Big breeze inland

The RS Tera fleet has some big winds at their Inland Championship in Draycote Water

The RS Tera Inlands at Draycote Water was the last event of the season but proved to be very popular with 30 young sailors from all over the UK up for the challenge.

Twelve-year-old James Hutton-Penman of Corinthian Otters, Burnham sailed consistently well to take the title just one point ahead of Robert Dyer of Sutton Bingham SC, both achieving all results in the top three.

The event started on Saturday morning with an on-the-water training session which was fairly short lived as the wind increased rapidly to the point that sensible training was not viable, although the more experienced Tera sailors thoroughly enjoyed the blast. The wind forecast suggested more to come so a decision was taken to cancel racing for the rest of the day, but the sailors enjoyed an onshore coaching session with past GBR Olympic sailor Debbie Darling passing on some top tips.

Sunday provided far more gentle conditions for the morning races. Greg Kelly from the Isle of Man YC opened with a win from Robert Dyer and James Hutton-Penman, with James winning the second from Robert Dyer and Alex Talbot, both of Sutton Bingham Sailing Club.

The wind steadily increased as the racing continued and the Teras were soon enjoying some exciting sailing with fast planing on the reaches. Despite the extra wind the racing remained close and the quality of starts impressed those watching. Robert Dyer won the third race ahead of James Hutton-Penman with Jonny Watkins of Dabchicks in third place. This meant Robert went into the final race with a one point advantage over James, but he finished third with James taking the gun to win the championship.

Sutton Bingham SC was the top club team of three with Robert Dyer, Alex Talbot and Lucy Anne Pratt finishing second, third and 12th overall, and Lucy also won the a prize for most improved. The Isle of Man YC was the second best team headed by Greg and James Kelly and Isabel Sharpe, and also made off with a large tin of sweets for furthest travelled. Rebecca Lewis in seventh overall won the prize for the top local boat from Draycote Water.

The event was a great way to end a successful season of racing for the RS Teras and our thanks go to Draycote Water Sailing Club, the Principle Race Officer Andrew Weeden and Debbie Darling for coaching.

Several dates for opens next season have already been set and are on the class website www.terasailing.com with more to come soon. The class will also be establishing an RS Tera Race Squad for next season in response to demand for more racing coaching and expects to have several regional training squads operating as well. With the RS Tera Europeans taking place at Lake Garda in August and the Nationals at Dabchicks in September there is plenty to look forward to for Tera sailors next season.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1st	James Hutton-Penman	Corinthian Otters	3	1	2	1	4
2nd	Robert Dyer	Sutton Bingham SC	2	2	1	3	5
3rd	Alex Talbot	Sutton Bingham SC	7	3	17	2	12
3rd	Greg Kelly	Isle of Man YC	1	5	6	6	12
3rd	Jonny Watkins	Dabchicks SC	5	4	3	7	12
6th	Josh Aldridge	Burnham SC	4	22	4	5	13
7th	Crispin Beaumont	Bartley Green SC	8	7	9	4	19
8th	Rebecca Lewis	Draycote Water SC	6	17	5	8	19
9th	Thomas Darling	Hayling Island SC	13	6	8	9	23
10th	James Kelly	Isle of Man YC	10	10	20	10	30
11th	Patrick Thompson	Mudeford SC	9	15	10	12	31
12th	Lucy Anne Pratt	Sutton Bingham SC	23	19	7	11	37
13th	Jeremy Leggett	Bough Beech SC	14	11	12	25	37
14th	Isabel Sharpe	7th Wave I of M	17	14	14	13	41
15th	Oskar Bisset	Dover Water Sports	11	20	11	23	42
16th	Hannah Howitt	Isle of Man YC	15	13	15	14	42
17th	James Roe	Bartley Green SC	20	8	19	16	43
18th	Nicholas Parkes	Isle of Man YC	18	9	16	21	43
19th	Ned Woodcraft	Dabchicks SC	19	12	13	22	44
20th	Charlie Rideout	Sutton Bingham SC	12	18	18	15	45
21st	Elliot Spensley-Corfield	Hayling Island SC	16	16	21	17	49
22nd	Rupert Watkins	Dabchicks SC	25	27	22	18	65
23rd	Amie Shute	Manx Youth SC	22	25	23	20	65
24th	Tristan Bracegirdle	Castle Cove SC	27	21	26	19	66
25th	Dominic Hall	Draycote Water SC	21	23	25	24	68
26th	Duncan Thorley	Draycote Water SC	26	24	24	27	74
27th	Yann Bracegirdle	Castle Cove SC	24	28	27	28	79
28th	Owen Jones	Draycote Water SC	28	26	28	26	80
29th	Paddy Woodcraft	Dabchicks SC	29	DNC	DNC	DNC	91
30th	Ryan Parker	Horseshoe Lake	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	93