It was a fabulous RS Sprints Championship this weekend at Rutland SC

Sailors raced hard in RS100s, RS200s, RS300s, RS400s, RS500s, RS Aeros, RS Fevas and 2000s

Photographer Peter Fothergill’s great event gallery is ready to view and purchase here

Use this special promo code to buy 3 and get one free!  SPRINT19

Reports will be posted as they arrive…

Reports:

Click on your fleet to go straight to the report:

RS100

RS200

RS Aero

Rooster RS100 National Tour Event Number One

This is the event that blows away the Winter blues.  The theory is 12 races over two days with no discards.  However Saturday did more than blow away the Winter blues, with Storm Hannah blowing away any chance of sailing.  The Rutland Water team took the easy decision to abandon by midday, much to the delight of all the classes.  The RS100 fleet decided the best option for the day was a catch up over a few pints, with a threatened nine races (gulp!) on Sunday.

Saturday rolled out a perfect, if chilly, force four with some traditional inland gusts to be negotiated. With so many races happening, and almost no break from finishing one race to the next warning gun, I’ll just summarise the critical moments:

1. Robert Richardson would have been a contender for the event, but a gentle gust in race one snapped a shroud. He thought of carrying on for about five seconds but on looking up at the banana shaped mast, felt an early shower was safer - and a new set of shrouds.
2. Seven races were completed, with five separate winners. Clive Eplett greedily (and undemocratically) won three, with the other race wins going to Greg Booth, Nick Heather, Mark Harrison and David Smart.
3. Greg Booth started fast and was well in front of the pack after three races. However he tumbled down the order as he seemed to lose his marbles as the day went on.  This was best shown when David Smart tried to take the lead in race three by passing to windward of Booth on a close reach.  Booth luffed hard because he thought it was Clive Eplett above him.  Eplett was delighted to pass the two luffers and take the lead while shouting a cheery “Thanks!”  In the next race, Eplett tacked hard on what he thought was Booth up the first beat, then had to apologise to a bemused John Richardson.  Are Specsavers available to sponsor the RS100 fleet?
4. All 11 boats had their moment at the front. That’s the delight of so many short races and closely matched helms.  After five races, nobody really had a clue who was in the lead or what point differences there were. 
5. The event was won by Eplett who showed great consistency, along with those three race wins. However he finished a mere one point ahead of Smart who had finished on the podium in all bar one race.  Eplett later announced that if he’d know the points between him and Smart were so close, he’d have tried a bit harder in the final race.  Yeah, right, like he wasn’t trying as it was.
6. Mark Harrison, Nick Heather and Booth had experienced more yo-yo style performances, but finished with only three points separating them, with Harrison in 3rd, Heather 4th and Booth in 5th.
7. Simon Geyman received a Rooster aeromesh cap for 6th (mid fleet master, not for tipping it in on the final gybe for what would have been a well-earned third place) with Aidan Skinner receiving the Endeavour trophy of another Rooster aeromesh cap.

Rutland Sailing Club deserve massive thanks and congratulations for turning around seven great races with no significant hanging about between each one.  56 starts in one day across all the fleets!

Clive Eplett took the honours on this occasion, but the fleet will be looking to peg him back a notch at Paignton in two weeks’ time at POSH 11-12 May 2019, which will be RS100 Rooster National Tour event number two.  Info here

By David Smart

RS200 Sprint Championship at Rutland SC 27-28 April

Rooster RS200 National Tour Event Number One

What a fantastic format Sprint racing is.  Especially when it's held in a pub because it's gusting 45kts outside.

Unfortunately, the weather gods have a twisted sense of humour, and after an Easter weekend of drifting around, we arrived at Rutland to a true-to forecast 25-45kts.  There was a murmur of amusement at the briefing, when the PRO said they were recording the 45kt gusts also being at a 45° angle to the gradient wind.

Sensibly, racing was canned for the day, and fleet members dispersed to walk around the lake, while away the hours in the pub, or go trampolining.  Marching purposefully around the lake, yours truly was asked for directions by a pair of bewildered cyclists:

“Are we going the right way?”

“Where are you trying to get to?”

“Our car.  We don’t know where it is.”

…

Sunday was far more promising, with perfect marginal planning conditions, mixed up with a few gusts of the “yeehah!” variety.

As ever, Rutland race management was superb, with an excellent course and clockwork starts.  Seven races back-to-back were plenty for my poor aging body, and the racing was brilliant – tight and closely fought throughout.  We should have more events in this format!

Ollie Groves and Esther Parkurst showed great speed and consistency to take the win, with Olly Turner (fully clothed for once) and Sam Mottershead tied for points with David Jessop and Sophie Mear for second and third.

Thanks to our National Tour sponsor Rooster.  We liked the beautiful FOSH stainless steel water bottles as prizes.

We now have a busy month ahead with consecutive events at Wembley, QMSC, Warsash and the EuroCup at Strangford Lough in N Ireland.  See all the event information on the RS200 website here.  Your next Rooster RS200 National Tour event is RS200 Summer Regatta at HISC 22-23 June.  Info here

By David Jessop

RS Aeros at the RS Sprint Champs, Rutland, Sunday 28th April
 
Congratulations to Ellie Craig of Draycote WSC on winning the RS Aeros at the RS Sprint Champs at Rutland on Sunday 28th April.
 
The event was set to be one day on just the Saturday during the RS Classes Sprints weekend. However, with storm Hannah running rampage over southern England there was to be no racing at Rutland on Saturday and a reduced field were able to return to compete in the postponed event on the Sunday instead.
 
Steve Stewart was fast out of the blocks to take the first two Sprints but then Ellie fought back with a string of 1st places to overtake and then take the title.
 
This is the second year that the RS Aeros have joined all the other RS Classes at the RS Sprints and last year we had a Lady winner too in Emily Watson of Bowmoor SC. Can the Ladies make it three in a row next year?

By Peter Barton

RS300: Your next Rooster RS300 National Tour event is Notts Country SC 25-26 May.  Info here

RS400: Your next Rooster RS400 National Tour event is the Northern Champs at South Shield SC 11-12 May.  Save yourself £10 off entry by entering before 2 May.  This will be the location of your 2020 Nationals so why not grab the chance to check it out!  Info here

RS500: Your next event is the Nationals at 8-9 June at Lymington Town SC.  Info here