RS 700 and 800 Inlands

Another two fleets add to a crowded Rutland Water

RS700 Inland Championships

Bright & breezy conditions greeted competitors at Rutland Water for this year’s Inlands. Three races were scheduled for each day.

Race 1 saw the fleet away with the wind blowing F4-5 which remaining the same all weekend. Andy White dominated leading from the start but the pack behind were racing at close quarters. The windward legs required concentration, a missed shift was costly and with corner banging not paying the fleet cross tacked its way to the windward mark. Downwind was similar, miss a gust downwind and you could loose several places, however gybing too often increased the risk factor of a costly swim.

Race 2 again saw White out in front at the windward mark but instead of stretching his lead he fell back into the pack and by the next windward leg was back amongst a chasing group of 4 or 5 other boats. This race could have gone to anyone but by the finish it was Peake who had nosed in front with White 2nd.

The line for the 3rd race was well port biased so the pin end was rather busy. Some rather dubious rule observance saw some turns and some port tacking starters had to pick their moment carefully to fit through the gaps. The first mark saw White, Irons & Peake all round closely together. These 3 opened out a bit of breathing space and after Peake misjudged his lay-lines on the 2nd lap it was left to White & Irons for the bullet. Irons seemed to have the better downwind speed and overtook White with only a few yards remaining. White panicked his late kite drop and uncharacteristically capsized falling to 5th, Peake took the vacant 2nd place with thanks.

Sunday saw a similar breeze but less sun. The 4th race again saw White & Irons fighting it out with the chasing mob including Belben, Koukouakis, Barton, Walbank & Albreicht. White this time held his lead to record his 2nd victory of the weekend.
Race 5 was almost a carbon copy of the last with the same winner & runner-up. Peake who was leader overnight again couldn't find the front and had to fight his way through the best he could.

So, going into the last race White was almost certain of the title but Peake & Irons were racing for 2nd place. It looked to be going Irons's way until White wipped out immediately in front of Irons at the leeward mark leaving him no choice but to swim as well. How there were no injuries or boat damage we'll never know. This left Peake clear with Belben & Albreicht chasing. The now righted duo only had 1 lap to try and make places back but it wasn't enough for Irons to get 2nd overall losing to Peake by a single point.

The weekend's racing was very close and tactical with several new faces showing they've mastered the boat. Although the numbers were down for this event the fleet now has very good depth and is looking forward to a bumper season next year.

Results:

	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Andy White	1	2	6	1	1	4	9
2	Andrew Peake	3	1	2	9	6	1	13
3	Andy Irons	7	4	1	2	2	5	14
4	Jason Belben	6	5	5	4	4	3	21
5	Leigh Albrecht	2	6	DNF	8	7	2	25
6	Peter Barton	4	7	DNF	6	3	6	26
7	Pete Purkiss	10	3	3	3	10	13	29
8	Nigel Walbank	5	8	8	10	5	7	33
9	Alex Koukourakis	8	9	4	5	9	10	35
10	Eddie Gatehouse	9	10	DNF	12	8	12	51
11	Richard Cumming	12	12	7	7	DNF	DNF	54
12	Steve Marshall	14	11	9	14	13	9	56
13	Martin Osborne	DNC	DNC	10	17	12	11	68
14	Andy Riddington	13	DNF	DNF	DNF	11	8	69
15	Chris Kirk	11	14	DNF	11	DNF	DNF	71
16	G Sanderson	15	15	DNF	13	14	DNC	73
17	Maurice Clarke	16	13	DNF	15	15	DNC	75
18	Steve Clarke	17	DNF	DNF	16	DNF	DNC	86

RS800 Inland Championships

30 RS800’s travelled to Rutland Water for the weekend to compete in the National Pond Sailing Championships, to find that the tide was out… The event was shared with the 400’s and the 700’s and with not much water in the lake, 120 boats and 2 racecourses it was a little busy at times. A cracking weekends sailing though, with superb racing in a good breeze and a monster party including the rugby which had been recorded for us, the 2003 Fat Face Circuit and Eurocup prize giving, a live band, and a lot of drinking on Saturday night!

A trapezoid course with outer loop for the 800’s this weekend to separate us from the 700’s, the wind gusting up to 18 knots made for some exciting - whether to go for the kite on the reaches or not? – decisions. An extra 3 knots of breeze on the bottom reach to the finish line was enough to see boats flat out twin wiring, aiming straight at the beach and then dropping spinnakers in a hurry, as opposed to heading for the committee boat!

Steve Irish and Martin Gotrell in Magic Marine dominated the event. They scored 1,1,2 on day one to be clear overnight leaders. Chris Haworth and Stuart Aston from Bristol Corinthian got two seconds and a fourth to be second overall, and Paul Jenkins and Colin Hatton from Weir Wood had a consistent day with 3,3,3. James Date and Mark Hogan in Sea Sure won the last race of the day to add to their two fourths in races one and two. Completing the overnight top 5 were Spod Olive and Jane Norris sailing Sola, having a good day scoring 5,8,5 and still speaking to each other!

Day two was cloudy, as were people’s memories of the morning due to still being intoxicated from the night before, with a bit more breeze than Saturday by the time racing got underway. Haworth/Aston got the day underway with a race win from Irish/Gotrell with Alex Davies and Sarah Hughes getting the better of Date/Hogan for third.

The weekend had been pretty standard puddle sailing, tack when the sail flaps and stay in the pressure downwind… until race five, when the race got turned on it’s head by the wind deserting the leaders who had been parked at mark two. Those who went left down the run to escape lost loads and had a lot of work to do. Olive/Norris took the lead and led until the last mark when the stress of leading in the shifty conditions finally got to Spod, and with Irish/Gotrell approaching fast having made an amazing charge through the fleet, he decided he needed to cool down… the capsize dropping them to fourth. Jenkins/Hatton took second with Ronald Millar and Peter Marshall from Dalgety Bay having a good day and adding to their fifth in the first race of the day, in third.

The final race and it was Date/Hogan leading at the windward mark followed by Irish/Gotrell sailing well considering his mainsheet block was no longer attached to the bottom of the boat. Millar/Marshall powered into the lead down the first run. At the next windward mark it all started to go wrong for Date/Hogan with a uncharacteristic display of muppetness involving a bit of trawling with the spinnaker. And when that produced no fish, Date decided that the only way was to get in the water to find some, and lose it coming out of a gybe on the next lap. The capsize handed third overall to Jenkins/Hatton. Irish/Gotrell eventually won the race from Millar/Marshall completing a scorecard of four firsts and two seconds. Haworth/Aston took third in this race to take second overall. Millar/Marshall’s excellent 5,3,2 on the Sunday pulled them up to fifth overall.

Thanks to everyone involved in organising the weekends sailing and partying at Rutland, our race officer for setting start lines that you could cross on starboard (I believe the 400’s had a few problems!). A superb event to top the year off. Next stop, the RS pursuit race at Queen Mary if there is any water in it…

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Steve Irish	Martin Gotrel	1	1	2	2	1	1	6
2	Chris Haworth	Stuart Aston	2	2	4	1	5	3	12
3	Paul Jenkins	Colin Hatton	3	3	3	8	2	5	16
4	James Date	Mark Hogan	4	4	1	4	9	9	22
5	Ronald Millar	Peter Marshall	9	10	7	5	3	2	26
6	Spod Olive	Jane Norris	5	8	5	10	4	DNC	32
7	Alex Davies	Sarah Hughes	7	13	8	3	13	6	37
8	Jason Smith	Julia Plumstead	16	9	14	7	7	4	41
9	Mick Whitmore	Sarah Smith	10	5	6	9	11	DNC	41
10	Chris Mayhew	Mark Stoew	14	7	12	11	6	7	43
11	David Pike	Robert Pike	6	11	9	12	DNC	10	48
12	Justin Deal	Sarah Marriott	8	6	11	14	14	DNC	53
13	Nigel Furness	Andy Marshall	13	14	16	6	8	14	55
14	Ian Martin	Claire Booth	11	15	23	13	10	8	57
15	Sam Neal	Mandy Bretherington	12	12	10	15	18	15	64
16	Ian Gore	Andrew Pickrell	DNC	19	18	16	12	12	77
17	Max Streeton	Mile Roebuck	15	21	21	19	16	11	82
18	Juno Ratnage	Chris Grosscurth	23	20	15	18	DNC	13	89
19	Sam Sutton	Jessie Gebhard	20	26	13	17	21	18	89
20	Mark Pollington	Sam Jackson	19	18	19	DNC	24	17	97
21	Paul Cooper	John Cooper	DNC	16	17	OCS	19	DNC	100
22	Alastair Shires	Penny Shires	18	27	24	23	22	16	103
23	Katie Archer	Mike Archer	DNC	DNC	25	20	15	20	106
24	Keith Cuthbert	Dave Milroy	17	23	20	DNC	DNC	DNC	107
25	Chris Hoppins	Richard Williams	DNF	22	28	21	17	DNC	108
26	Stuart Bishop	Simon Bishop	22	25	26	22	23	19	111
27	Mick Keates	Belinda Cole	DNC	17	22	DNC	DNC	DNC	112
28	Derek Buchanan	Elaine Buchanan	21	24	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	118
29	Billy Smith	Becks McKenzie	DNF	DNC	27	24	20	DNC	119
30	Alan Britten	Rachael Britten	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	127
30	Richard Cole	Chris Cole	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNF	127