Survival conditions

The wind was up for the 9er open meeting at Rutland Sailing Club

Rutland SC held the first class event of the year for the 29ers and 49ers. It seemed spring had finally arrived as far as the air temperature went, however the water was still 4 degrees and the forecast of 10 -15 knots turned into 20 – 25 knots making for some challenging sailing.

The Rutland team ran a superb event both on and off the water. Eight races were scheduled and eight races were completed.

In the 49er fleet it was the home team of Josh and Ollie Wilce who were able to stay on top of the conditions in spite of losing a race through breakage from a collision. A string of firsts and seconds gave them a convincing win over Mike Senior and Chris Tatersall who came in second ahead of the young team of Tom Morris and Guy Filmore.

Saturdays races were more about the shifts and a little about keeping the sails above the boat, but Sunday was a matter of staying upright and getting around the race track.

The 29er fleet provided a three way tussle between Dylan Fletcher and Rob Partridge, Paul Brotherton and Mari Shepherd and Henry Maxfield and Dicken MacLean.

Brotherton and Shepherd had the best score after Saturday and Maxfield and McLean showed a steady form over the two days. It was Fletcher and Partridge that dominated on the windy Sunday with four firsts to win the event by 14 points. First girl was Sophie White crewed by Andy Fielder in fourth place while first all girl team was Sarah Martin and Nicola Groves in seventh place.

Results:

49er

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
1	Josh Wilce	Olly Wilce	2	1	1	4	1	2	3	1	11
2	Mike Senior	Chris Tattersall	1	2	3	3	2	1	2	3	14
3	Tom Morris	Guy Fillmore	3	4	6	1	4	2	1	2	17
4	Craig English	Ian Judd	DNC	8	9	7	3	3	4	DNC	47

29er

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
1	Dylan Fletcher	Rob Partridge	5	3	1	2	1	1	1	1	10
2	Paul Brotherton	Mari Shepherd	2	4	3	1	9	3	2	DNC	24
3	Henry Maxfield	Dicken Maclean	1	9	8	5	2	2	5	3	26
4	Sophie White	Andy Fielder	4	5	7	10	3	5	7	2	33