Saturday Personal Handicap Trophy
Published 16:04 on 30 Aug 2026
Saturday 29th August saw another new event in the RSC calendar with the first Personal Handicap trophy day. The RSC Saturday series racing has evolved as a low-key introduction to racing for junior and novice sailors and the Saturday Trophies provide an excellent addition to the series, with rewards on the day for your efforts.
Entries on the day ranged from Supernovas to Optimists and sailors were assigned to Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum fleets. Personal handicaps were then assigned at the fleet level to allow boat on boat racing between those of similar experience levels.
In the first race unsurprisingly it was the Platinum fleet who led the way almost from the start, with Ian P extending his lead through the race chased hard by Lucy P, although Tom H-B in the Supernova proved very hard to shake off. Further down the pack Ed L was sailing well, the Oppies were in their usual cluster while Eliza & Ollie L were trying to figure out how to make the Feva do what they wanted. Once the fleet handicaps were applied however, the results looked a little different with Ian and Lucy down in the middle of the pack and an assortment of Gold, Silver and Bronze fleet boats taking the top spot.
After a lunch break the fleet went back out. The wind had swung slightly and steadied, and the Race Officer tweaked the course to give a Windward/Leeward course with a spacer mark, leaving plenty of space on the lake for the RYA course which was also taking place. This time Ian P did himself no favours by first being over at the start, and then fouling an Oppy at one of the mark roundings, leaving Lucy to lead the fleet home. Ed L struggled a bit in this one and Tom H-B missed the start completely, but Callum P had woken up a bit and opened up a massive lead on the other Oppies, while Neil O'M in the Supernova was definitely benefitting from having other boats to follow and learn from and Eliza and Ollie had started to figure out how to make the Feva go.
A second afternoon race followed on the same course. This time when the Individual Recall went up both Ian and Lucy went back, but still managed to pop out of the front on the fleet by the top of the beat. Ed realised that the sloshing noises were coming from inside the hull, not the cockpit and finally checked whether the bung was in (it wasn't!). Eliza swapped brothers, leaving Ollie to sail Jasper's Oppie while Jasper crewed the Feva. Callum did a disappearing act on the rest of the Oppies again, earning him a promoting to the Gold fleet, and spent most of his time chasing Richard F in the Mirror, while the Supernovas continued to take notes on what each other were doing, getting faster and faster in the process.
Once the final results were calculated, the overall winner was Bronze fleet's Neil OM (Supernova) followed by Silver fleet's Greg R (Supernova) and John N (Streaker). The first junior boat (and fourth overall) was Gold fleet's Callum P, followed by Silver fleet's Katie P and Felix F, all in Oppies. Full results can be found here.
Last updated 16:42 on 30 August 2026