a noticeable difference.
Barry Rose was our race officer and employed the great help of a top notch team, including Ciaran Mc Sweeney who had ran an excellent RS sprint event earlier in the year out of MBSC, and RCYC's Eddie Rice who along with the rest of the team provided exceptional racing, with no delays of any kind all weekend. The course was changed so fast when needed that the competitors hardly noticed, and everything from course length to the quality of the line was impeccable.
First order of business for Barry and his team was to decide which of the many race area's available in Cork would best suit the forecast on Saturday, and after going out on a rib before the briefing, he established that the conditions outside Roches Point, with a small swell and a nice breeze would provide the best racing.
The 40 teams in their double handed dinghies made a fantastic sight snaking out the Owenabue River and around Camden and then Roches to do battle on Sat Morning. When they arrived they found a course ready to go and once the last competitors had arrived, racing got under way in brilliant conditions that allowed for surfing downwind and good tactical upwind racing.

RS400 Race Report: 21 Teams, 6 Races, One discard

Race one saw RCYC's David Rose and Ian Hef lead the way for two rounds on home turf, until being reeled in and passed by John Downey and Sandy Rimmington (MBSC) and the ever present Sean Cleary and Steven Tyner on the final beat.
Race two saw National Champions Alex Barry and Richie Leonard record a bullet followed by Dave Cheyne and Stephen Kane (NDLL) who would remain consistent for the remainder of the regatta and gain a podium position of 3rd place overall.
Race three was all about Sean Cleary and Steven Tyner (GSC) who have had a fantastic season, including winning the Eastern's and recording a very credible 10th at the UK Nationals. For most of the race, they were challenged hard by John Downey and Sandy Rimmington, but there challenge was to end abruptly in a post weather mark incident that resembled losing a front wing in a formula one car. When the dust settled John's bowsprit was broken and they had to limp home in luckily for them the final race of the opening day.
Overnight Andrew Alego and P. Nolan (RSGYC) were well placed as was Andy Verso and Oisn Baugh (GSC). The racing had been close and there was a lot to play for on day two.
On day two Barry Rose decided that with a bigger swell and more breeze forecast it was prudent to race the fleet in harbour. Cuskinny is a great place to race with a strong easterly, and despite a more tidal race course, it was a great call, allowing the fleets to get in 3 more exhilarating races in great breeze, watched by a flotilla of motor boats and yachts that came out to see these exciting fleets in action.
Alex Barry and Richie Leonard had a fantastic battle with Sean Cleary and Steve Tyner in race four, and this would prove to the be order of business for the day.
David Rose and Ian Hef were back in the mix recording a two and a three in race five and six to finish fourth overall. Dave Cheyne and Stephen Kane were excellent in the conditions and a third and two sixths would earning them a well-deserved third overall.
For the top honours there was little between Alex and Richie and Sean and Steve, both teams battled hard all day, overtaking each other many times. This was a tight affair with no shortage of drama, including a swim in Race five for Alex and Richie, which they recovered from admirably.
Sean and Steve on "Yachtsman Euromarine" were in poll position going into the last race, but the margin was slim and Alex and Richie knew if they could overhaul their competitors in the final race they would win on count back, and that is ultimately what happened.
Alex Barry and Richie Leonard are 2014 Southern Champions.
Alex Barry's post event observation:
"It is very exciting to see RS dinghy sailing hitting great heights at the moment in Ireland. I hope to see the fleets in Cork again next year for Dinghy week. Thanks for great organisation and race management and to the RCYC for a great weekend."

RS200 Race Report: 12 Teams, 6 Races, One discard

A good turnout for the final event of the season for the 200 fleet, made for some very competitive racing, and we may see a cork fleet develop next season in this exciting class. Ronan O'Driscoll and Shane Dunlea are sailing out of MBSC and many heads were turned in the RCYC at the weekend, by a boat that combines high performance and well worked out systems that are easy to use.
Day one was all about Marty O'Leary and Rachel Williamson (RSGYC), who mastered the conditions and dominated the fleet with a clean sweep of three race wins from three on day one. Marty had made the move from competing well in the 400 with Brian Fenlon recording an 8th at the Nationals in Galway this year.
Blair Stanaway and Heather King (RSGYC/Westport) were hanging in there with two seconds and a third to open, as were Stephen Craig and Conor Foley (RSGYC) with two thirds and a second.
It was to be more of the same from Marty and Rachel on day two, recording an impressive fourth race win from four, before allowing Blair and Heather to win the fifth race. Marty and Rachel however had now won the RS200 Southern title with a race to spare in a superb first outing.
Second was Blair and Heather two points back and third was Stephen Craig and Conor Foley a further five points adrift.
The 200 is a newer boat than the 400 and has a lower weight band being similar but slightly less powerful. The fleet in the UK is very large and strong, allowing easy access to affordable and fast second hand boats. There are also demo boats available in Ireland so please enquire if you are interested in getting involved. We are expecting growth next year country wide in this exciting class.

RSFeva Race Report: 9 Teams, 6 Races, One discard

The Feva class was full of RCYC competitors, making up over fifty percent of entries.
One of the bigger challenges of Day one was getting out to the race course through the tidal rush and sea one often gets in the entry to Cork harbour.
Once out there, the Feva's started an exciting series that saw Lorcan Tighe and Cian Murphy of NYC winning race one, with Dara Donnelly and Rosemar Tyrell (NYC/RIYC) second.
Donnelly and Tyrell were to finish second in the other two races of the day and were level on points with Sarah Cudmore and Kelly Williams (RCYC) after day one. Sarah and Kelly won race two and three and established themselves as favourites.
Day two, and to the in-harbour course and more wind. It was business as usual for Sarah Cudmore and Kelly Williams winning a further two races and taking the championship in fine style with a race to spare. Lorcan Tighe and Cian Murphey who sailed really well to three seconds on the Sunday were second overall, three points clear of Dara Donnelly and Rosemar Tyrell in Third. Suzi Fitzpatrick and Aine Riche (RCYC) won the final race to sit fourth.
Other honours went to first lady crew in the 400, Laura Holohan, she finished sixth overall with helm Paul McMahon. Sheela Lewis took first lady Helm and 14th overall in the 400 (John Lewis crewing). In the 200 Sarah Byrne took top lady Helm (crewed by Tom Gillan) and champion Rachel Williamson also took home top lady crew in the 200 (Marty O'Leary at the helm).

See here for full results

#rs – Some statistics from the Irish RS Sprint Championships 2014 at Ballyholme YC  last weekend. 46 individual competitors (including Neill Strain's swaps), 40 Flight Starts, 214 recorded finishes, 490 individual hoists and drops (taking out DNFs etc), and a lot of weary bodies, not just the competitors! Full Sprint results are available to download below as a pdf file.

The Irish RS400 fleet has a full calendar for the year, along with the RS200s and Fevas, but with the exam season in full progress, there is usually a gap in May. The Sprints have thus been moved to fill this gap, and the excellent turn out justified the ongoing inclusion of this event in the calendar.

23 RS400s and an RS200 rolled out for the Annual Irish RS Sprint Championships, held for the first time in the North, with hosts Ballyholme Yacht Club under the guidance of our favourite Race Officer Robin Gray, putting on a tremendous event, in what always seems to me to be a complete nightmare of an event to run. Robin clearly loves a challenge, as he has offered to do it again next year!

Always a great opportunity to get some boat handling practice in, it also provides a workout for those of us navigationally challenged, and more than a few salvages were provided on my boat by Steve advising me where to point the boat next. The whacky M course was a great success, sort of slaloming to the left, and then having an on the edge kite reach across the bottom, to make sure you didn't recover too much before the next race.
We have always asked that we are not kept sitting around too long, and Robin's team kept things pinging off at a furious rate, not giving you time to realise how your body was slowly disintegrating as the afternoon progressed. That said, I was pleased to see that some of the young ones were whinging as much as we elder statesmen, about how battered they felt.

In a Northerly there are few better venues than Ballyholme, with champagne conditions (can we finally park that expression, though it does serve the purpose I guess) of 15 knots steady, a 3-4 foot short swell allowing some fruity downhill slides. As good as it gets I'd say. Also clearly suits the locals, with Bob Espey and Gareth Flanagan and their respective engineers, Mike Gunning and Dave Fletcher, leading the way, along with Sean Cleary and Steve Tyner from Greystones, current Inlands Champs, in amongst the leaders. The flights were rejigged midway through Saturday, and again for Sunday, giving no-one any idea who was winning, apart from the obvious fact the Bob and Mike were running away with it. That said, everyone had a piece of the action, and as always, when the racing is good, we all go home happy.

Biggest thanks however have to go to the mark layers, who did an unbelievable job to lay and move so many marks with so little delay, outstanding.

Next up is the slightly less chaotic RS Northerns at Strangford Lough Yacht Club in late June, with usual format windyleewards; though if the size and intensity of the Easterns was anything to go by, carnage and chaos will return. We should have some serious entertainment, as the deep southerners, from the fast growing and worryingly talent packed Cork fleet, fresh from their own Sprint event, rejoin the fray. Great times for the RS fleet.

#rssailing – The first event of the season proved to be a testing one for all. After the first days squally conditions which saw the Fevas getting in only one race the Sunday dawned relatively benign.

Overall results are available to download below.

All launched around 10.30 and racing got underway with a full compliment of sailors on the water. Two races were finished in near perfect conditions with a lovely force 3-4.

The third race swiftly descended into the survival conditions which we had seen on the Saturday and it became increasingly obvious that there were more hulls than sails to be seen throughout the three fleets.

Most pairings however came ashore with broad smiles whether they had finished the race or not delighted with the fun and the blasting reaches which more often than not had ended with a swim.

Top Feva pairing of Alison Dolan and Grainne Young from BISC/NYC added to their first of Saturday with an 8th and another two firsts leaving them clear leaders.

Behind them the fleet was very tightly bunched with only a point separating the next three Emer Rafferty/Laura Coleman RSGYC , Alice Brennan/Isobel O'Grady GSC, and Triona Hinkson/Helen O'Beirne RSGYC.

Feva girls Alison Dolan and Grainne Young

In the RS200s it was old time pairing of Marshall King and Heather King who took the honours with Frank O'Rourke and son Kevin in second. Third and first junior was Stephen Craig and Conor Foley. First lady prize went to Lisa Smith ably crewed by Megan Hayes.

Newcomer to the fleet and ex Enterprise and Laser sailor Chris Arrowsmith was there with his son Greg mixing it up a bit on the Sunday to make it an interesting day.

The 400s with a great showing of 26 boats were won by a single point by local boys Sean Cleary and Steve Tyner proving that consistency pays, counting three seconds a third and a fourth. Just behind them was Alex Barry with George Kenefick form MBSC/RCYC and Bob Espey/Michael Gunning BYC, again with only 3 points to separate them. Local men Simon Herriott/Sprinkles Moran were just behind in 4th

Greystones pairing Sean Cleary and Steve Tyner were RS400 winners

Counting five wins Heather and Marshall King walked away with the RS200 prizes

Three wins gave Feva girls Alison Dolan and Grainne Young the overall win

All in all it was an extremely successful event especially so early in the season and all thanks goes to Greystones Sailing Club for pulling out all the stops to make it happen. Thanks goes also to long suffering PRO Neil Murphy who had to contend with extremely shifty and squally conditions throughout the two days, and still managed to pull off a full series of 6 races place sealing a great weekend for the local fleet.

#rsaero – After several years of development testing four different hull variations and numerous rig, foil and layout options, RS Sailing unveiled what could become one of the most important new sailboats of this era at the Suzuki RYA Dinghy Show in London – the RS Aero.

In many ways you can think of the RS Aero as a 21st century Laser – with the most fundamental difference being ultra-light weight. A full size single hander that, amazingly, weighs 30kg - the same as an Optimist.

Every dinghy sailor can imagine how that changes the game. Sail the boat and you quickly realise you underestimated it. From the exhilaration on the water, to the sheer user-friendliness ashore, the RS Aero re-sets preconceptions: The rush as the boat accelerates - the ability to carry it up the beach single-handed – the convenience of youths or small women lifting it onto a roof-rack with ease.

Ultra-light weight means the hull form and rigs need not be extreme, so the RS Aero is utterly exciting without being hard to handle. Wide structural gunwales give a dry ride and make the boat quick and safe to right from capsize.

A three rig system, as per the Laser, has been envisaged from the start to cover the desired sailor range – RS Aero 5 (youths) – RS Aero 7 (women & light men) – RS Aero 9 (men). All spars are carbon fibre, with a common top mast and boom for all sails and radically different stiffness lower mast sections. The hull is so light that even the Aero 5 has a higher sail area to weight ratio than most existing single-handers and retains the Aero's incredibly dynamic feel.

Two v4 pre-production prototypes were on the RS Sailing stand at Alexandra Palace and caused a storm, with crowds around them all weekend and people lifting the boat and laughing out loud at the surprise. Final stages of the development process are underway, with every aspect of this simple boat having been examined, developed and tested for functionality over fashion, minimal weight, maximum strength and manufacturing efficiency. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the RS Aero is that despite being half the weight, built using epoxy resin and significant amounts of carbon fibre in the hull and all-carbon spars, the price will be close to that of a Laser.

UK roll-out of the RS Aero will take place first and a demo tour begins next weekend. Orders are now being taken with a special launch price available on the first 100 boats – well over half of which have already been reserved.

All through development, the reaction has been similar. From weekend warriors to discerning professionals, the RS Aero re-ignites passion for sailing in its purest, least complicated form. With RS Sailing's global distribution network, worldwide success seems assured.

#RSsailing – The RS Association has announced its event calendar for 2014. These events include all three RS classes, the Feva, 200 and 400 unless otherwise specified. 

Primary RS circuit events:

April 12/13th Greystones S.C. Eastern Championships.
June 21/22nd Strangford Lough S.C. Northern Championships.
July 19/20th Lough Ree Y.C. Western Championships.
August 8-10th Galway Bay S.C. Crewsaver Irish National Championships.
September 13/14th Kinsale Y.C. Southern Championships.

Sprint events:
May 24/25th Ballyholme Y.C. RS200/400 Sprint event.
June 7th Monkstown Bay RSFeva/200/400 Southern Sprint event.

UK/European events:

July 25 – August 1st Carnac, France Feva Worlds

July 27th – August 1st Fraglia vela Riva, Lake Garda, Italy RS 200/400 Eurocup
August 17th – 21st Hayling Island, UK RS200 UK Nationals
August 24 – 28th Mounts Bay, Cornwall UK RS400 UK Nationals.

#rssailing – A bad weather forecast means the planned RS demo day in Dun Laoghaire this Saturday has been postponed. The up and coming dinghy class is completely bucking the trend oulined in a recent piece that outlines some major problems for dinghy sailing in Ireland, acoording to class proponents.

This year 44 RS400's attended the nationals and 33 boats took part in the five event traveller series. In the past month five RS400's have been bought from the UK to join the Irish fleet. This includes the first two 400's based in Cork and one in Dun Laoghaire. 

The formula of running the RS Feva, RS200 and RS400 events together has proved hugely successful. At the combined nationals they had 72 boats in total. The classes give juniors and those above college age who may not have the aspirations or perhaps the means for Olympic sailing, a natural progressive platform for competitive racing. There are a lot people sailing in the RS classes that could have drifted away from sailing altogether.

Being a strict one design and non-trapeze the boats are very accessible. Swapping and introducing new crews is not as much of an issue, particularly for those who haven't been in a dinghy for years or in some cases ever.

Another point that is worth making is the competitive level in the classes. For example, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern (49er Olympians) own and race a 400 when their 49er schedule allows. Gareth Flannigan is now an RS400 regular. Dave Rose from Cork and formerly of 1720 fame has just bought a 400. This will be Dave's first time back in a dinghy in fifteen years. At the competitive end of the RS200's, Sean & Heather Craig have just bought a boat from the UK. Their son has commandeered the current family 200.

The boats are deemded good value due to the large UK second hand market. An RS400 cost €4,000 and has no problems competing at the right end of the fleet. 

#RSsailing – Blessington Sailing Club is hosting the 2013 RS Inland championships and after three races Franks and Kevin O'Rourke lead the biggest fleet, the 12–boat RS200s. Blessington's own Alison Dolan and Grainne Young top a 6–boat Feva fleet. Another Greystones boat, sailed by Simon Herriott and Tom Moran, lead the 11–boat RS400 fleet. Results to date are downloadable below as a html file.