I’m not sure how I ended up with an RS700 really, it seems like there were a series of events ending in a sort of car-crash choice to buy one.   Just to explain to non-dinghy folk, there is more to the “RS Boats” brand than the RS Feva’s you may have seen the YOB’s sailing.  RS also produce the RS200 and RS400, very light, very powerful and fast; then they had a mental aberration and produced the RS600, 700 and 800 with bigger rigs, fitted with racks to the side of the boat and trapezes for everyone to use off them.  Inexplicably in the RS700’s case they felt it necessary to give a singlehanded helm an asymmetric spinnaker to play with too – so how did I end up with one?  It’s a short story.

Photo courtesy of ldc racing

My brother-in-law invited me to helm his RS800 in the Warsash Sailing Club Boxing Day Race, typically by far the largest turnout of the season with 42 other dinghies racing in the Hamble River itself.  How did it go?  Lets just say it was the maddest 75 minutes of my life.  The start was memorable in itself; I got us luffed into a gap between the Club and public jetties and nearly ended up in the Rising Suns Lounge Bar due to a large gust and an inability to bear away before hitting a jetty.  To be fair, with twin trapezes the RS800 was never going to be the ultimate river racing weapon but there were consolations.  My abiding memory is approaching a small fleet of Optimists all involved in their own close battles and luffing matches.  Trouble is we were on starboard with the kite up (that means a 5 foot pointy “bowsprit” spinnaker pole with it) and you simply have to point the boat where the gusts or lulls dictate you go.  I honestly thought we were going to end up with 3 kids sat on the pole…. I think we may have messed up their race a bit.  Anyway, the experience had left its mark.

A bit of internet browsing showed that the RS800 had a single-handed sister with a spinnaker and was it only a bit more money than I could get for my Contender.  That was it, the Contender (great boat that it was) was history and despite some financial uncertainty in my life, I had to have an RS700.

In the end RS700 772 was purchased for £2,700 and was brought back from Essex for winter storage at my Dads.  I can remember setting her up for the first time, in the drive, on a breathless day and my brother-in-law arriving and looking at it with the words “Oh my God, Andy, what have you done?”  She does look kind of vicious, 4 foot across but with huge racks to give her beam and a massive mainsail and kite and weighing less than an RS Feva gives her a bit of an aura.

A later start than I wanted to the season saw me out for the first time in May; first time out, first race.  I didn’t put the kite up and I still capsized five times.  I can remember crossing tacks with Mike and Penny Fenwick in the squib and him e-mailing me on Monday intimating that I was looking a bit ragged and tired up the beat.  He was wrong, I was ragged and tired and I was thinking I wanted my Contender back !

But I wasn’t alone.  Nick Frampton also had seen the light and bought an RS600 and Mike and Penny had arrived with an RS800 (I felt a bit guilty at this point as I had advised them that they were quite good natured).  A bit more practice and I could tack and gybe moderately reliably (in anything up to 8 knots of breeze!).  And there was the problem, it’s been an all or nothing year in terms of breeze which meant that there seemed to be innumerable times where Nick and I watched the wind data creep upwards in the club, to a mental threshold that had become set at an average windspeed of 14 knots.  Judging by the difficulty I was having in under 12 knots, 14 knots seemed to act as a barrier where a sail in over that windspeed offered all the potential for control of a rodeo ride and was going to be just as much fun while it lasted.  All you could hope for was a soft spot to land when the inevitable happened.

Until the YOB’s picnic that was.  After a great sail over and putting the RS600 and 700 on the beach, balancing precariously on its racks masthead weighted down with stones, the wind built during the fun and games.  Mike and Penny were out and doing an annoyingly good job of going very fast AND staying upright – how annoying.  Mark Bugler also had a quick try in the 800 and decided that one was not on the shopping list (this year anyway).   By the time it was time to leave it was really breezy and Nick and I were grinning nervously about the beat back.  Personally, I was thinking about getting a taxi.  It was, however, a turning point with a steady 18 knots and some big gusts, the sail back gave us a lot of confidence.   “We held Andy by his wings and allowed him to get himself sorted, then let him go and watched him sail off at 15kts into the bay-awesome!” (Quote-Nick Frampton)

It also revealed something else about the RS’s.  Normally they sing to you when they are on the plane with a strong hum (from the centreboard we think).  Bear away in this windstrength and the pitch went up two octaves into a high pitched scream, or was that me?  I luffed up again and headed for home.

Mind you the harbour can be the ultimate challenge, where sharp gusts and lulls and inevitable shifts makes it a less than ideal arena for demonstrating the RS’s, with all the advantages on the side of the spectator.  I shouldn’t complain really, the RS700 has a standard mainsail which is easily depowered, while Nicks RS600 has a fully battened main.  This means that letting the kicking strap off does virtually nothing to depower the rig; you’ve got all the power whether you want it or not.  You shouldn’t laugh but watching Nick come into or leave the slipway on a beam reach is always worth sticking around for as the shrouds pin the boom well in.  This makes joining the traffic in the harbour somewhat fraught, you just get in over the transom, shove the board down a bit and aim for the gap; there’s no opportunity to turn around.  There was a particularly memorable launch where Nick shoved off to find the exit immediately blocked by a big motor cruiser.  The owner on the flying bridge was displaying a look which was reminiscent of a horsed squire watching the shambling advance of yonder grubby peasant.  The expression turned to one of intense concern as a gust picked the boat up and sent it streaking towards his rather nice looking blue topsides.  Nick was having some problems bearing away and was enjoying all the fun that a twitchy boat, a powered up rig and a rudder that’s not quite down could deliver.  The collision may have sunk the RS600 but there were going to be some very nasty gouges too.  A last second moment of complete exactitude from Nick in combining angle of windward heel, sheeting and tiller produced such a quick and smooth bear away that he ended up 25 feet in front of the motor cruisers bow in 5 seconds.

More sailing showed us that the boats are so weight sensitive it matters whether you are forward or back 18 inches during a tack, too far forward and the bow is in the water, killing speed during the tack and you simply won’t make it round and complete the tack.  That’s the trouble with the RS, they make you look really good when you are getting it 100% right but they don’t give you chances and make you look a complete monkey a lot of the time for making small mistakes.

There have been some moments of complete success though.  The Autumn Long Distance really allowed you to settle down and sail the boat rather than having to tack or gybe every minute and a half.  Showing the two twin wire International 14’s around the course in the RS700 was, I have to say, satisfying.  That said finishing 45 minutes in front of the second place Wayfarer and having less than a 3 minute margin showed you just how far in front in these boats you had to be to win. 

Am I regretting the choice to buy the RS700? – not a bit.  The RS’s are fabulous and the ultimate in affordable high performance dinghies – if you can cope with the fact that you could look so much better in dinghies that are still high performance but not in the turbocharged league of the 600, 700 and 800’s.