A wonderful weekend of Sprinting at Rutland SC

Sailing photos thanks to Peter Fothergill

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Prize winner photo thanks to Max Tosetti

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RS100

RS300

RS400

2000

Wonderful media coverage of the event here:

RS100 on Sail World and Y&Y

RS300 on Sail World and Y&Y

RS400 on Sail World and Y&Y

2000 on Sail World and Y&Y

RS100 Sprint Championship Rutland Sailing Club 22-23 April 2017

We need a new weather calculation system it appears.  An average of 8 knots and an average direction of X does not take into account that, when it boxes all points of the compass, the net effect is no wind in no direction.

And that's what the OOD faced for our first two and a half hours of the 2017 RS100 Sprints at Rutland, nothing usable.  However, patience is a virtue and finally a perfectly sailable, sometimes even planing NE filled in.

In race 1, young Robert Richardson showed us all how to start, leading from the off and never in real danger, possibly thanks to Steven Lee and Ian Gregory battling it out for second, which Ian finally took. Clive Eplett snuck inside David (wobbly-blue-stripe) Smart at the last to steal 4th.

Race 2 seemed to have elements of the Keystone Cops.  National Champion Al Dickson got his act together and led from the off, unlike OCS Robert and an optimistic Greg Booth who thought he really did have an invisibility cloak, then when proven wrong could not find a space in which to return.  Steve somehow capsized on the windward mark, providing an interesting obstacle for the rest of us.  Ian then fell in on a gybe and disconnected his mainsheet block and DNFd - bit annoying when there are no discards.  This left Mark (the committee boat is mine) Harrison and Clive battling for the minor places, with Clive again nicking it at the last mark.  A hard charging Steve recovered to 4th, and Smartie again 5th.

Race 3 was a Dickson horizon job, with Ian this time making no mistakes for a safe second.  Behind those 2 was a tight race that could have been anybody's.  Ultimately it finished Smartie, Mark, Clive, a Grumpy Booth then Steve.

At which, the OOD called it a day, having run a full round-robin for the RS400s and RS300s.

Overnight, this left Al in a safe lead, Clive second on 11, Smartie 13 and Mark and Steve tied on 14.  All to play for with 6 races scheduled for Sunday.

Sunday

Launch and turn left was the instruction, towards another M-shaped course, this time using the full width of the Southern arm of the lake. Averaging a gentle Westerly but with phases of pressure coming from left and right, it was going to be a challenging, topsy-turvy day for all. But there's often an exception, in this case Ian Gregory, who with a 1-1-2, 1-1-2 score line for the day made Saturday's DNF an irrelevance. On a day when everyone else had at least one bad race, it was a masterful performance. 

There will not be a blow-by-blow account of each of Sunday's races, because firstly, they are all a bit of a blur and secondly your correspondent was rarely in it to see what was happening at the sharp end.  Sorry.

Steve Lee, in hardly his favourite conditions, was the next most consistent, but even he had an 8 in the final race, leaving him second and 8 points behind Ian even with his DNF 14.

National Champion Al Dickson had a mix it up day with an 8-8-1, 10-3-4 to take third on count back from (supposed to be good at this stuff) yours truly, with a 6-2-6, 7-9-1 at least contributing to a pair of Frensham Pond 1-2s and salvaging a modicum of pride at the last.

Fifth was David (I haven't sailed for ages) Smart who should be castigated for failing to get the rest of the Chew fleet to travel and join the fun.

In sixth, Robert Richardson who, worryingly, is only going to get bigger and even faster, won family bragging rights over dad John, with Chairman Mark Harrison between them.

I'll spare Greg his blushes about his overall 9th. Oops.

Thanks to RSC for putting on a successful event, as usual, in more than tricky circumstances.  The Sprints are a great format, particularly for a season opener, recommended to all.  Next year’s Sprints will be 21-22 April 2018.  The Sprints was the opening event of the 2017 RS100 Grand Prix generously sponsored by Magic Marine.

The next RS100 event is POSH at Paignton on 6-7 May.  As it stands, we are the biggest fleet, so if you've not yet entered, doing so is highly recommended, there's bound to be more great racing. 

 Report by Clive Eplett

Magic Marine RS300 Sprint Championships, Rutland Sailing Club 22^nd to 23^rd April 2017

With a forecast suggesting the bar might need opening early 13 eager RS300 sailors arrived at Rutland to realise their fears of a patchy and sometimes windless lake.

Not to be put off we rigged, consumed fried goods and coffee, questioned Steve B over his purchase of a non-300 and waited to be told to either launch or get the first round in.

The race team, seemingly knowing something that we didn’t, sent us out for a long and sometimes frustrating, sail up/down to the starting area where we sat for some time discussing which side of the committee boat would make the sail back to the club the shortest.

After a bit of a wait floating about in the sunshine the word of the race team came true and from nowhere a pleasant F2-3 arrived kicking the now 12 remaining boats into action, desperate to get a few qualifying races in before it decided to disappear again.  After 3 incredibly tight races only 2 points separated the top 6 boats with almost everyone having a result that left them questioning whether or not they had made the cut.

An evening at the now re-opened Wheatsheaf pub was enjoyed with excellent food, beer and just a little rum thrown into the mix for good measure, at least for those of us who didn’t then have to spend the evening listening to Sparky’s car alarm.

Sunday dawned with a light but seemingly stable breeze.  After more coffee and fried goods, the fleet headed to the now slightly closer committee boat, where the race team had set a what would prove to be a challenging course with the shifty wind making for another day of tight and tactical racing.

In the Gold fleet, after a rocky start, Rob Jones settled into a bit of a rhythm scoring back to back 1^st places in races 2 and 3.  This proved too much for Steve B who chose this point to call it a day, shortly followed by Ian after race 4 who perhaps wasn’t enjoying the light and sometimes fluky weather.  With less boats meaning the score lines were getting even tighter the battle for the top step went down to the final race, Rob needing a third or better to secure the event.  As the gun went for the final race 3 boats hit the middle of the line at speed heading up the middle of the course into what seemed like a reasonable breeze. Unfortunately, for Rob, he had chosen different tactic and was stuck in what appeared to be the only wind hole on the lake at the pin end of the line.  Helpless, he watched the fleet sail away, the result now dependant on whether Steve S took the final bullet.  The race for the front now became one of the closest of the weekend, the 3 boats crossing each other on the beats, rarely more than a couple of boat lengths apart.  Going into the final downwind leg Paul Watson had found a small amount of breathing room with Steve 2^nd, Pete Ellis 3^rd and Rob not quite recovering to follow in 4^th place but still having done enough to win the event!

In the Silver fleet the racing looked to be even closer, and with a point to prove they even caught the Gold fleet up in the first race making up a 3 min deficit before the end of the 15 minute race.  After the first few races it was looking to be a 2 horse race, with a slightly erratic Alistair ‘Storky’ Mclaughlin facing off against an incredibly consistent Alastair Wood.  Going into the final races it appeared to be Alastair who was in control, but the door was still open for Storky who had a bit of an outside chance.  As the last race of the day came to a close there was still some doubt over the result.  Had Alastair held on to it?  Had Storky done enough?  Had Mark’s late charge of bullets changed everything?  In the end it came to a count back, Storky taking it on number of 1^st places from Alastair 2^nd and Mark a couple of point back in 3^rd .

With the racing done and boat packed up we gathered for a final mug of tea and some excellent cake from the Rutland galley team.  Thanks must be extended to all those involved in such a well run, enjoyable event and to our generous RS300 National Tour sponsors in Magic Marine.   See you at next year’s RS300 Sprints 21-22 April 2018.

By Paul Watson

RS400 Sprint Championships 22^nd and 23^rd April 2017 at Rutland Sailing Club

A record thirty RS400s arrived at Rutland Sailing Club for the ever increasingly popular Sprint Championships.  As ever the fleet had a very competitive look about it with the current and previous National Champions present.

As the briefing took place at 1200hrs on the Saturday, the lake had a glassy look to it, but the fleet confidently set off to the starting area for the round robin qualifying series, which would ultimately decide the flights for Sunday’s racing.  The wind rotated a full 360 degrees, not to mention vanishing completely as the crews waited for the wind.  (What can two people in a boat talk about for 2 hours waiting for the wind arrive?)

The wind did arrive, and in far greater strength than anyone dared hoped for to create some great racing.  The round robin format meant that after three races, everyone had raced everyone else in the fleet.  Ideally 6 races would have been sailed, but the long postponement meant there was only time for three.  The crash and burn nature of the event meant consistency was important, a little error cost you dearly.  With the fleet returning to the shore there was uncertainty amongst crews as to whether they had done enough to reach their hoped-for flight.   With great efficiency, the results were soon posted with some surprise names missing the cut for the Gold Fleet. 

Sunday dawned with a better breeze than greeted the competitors on Saturday, but on the way to the start line it was clear it was by no means constant.  It was going to be one of those days! 

As the day progressed there were times when both crews were hiking hard, reaching for the kicker, before the crew was packed up into a box and tucked up under the foredeck with the spinnaker and chocolate bars (OK some athletes may have packed something resembling bird seed cast in epoxy).

Remember no discards – even more stress!

The OOD promptly got the fleets away and soon it was evident that shuffles in the pack could come at any time.

In the Bronze fleet consistency was the name of the game, with Chris and Claire Bownes from Bartley SC finishing consistently in the top five, including three first places, to win the six-race series.  However, only five points separated the top three boats with Mark Dingsdale and Vanessa Evans from Leigh and Lowton SC taking 2^nd place and Mike Tustin and Emily Watson from Bowmoor SC third.

On another day, the many of the names in the Silver Fleet would comfortably have been in the Gold Fleet.  Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop from Leigh and Lowton SC strung together 6 excellent scores all in the top 4 to take the series.  Howard Fairbrother and Lou Hosken from Queen Mary SC, were under pressure after an 8^th in the first race, but kept cool to recover well, including three firsts to take second place, whilst Caroline Whitehouse and Jason McDonnell from Bartley SC won the scrap for third place.

In the Gold Fleet, with the rest of the fleet bouncing up and down the results, Dave Exley and Mark Lunn from Leigh and Lowton SC were imperious finishing all three races in the top three to win overall.  Every other boat in the fleet included a 7^th or worse!  Mark and Paul Oakey from Portchester SC, except for the obligatory 7^th, were equally consistent with 2nds, one 3rd and 4ths.  They took second place from Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse from West Riding SC, who managed two firsts in the last two races to pull ahead from others, with only 6 points separating the next 4 boats.

At the prize-giving Dave Exley thanked the club, and in particular the OOD and race team, for running such a super event.  Thanks too to Magic Marine our National Tour sponsors.

What a great event -if you’ve not done it you must try next year.  If you have I’m sure you’ll be there next year 21-22 April 2018!

Report by Hamish Gledhill

2000 Sprints at Rutland Sailing Club 22-23 April 2017

The 2000 class was invited to take part in the 2017 RS Sprints held at Rutland Sailing Club over the weekend of the 22-23 April 17.  The format is very simple 12 races with no discards over 2 days, each race consisting of an ‘S’ race course made up of seven marks, and with such a short race track, races lasted around 20 minutes with a very short break till the next 3 minute start sequence.

Unfortunately, only 4 2000s made the journey to the world class venue of Rutland Water SC. Two of the boats were seasoned 2000 circuit racers, Rich Hudson with son Ian (2374) and Kev O’Brien and son Jake (22558 Hurricane). The other 2 boats were newcomers to the class and journeyed significant distances.  Ian Thompson and Andrew Bailey (2205) travelling from the 2017 2000 Inlands Championship venue of Ullswater Yacht Club.  The final boat Ben Miles and Paul Farmer (21917) travelled from Teign Corinthian Yacht Club in Devon.

The 2000 class sailors met in the boat park and boat talk was quickly established.  Top tips and tuning points were exchanged.  Thanks to Richard and Kev for providing support and advice to the newcomers.

We ventured out to the race area and the 2000s were faced with a lengthy wait until the breeze filled in to sustainable levels to race.  The 2000s were ready for racing action.  The first race got underway and quite soon the racing established itself into two match races within a fleet race.  Richard/Ian and Kev/Jake sailed off battling it out for first and second place with tight racing at every corner, whilst Ben/Paul and Ian/Andrew battled it out for third and fourth positions.  During the first race Richard got the upper hand on Kev on the last run to the finish.  Unfortunately a navigation error allowed Kev and Jake to sail past mark seven and to a planing finish taking first place, Richard second, Ian Thompson took third and Ben Miles taking fourth. Due to the delay in the wind the first day only allowed 3 races to be sailed. Richard took first in both final races, Kev took second place, Ian and Ben took third and forth respectively.

Spirits were high amongst the small 2000 fleet and congratulations was given all round.  Again more top tips were exchanged in the boat and bar afterwards, particularly the downwind sailing angles in sub-planing conditions.

Day 2 arrived and the race area was moved to a completely different location.  A light and shifty breeze greeted the sailors.  The competition between Richard and Kev heated up, both utilising passed experience as team racers.  In the first race on day 2 Richard again made another navigational error and allowed Kev and Jake to take first place.  Unfortunately, this was short lived and Richard and Ian sailed very well consolidating their dominance by winning the remainder of the races.  Ian Thompson and Andrew Bailey (2205) and Ben Miles and Paul Farmer (21917) finished again in the third and fourth positions.

Overall the event was a great success, albeit with small numbers.  I can honestly say it’s a great regatta to kick start the sailing season, with 12 races over short races times, everyone’s boat handling improved significantly, with every tack and gybe counting.  Thanks must go to Richard for providing on the water top tips making observations on sail trim particularly.

A fantastic event.  Thanks must go to the RS Class Association for inviting the 2000 class and particularly Clare Sargent for all her hard work organising the event.

I can honestly say this is a great event.  With such tight racing, boat handling, boat on boat tactics and physical performance are paramount and improved over the 2 days. Pencil the 21 -22 April 2018 in for next year and let’s showcase the 2000 as the best one design performance family class in the world!!!!!

See you all on the water soon.

Report by Kev O’Brien