The RS Vareo fleet was greeted by sunshine and light to moderate winds at Warsash last weekend (24-25 July) for a Fat Face circuit meeting. The first race was sailed in a south-westerly Force 2-3 and offered the closest racing of the day with Dave Machin, Eddie McDonald and Christopher Froehlich showing great speed off wind to leave positions uncertain until the final beat. A final tack by Machin let Richard Kemp-Salt through to win, with Froehlich third.

By the second race the wind had increased to Force 4-5. The upwind legs were dominated by Kemp-Salt, but more than equalled by the downwind performance of his followers. The wave formation caused the odd trip for the chasing group when gybing, taking the pressure off Kemp-Salt, who won both remaining races.

On Sunday although the wind was generally Force 4 it was up and down and fairly shifty. Kemp-Salt led again from the start, but Machin proved to be superior on the offwind leg to close the gap and pass only to loose it on the second upwind leg. The wind steadied in direction to south-west and increased to Force 5 plus, which allowed Kemp-Salt to take the three races of the day. Machin continued to show consistency with three second places, McDonald and Froehlich having their moments of success.

Overall Results

1 Richard Kemp-Salt

2 Dave Machin

3 Eddie McDonald

Special Merit Award David Bates