To the wire in Rutland

A report from this weekend's B14 Open Meeting

The 9er open meeting weekend at Rutland was greeted on Saturday with mist and no wind, so all parties retired to the bar and watched the rugby.

Sunday dawned with a light breeze and drizzle. Racing commenced at 1045 on a building breeze from 135°(T) with middle of the line hotly contested. The fleet split left and right with Matt Searle/Andy Ramus and Mike Robbins/Will Davies coming form the right with Chris Bines/Dave Gibbons on CSC and Simon Hadley/Pete Nicholson coming form the left. The right hand side pair rounded first. Downwind the breeze built but was patchy with the big gainer being Mark Barnes/Tom Pygall on ReadyCrest chasing down Searle/Ramus in first and CSC in second. On the beat the three boats traded tacks with ReadyCrest taking Searle/Ramus at the top of the beat. On the run in to the finish CSC passed Searle/Ramus and hounded ReadyCrest to the finish with the two boats overlapped trading gybes through the last gate. ReadyCrest held on to win by half a boat length.

Race 2 was a repeat of Race 1's first beat with Searle/Ramus rounding first followed by CSC, Hadley/Nicholson and Gerry Brown/Chris Fermor Leaky Pipes. Searle/Ramus faded on the run due to gear failure handing the lead to CSC followed by Robbins/Davies and ReadyCrest. On the next beat the fleet again split with CSC loosely covering ReadyCrest and Robbins/Davies. At the top mark CSC rounded first with ReadyCrest a few boatlengths behind. On the run these two again locked in battle. ReadyCrest got on the inside of the course from CSC and gybed off on a gust and pulled out a five boat length lead over CSC, holding them off to the finish with Robbins/Davies finishing third.

Race 3 was a drag race out to the left in about 10 knots of wind with the crews now fully powered up at times. CSC rounded the windward mark first followed by Robbins/Davies and ReadyCrest, with the latter wrapping themselves round the top mark, resulting in the following pack passing them. On the run CSC and Robbins/Davies pulled out a margin on the rest of the fleet led by Hadley/Nicholson. At the next windward mark Phil Etringham/Rachel Bennett rounded in third followed by Hadley/Nicholson. On the run in to the finish Robbins/Davis passed CSC, so winning their first ever B14 TT race. Third place was a hard fought battle with Eltringham/Bennett holding off several protagonists close astern.

Going in to the fourth and final race, any one of three boats could win with either Robbins/Davies or CSC needing to win and ReadyCrest to come worse than second. Off the start CSC, Robbins/Davies and ReadyCrest started alongside one another.

Robbins/Davies got the better of the start and held the advantage on the drag to the left hand side, rounding the top mark in first followed by ReadyCrest and CSC. At the leeward mark with place changes on the run, Davies/Robbins rounded the right hand mark first with CSC and ReadyCrest opting for the left hand mark. On the beat Robbins/Davies again dragged out to the left with CSC and ReadyCrest battling in the middle ground. At the top mark Robbins/Davies rounded first followed by CSC then ReadyCrest. On the run to the finish Robbins/Davies held their lead with ReadyCrest getting the better of CSC.

ReadyCrest won a hard fought event form Robbins/Davies and CSC.

The race management was very good with slick turn around which the fleet much appreciated.

Results:
1. Mark Barnes/Tom Pygall - ReadyCrest - Whitstable - 1, 1, 4, 2 = 4 points
2. Mike Robbins/Will Davies - Castle Cove - 4, 3, 1, 1, = 5 points
3. Chris Bines/Dave Gibbons - CSC- Brightlingsea - 2, 2, 2, 3 = 6 points
4. Simon Hadley/Pete Nicholson - Brightlingsea - 5, 5, 5, 4 = 14 points
5. Gerry Brown/Chris Fermor - Leaky Pipes - Whitstable - 6, 4, 6, 5 = 15 points