Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships - Days 1 & 2

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships 2023 © Lee Whitehead / Photolounge

In the 29 years since the RS400 was first launched there has been one guaranteed way to draw a crowd when it comes to the RS400 National Championships and that is to announce that it will be run at Mount's Bay.

The Cornish seaside town of Marazion and the Mount's Bay Sailing Club have played host to the event on four previous occasions and once again the fifth in 2023 took little persuasion for the 69-boat fleet to book up their accommodation at the beginning of the year and make plans for the big Cornish gig.

But, unlike previous years, as the event got closer it got harder to predict what kind of a week it would be as the weather forecast models danced around between summer and autumnal conditions.

This twitched those that had spent too long looking at the gloom and doom forecasts of a few days before and assumed that the first day's racing would be blown off. Others had used rose-tinted specs to plan their opening days and were banking on racing as expected. And it was it was this view that won.

When it came to Day 1, light winds and a full complement of races opened the week. But nothing can be taken at face value in Mount's Bay. While the wind barely crept above 10knots all day, the sea state was a much bigger offshore swell that had made no attempt to line up with the new lighter breeze. When this breeze did perk up sufficiently to make its own sea state it did so at a different angle, laying a counter chop across the top, all of which made life extremely difficult when it came to keeping speed upwind.

"It was a really difficult day, and the boat felt horrible all of the time," said Steve Norbury, "I'd take a guess that everybody at some point thought that they were going really slowly upwind. Our approach was to make sure we didn't get wound up by it. We told ourselves that if we thought we were having a bad time, the chances were that so was everyone else."

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships day 1 - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Defending champions Sam Knight and Chis Bownes (1376) came ashore questioning the focus of their excellent and well attended training session on the day before.

"Having spent so much time talking about how to depower in typical Mount's Bay conditions, we found ourselves struggling to pile the power on instead," said Sam.

The first race had been as tricky for the race committee as it had been for the competitors as the light breeze took a big step to the left under the influence of a big shower that was passing through to the north, making the downwind and second upwind leg a drag race. Sensibly the race officer shortened course at the top of the beat.

In this race it was last years' runners up Christopher Eames and Rachel Tilley (1528) that took the first win.

After a reshuffling of the course Race 2 went the full distance of three laps and while the shifting breeze did its best to raise the anxiety levels of those that had chosen to bang a corner, in the end it was Edd Whitehead and Ben Whaley (1541) that took the win with Sam Knight and Chris Bownes (1376) in second.

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships 2023 - photo © Lee Whitehead / Photolounge

With the confusing sea state, shifting breeze and a forecast that didn't play out, the opening day had been a challenging one. This, along with the novelty of a gate start had meant that there were new flag signals to get to grips with too. As one crew said, "I was really missing my tea towel today to decode them."

In this respect Day 2 was at least simpler. With the breeze forecast to be in the teens and with Day 3 looking likely to be blown off, the race committee decided to run three races.

The day started off hovering below the 10knot mark with the occasional puff above. This time it was Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (1526) that took the win with Whitehead and Whaley in second.

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships 2023 - photo © Lee Whitehead / Photolounge

As the breeze rose a notch or two so the shrouds came down half a hole for many. By this stage the top of the points table was almost suggesting that there was a pact between the big guns to share the winning love around as Roger Gilbert and Keith Bedborough (1533) became the fourth team to take a win in four races.

"The sea state was really tricky once again," said Roger Gilbert, "The challenge was getting over or around the waves rather than hitting them and feeling like they'd pushed you back, especially off the start line when you're trying to build speed."

By race five a pattern was starting to emerge as Groves and Parkhurst broke the imaginary pact and took another bullet, while Whitehead and Whaley notched up their third second in a row to lead the fleet. Discarding a third also seemed to make their intentions clear.

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships 2023 - photo © Lee Whitehead / Photolounge

So, with five races on the board, discards were now starting to come into play as the fleet settled down into this spectacular and challenging venue. As predicted, with wind speeds winds of 35-49knots recorded at Land's End, Day 3 was called off.

But if there was one thing to unite the entire fleet, whatever end of it you were at, it was the unbridled excitement of seeing dolphins on the course and alongside the boats. Those who have been here before had promised it and once again Mount's Bay had delivered straight from day 1 making it easy to see why this venue is so popular.

See also: Playlist of more videos from Lee Whitehead.

Results after day 2:

Noble Marine Rooster RS400 National Championships 2023 - photo © Lee Whitehead / Photolounge