Niners at Rultland

29ers and 49ers blow away the winter cobwebs

Rutland as host to the first round for the 29er Regional Grand Prix and 49er Weekend Warrior series. The weather didn't play ball but Rutland managed to put on a first class event. Ralph Tingle and his team ran an new twin race track which proved successful.

49ers
With Wales busy winning a Grand Slam and the British fleet a little decapitated by its elite training in sunny Spain. Rutland in the winter didn’t pull in normal 49er fleet numbers. None the less Richard ‘Dick’ Bone and Chris ‘the lever’ Rodway showed that a winters training on Bough Beach and a huge amount of commitment to their sailing has paid dividends, dispensing as they did with the rest of fleet in comprehensive style. Saturday was unfortunately lost due to a lack of wind. Sunday then was the only day of racing - to put to the test what an entire day of boat bimbling can do for your performance.

Sunday, was classic, mind bendingly shifty and gusty, with a wind range of between 6 and maybe 13 knots. With a huge amount of opportunity for overtaking at any stage of the racing, you were never dead or buried. For the leaders, defending was a stressful business.

Roger Gilbert and Oliver Vidal in 781 managed to throw away a couple of good leads, whilst the Canadian team of Gordon Cook and Ben Remocker had to retire from the first two races after gear failure- later scoring 1st & 2nd . Bone and Rodway used Chris’ tiny 6ft 6” frame to lever their way to brilliant speed at times and managed to be in the right place at the right time – a useful trick. Lester and Lee Noble, always a difficult pair to beat, finished every race nipping at the heels of the first two boats.

Although only a small regatta, everyone seemed to recognise that their reluctance to train through the colder winter months had left them rusty. Good friends and good racing, and enough beers continue to be the theme of the 49er Weekend Warrior series – for un RYA funded boats.

If only we could entice a few more girls that 49er sailing isn’t scary when windy...that might be a loosing battle. Another good weekend.

1st – ‘Team 340’ , 789 – Dick Bone & Chris Rodway
2nd - 781 – Roger Gilbert & Oliver Vidal
3rd - ' Orange Mountain Bikes', 908 Lester Noble & Lee Noble

29ers
With the Youth Championships rapidly approaching the 29ers travelled to Rutland for the first open meeting of the season. After a tedious but predictable day of waiting for no wind on Saturday the racing eventually got underway on Sunday morning- this was popular with many people as they were given an excuse to watch the rugby on Saturday afternoon.

Between 8 and 10 knots of wind arrived on Sunday morning as per the forecast and the racing started as scheduled at 10.30am with four races back to back. Race 1 saw national squaddies Dylan Fletcher and Nick Hollis have the best start of the fleet and keep their lead to the end of the race followed home by Sarah Martin and Nicola Groves.

In the second race of the day confusion occurred as some members of the fleet thought an individual recall was a general! However first overall in that race was Sarah Martin and Nicola Groves followed by Hannah Tattersall and John Mather. Race three saw Dylan and Nick win their second race followed home by Hannah Tattersall and John Mather.

In the final race of the day Sarah Martin and Nicola Groves won despite a close downwind battle with Phil Walker and Matt Gotrel.

It was very noticeable how much training everyone has put in this winter and the improvements made throughout the fleet have been immense. All the fleet would like to thank Rutland Sailing Club for hosting the event and for good racing despite the disappointment of Saturday.

Position Helm Crew
1 Sarah Martin Nicola Groves
2 Dylan Fletcher Nick Hollis
3 Hannah Tattersall John Mather
4 Ed Chapman Tom Peel
5 Emma Porteous Chris Fisher