The 2011 Sprints at Rutland kicked off with a record 23 RS400s, from eleven clubs. Eight 15 minute races on the Saturday split into three flights, six races for the finals on Sunday with the fleet split into gold and silver.  The new sails were well in evidence, with fully a third of the fleet sporting the new configuration. The RO and his team organised the many fleets with deceptive effectiveness, and we were off! Every three minutes a new start, no discards, general recalls – just round the ends, do your penalties and carry on. Seven buoys – up, across, down, across, back up, across, down – finish, breathe, relax, 3-2-1 start again. The Sprints are well named!

Saturday morning, nice little F2-3, relatively stable, lots of close tactical sailing, with constant place-changing. By lunch a pecking order had emerged in Fleets A and C, with Fiona & Steve Tylecote, in the venerable 498 from Rutland taking 3 out of 4 bullets, and James George with Izzy Mitchell, 1139, Queen Mary SC doing the same in flight C. in flight B honours were more equally spread between Howard Farbrother/Dan Martin of QMSC and brother/sister combo Caroline & Adam Whitehouse from Bartley SC in 1379. Post lunch & things got lively, with a feisty F4 creating a topsy-turvy effect across the RS400s to the amusement of the other fleets. Particularly downwind where the starboard roundings created a few moments of doubt, resulting in some kind souls capsizing by the gybe-marks just so the flight behind wouldn’t be tempted to go the round way round them.

Sunday dawned, dry, with the wind due to swing from SW to SE over the course of the day, and a highly precise forecast indicating it would build to somewhere between 8 and 25 kts with rain, rain and more rain. Fleets had been split overnight into gold and silver, and surfed out to the narrower west end of the reservoir. The first few races proved hard work, as large shifts and difficult gust patterns led to constant changes of the lead pack, with big place changes on every leg. Caroline and Andy Whitehouse were unfortunate to pick up an OCS in race 1 that with no discards was to prove difficult to overcome, despite their impressive upwind speed. Hatch/Park took race one, with Howard Eeles / Richard Crute-Morris of Bartley (1240) in 2^nd. George/Mitchell taking both races 2 & 3, closely chased by the Whitehouses, and Farbrother/Martin scraping a 2^nd in Race 3. 

By race 3 the wind had begun to shift, with the left hand side of the course paying dividends, which restricted tactical options across the course. By Race 4 the wind had swung to the point that crossing the start on starboard was something of a challenge - too much of a challenge for George/Mitchell, who got blown onto port at the pin with seconds to go which took them into the waiting starboard fleet who were predictably welcoming! Chaos ensued, and a general recall – the only one of the whole weekend - was called, although for the capsized Bill Kenyon and Ben Ditchburn, that was small comfort. Sam “Killer” Neal and Lawrence “Shrimp” Riches of Grafham Water (1340) got clear of the melee and romped home, with the ever consistent Hatch/Park taking second.

Meanwhile, in the silver fleet Andy “Killer” Baldock and Pip “Shrimp” Noon (1302) of Grafham (don’t go in the) Water were busy building a commanding lead that led to them taking the silver fleet prize.

The fleet enjoyed the rain while the RO reset the course for the new direction, and for those that survived the wait, the last two races provided more consistent conditions which benefited Farbrother/Martin who after some close racing managed to work their way to the front and took both races in the final leg to win the event by a point. Hatch/Park finished in second overall and George/Mitchell took third for a Queen Mary clean sweep.