Bowmoor "Club Tropicana" Sailing Club - RS300 Rooster National Tour 8-9 March

Bowmoor with its Caribbean vibe and crystalline blue waters welcomed a strong fleet of 17 RS300 sailors over the weekend.  The ever smiling and welcoming team Bowmoor had it ALL Covered: Fun and sunshine, there was enough for everyone...

With a competitive fleet it was a chance for some of the "newbies" to brush shoulders with the stars and Stephen Jones, at his first open in a RS300 and at his first event for 11 years, quickly demonstrated he'll be one to watch this year! 

Saturdays first of four races was probably the windiest peaking at around 9 knots, with Stephen throwing down the gauntlet hitting the line on the gun and at pace, something that became a familiar theme!  He didn't have it his own way though with big shifts and pressure changes, Harry McVicar, Charlie South, Richard Le Mare and Luke South all had their time in lead, with the South's one and two at the first mark, though Harry won through with the bullet from Charlie. 

Race two the wind had begun to fade and Harry and Stephen disappeared to have their own private battle in the distance while the remaining pack exchanged positions all the way around - The exception being Richard, who despite sailing with an injured shoulder and an unusual poor start, smoothly worked his way to third. 

After a short break ashore for an excellent lunchtime curry provided by our hosts, where the drinks were free, we were back at it for races three and four with the wind dipping lower.  The two races followed a now familiar theme with the exception of Chairman Tom Moore who began to string the shifts and gusts together and marched towards the head of the fleet.  It’s worth mentioning that at one point the whole fleet were bunched often four abreast all on the same leg demonstrating the incredibly close racing!  

Unfortunately the day one leader Harry, Ben Heppenstall and Richard Le Mare had to pack their bags and leave that night, missing cocktail time, a Summer's tune (and a communal Chinese take away!)  

Sunday dawned with a few thick heads and little sleep for some subjected to a night of snoring from one of the sailors staying in the club pod!  With the wind beginning to show an appearance the fleet drifted out to the start line, where the RO had a difficult task of setting a fair first beat with such huge shifts.  The fleet, tightly compacted, saw Esher Heathcote with exceptional downwind pace on the first run cruising to the sharp end though with the chaos of the mark-roundings he fell foul of the mass bundles leaving Stephen, Tom, Richard Hanby and Matt Banbrook to pull away.  Luke and James Fewings spent the race glued together, with James taking the 5th after some exceptional upwind boat speed.  

With points very tight from 2nd to 5th the last race was going to be crucial.  With a little more breeze Charlie re-joined the pack and with Richard OCS and returning to re-start it was game on!  Places were exchanging faster than Donald Trump handing out trade tariffs and Stephen pushing interpretation of rules went for a dip on a mark rounding...  This all meant that Tom and Matt Banbrook were battling it out whilst Richard closed in fast to take his second bullet of the weekend...  The question to decided fourth and fifth was.... Did he return to re-start correctly or did Matt take the win and vital points to secure 4th on count back from Luke... ?  (Final results: Matt 4^th overall, Luke 5^th overall).

In summary Bowmoor lived up to its reputation as magnificent hosts, we all got a suntan, and the racing was exceptionally tight throughout the fleet and for our first Rooster National Tour Event it was a strong turnout, even with some regular's missing.  Congratulations to newbie Stephen taking an impressive win and thank you again Bowmoor!  Thank you to Rooster for sponsoring our RS300 National Tour.  We look forward to seeing you at RS300 Rooster National Tour event number two which is the Harken RS Sprints Regatta at Rutland SC 26-27 April.  Entry is open here: RS100, RS300, RS400, RS500, RS Vareo Harken RS Sprints Regatta 2025

Report by Luke South

Up on Y&Y here

Photos thanks to Steve Tanner