Results / Harken RS Sprints Rutland SC - 20/04/2024

Sailing photos thanks to Mark Coupar.  Prize winner photos thanks to Mark Harrison.

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RS100 Harken Sprints 2024, Rutland Sailing Club 20-21 April 2024

The Sprints are well known for being challenging on mind and body.  With 12 races in two days and no discards, consistency is key.  Any slip can be costly, and so it proved to be…

The conditions were at the more wintry end of an English Spring: a force 3 to 4 North Easterly coming from the Arctic.  Everyone was wrapped up as if it were mid-Winter, with dry suits and woolly hats the order of the day.

Mostyn Evans tested his drysuit with a quick dip between races, but found it wanting.  A leaky seal retains the freezing Rutland waters around one’s nether regions, and that’s not good for concentration.

While Clive Eplett and David Smart were enjoying an epic battle on day one, the fifth race included one comic element.  Eplett was leading at the second windward mark.  Smart tacked onto the starboard lay line, but missed the toestraps and did a ‘graceful’ roll out of the boat.  He held onto the mainsheet to try to clamber back on board, but only managed to pull the boat back on top of himself.  Smart, as if a rugby commentator, apologised if anyone caught some on air coarse language.  I doubt anyone noticed as they were laughing their woolly hats off.

Martin Wilson enjoyed an event long battle with Tom Fletcher.  Nevertheless, a frustrating swim in race seven proved costly as the non-discardable DNF meant that Fletcher took the final podium spot, despite Wilson’s continually improving results in the last three races.

However, the award for extreme bullishness with impeccable comic timing has to go to Mark Harrison.  He upped his game on Sunday, when the wind was slightly up and the temperature slightly down on that of Saturday.  Eplett had decided that he wasn’t enjoying the brass-monkey Spring weather and went home to warm his toes.  Harrison’s Sunday results of four bullets were impressive and threatened Smart’s position on the top step.  In the final race, Harrison led at the last leeward mark with Smart a mere two boat lengths behind.  It was a mere 50 meters to the finish and involved a slight heading up to cross the line.  However, this was on the edge of kiteable with a large gust approaching and Smart breathing down his neck. The sensible option might have been to drop the kite, but that risked Smart beating him if he could hold his kite. So Harrison held on, dumped the main and cranked on the Cunnigham.  All good moves which meant he was making the line safely…until that gust hit.  Just one flap of the kite took Harrison’s bow downwind to be aiming at the fast approaching committee boat.  The inevitable happened and he capsized to windward no more than 5 metres from the finish line.  Smart was not laughing as he sailed past with his kite flying…they were clearly tears of sorrow at Mark’s tragic demise.

So the podium ended up with David Smart (Chew Valley Lake) winning, Mark Harrison (Gurnard) second with the ever consistent Tom Fletcher (Hunts) third.

A massive thank you to Rutland for the efficient running of 12 races with never more than a 10 minute break between those races.  An enormous thanks to Harken for their sponsorship of this great event.  And many thanks to Rooster for their continued sponsorship of the RS100 National Tour.

Report by David Smart

Up on Y&Y here

RS300 Harken Sprints at Rutland Sailing Club 20-21 April 2024

Rooster National Tour event number two

As the online entry deadline approached it seemed prudent to check that there wasn’t another named storm heading across the country.  On the contrary high pressure seemed to be coming over and according to the usual wind forecast websites it looked like average wind speeds of sub 10 mph and light wind specialists would have their day.  How wrong could they be!  As the fleet went afloat a fresh breeze was blowing with some strong gusts.  With the sprints format of six back to back races each day it turned out to be a real test.  Racing was close throughout the RS300 fleet and getting a shift wrong could easily cost several places.  On day one it was Richard Hanby who topped the leader board with 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1 – of course in the sprints there is no discard.  Peter Makin was the closest challenger with the other race wins and Steve Sallis held 3^rd with the most consistent results of the rest.  George Bender and Josh Oates, both new to the RS300 open circuit achieved notable performances with 2^nd places in races five and six respectively.  By the end of the day most were welcoming the moderating breeze.

On Sunday morning the fleet were greeted with a scene of even stronger wind and white horses rolling down the reservoir and by launching time the conditions and the exertions of Saturday had taken their toll and only six boats took to the water for the first race of the day.  The most notable absentee was Peter Makin who had sustained a thigh strain during Saturday’s racing, was struggling to walk and decided to call it a day.  Thankfully the wind did moderate through the day and again it was Richard who dominated the results with four more race wins, although racing was close and he had to work hard for each race win.  Tom Moore and Sam Davy both deserve a mention for taking a swim while contending for the lead.  The performance of the day, apart from Richard’s of course, was achieved by Neal Gibson, also new to the RS300 open meeting fleet, achieving two race wins to pull himself up from 6^th after day one to 2^nd overall just one point ahead of Steve Sallis in 3^rd.

As ever congratulations to the Rutland SC race management team, led yet again by John Fothergill, for running the meeting with military precision.  Thanks must go to Harken for their sponsorship of the event, and to Rooster for sponsoring our RS300 National Tour.

Report by Steve Sallis

Up on Y&Y here

RS400 Harken Sprints at Rutland Sailing Club 20-21 April 2024

Rooster National Tour event number two

The forecast was not completely sure about the wind direction, but it was right about the temperature - cold to very cold!

Thirteen RS400s from diverse corners of the British Isles arrived at Rutland SC, with the sprint format ideal for getting the boat and teams up to speed and to clear off the Winter cobwebs.  The race team provided the fleet with 12 races of approximately 30 minutes, with minimal waiting between the races. 

Day 1 - wind 3 - 4 North Easterly.

The starts were competitive, and the first beats were especially close.  Tactics upwind often depended on missing the aerator bubbles, and a quick decision after the top mark was required for a gybe to clear the water tower which could make all the difference on getting into a gust or not. Despite plenty of place changes in the shifty and gusty conditions, Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst consistently had the speed and ability to find the right breeze to lead overnight, followed by Tom Halhead and Paul Hilliar, and Ian Walker and Anna Warren. 

Day 2 - wind 3 to 5 North Easterly

After a sociable evening, the wind on Sunday felt stronger and colder with white horses showing in patches of sunlight.  Ollie and Esther were packing up their boat, an injury had stopped play, whilst Steve Restall and Chris Stubbs decided to take their tea in the clubhouse instead of stocking up the picnic hamper.

The races remained very competitive with many position changes, with improvements from Max and Amy Burrows, Andy and Hannah Wilcox, and Matt and Ellie Sheahan.  Tom and Paul won all but one of the remaining races closely followed on the water by Ian and Anna.  Special mention goes to birthday boy David Swift who lost his hat in the first of his two birthday dips.  As an indication of the standard of racing, the RS400s got a mention from the excellent principle Race Officer, John Fothergill, for the quality of starting.  Going on the hoot the fleet was crossing the line within 2 to 3 seconds and no recalls.  Although some were apparently very close! 

So despite the cold it was a very enjoyable weekend.  A big thank you to Rutland SC for hosting such a well-run event.  Huge thanks to event sponsor Harken.  And thank you to RS400 National Tour sponsor Rooster.

Report by Jon Heissig