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August 10, 2025 2 min read
Three Years, Countless Hours, and Finally… RS400 National Champions!
For the past three years, the RS400 Nationals has been the goal. We’ve spent countless hours travelling, racing, and training — and after losing the title on the very last day for two years running, we were absolutely determined to bring the trophy home this time.
The entry list wasn’t huge, but the quality was fierce: current and former Olympians, plus the Irish Helmsman Champions (their equivalent of our Endeavour). It was going to be a seriously tough fleet.
Storm Floris rolled in with over 50 knots recorded on the weather station.
Unsailable, to say the least.
Another windy day kept us under AP until 2pm. We finally got the first race in and were 3rd on the water - only to discover we were OCS by the tiniest of margins once we came ashore.
Not exactly the start we’d dreamed of, using a discard on race 1.
Wednesday brought a complete change — light winds in the morning that built through the day.
The race committee pushed through four races (a first for any Nationals I’ve been in!).
Downwind, we had an extra gear compared to the fleet, taking four bullets in a row. It was exactly what we needed after day two’s setback and it catapulted us into the lead with a solid points gap.
It looked light when we launched, we got our hopes up for a repeat of Wednesday, but by the time we reached the course, it was anything but.
Three races in strong winds left the legs broken. Bob and Mikey, carrying just a bit more weight (1 or 2kg… maybe 20kg!), had the jump on the fleet upwind, enough that we couldn’t catch them downwind.
We came away with a 4, 2, 2 — enough to hang onto the overall lead by two points.
The forecast promised another big-breeze day, and all week the wind had been stronger than predicted.
Sure enough, by the time we were meant to launch the ribs were struggling in steep chop as the breeze built.
The AP went up in hopes that it would settle, but instead the breeze built to 37 knots with two-metre waves.
After almost three tense hours of waiting, the call came: no racing. We’d done it. Finally. RS400 National Champions!
There were tears — pure relief and joy after years of hard work — and then, of course, a night of celebrations in Belfast.
Really good selection of rope sizes, delivered speedily. Great idea to put the offcuts to good use. Caused a few laughs when people realised what I'd ordered ;-)
The sales team were quick responding to our questions, dispatched to us promptly, and the product is a perfect replacement for our old tiller which ended up at the bottom of a lake!
Love the fact they don’t leak.
You do need to squeeze to get liquid out. Which is so much better. Don’t lose liquid etc.
nice size and robust
Great for when it’s not too cold. But is windy and wet. Needing to stay dry on top.
Very easy to install. May need some additional sealing for complete water-tightness.
It was time for me to upgrade to a newer Ilca and it was recommended that I get a Devoti. The price was competitive and the service from Andrew and his team was fantastic. I received lots of communication and the boat was delivered to me within 2 weeks. It is really great that Sailing Chandlery take the time to set up the rigging so that you can get straight on the water. I am very pleased with my new boat and am loving sailing it. Thank you Sailing Chandlery!
Excellent fit for a topaz. Great service on collection.
Perfect
Love this bag. Great wet area within it as well.
Excellent to use as for a birthday gift to family members keen on sailing
Currently 2 weeks into an Eastern Mediterranean trip with these shoes. Grip is great and they drain really well. Comfort is brilliant… as long as you take the right size. I followed the measurement guidelines and they work well. Highly recommend shoe!
Quick despatch and a good quality product. Moves smoothly along the boom.
Ordered a dyneema RSAero halyard on the Thursday. It arrived by mid day on the Friday and was used on the Saturday. Excellent product and service. Thank you
Reeves really easily, jams well and excellent grip
I bought the burgee and clip for a Hartley 12 and found downwind sailing much easier single handed. The clip came with the screws so it was a 10 minute job including dropping the mast. Website worked well again and the items were delivered quickly so a good job all round.
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