Congratulations to all of our winners at the RS200 Inland and Youth Championship, RS400 Inland Championship and RS800 Inland Championship.

Maria Stanley and Alan Roberts, RS200 Inland Champions

Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst, RS200 Youth Champions

Jamie & Bettine Harris, RS200 Junior Champions

Michael Sims and Jack Holden RS400 Inland Champions

Luke and Emma McEwen RS800 Inland Champions

A weekend of two halves, with strong, blustery winds on Saturday and light winds on Sunday.

Please scroll down for reports and results  from each class. (RS200 and RS400 to follow).

Link to superb photos, thanks to Tim Olin

RS200

Never has a weather forecast for a sailing event proved so accurate and it is difficult to remember when the expression a game of two halves has been so apt.

Several boats that had pre entered were put off by the blustery forecast for Saturday along with the sudden arrival of single figure temperatures. It was still a very good healthy sized fleet of 45 boats that launched and it was also a very strong fleet. With the Endeavour the following weekend there were some crews getting in practice including the return of some RS royalty. Ok pushing it a bit to call Nick Craig royalty but you get the idea!

On the water the conditions were pretty full on. The northerly wind was somewhere between 16 and 22 knots with blustery short bursts into the higher 20's. The wind was by no means uniform over the course; if you hooked into a dark patch early on the run you could make massive gains in a ball of spray whilst boats 5 boat lengths away never moved. The leeward gate was pure entertainment.

Race Officer Ian Bullock did a great job of turning races around very rapidly to avoid many getting cold. So it was happy and very tired bunch of sailors that headed for the showers in good time after three full length hard races.

Nick Craig/Emma Hivey thrived in the conditions scoring 4.2.1 to be just ahead of Ben Saxton/Izzy Hamilton with Ollie Groves/Esther Parkhurst and James Peters/Emily Anderson in close company. But the class act of the day was Maria Stanley/Alan Roberts leading overall with a 2.1.2 scoreline.

Sunday morning felt a different world with very pleasant sunshine, a lot of blue sky, more Spring like temperatures and 8-10 knot breeze from the west. Whilst breakfast was consumed the breeze was already very slowly easing. The great worry for all over their bacon and coffee was that if the weather forecast was right we were very likely to be looking at a flat calm by midday.

Race 4 started in a breeze bordering on 5-6 knots. First half of the season form horses Alistair NorrisHelen Summersgill moved through to take the lead on the second lap and along with Will and Matt Taylor they had a large lead when the race was shortened at the second gate. With the committee boat moored alongside one of the gate marks to do this confusion ruled after the first 5 boats finished. For many coming in on the starboard lay line the committee boat hid from their view the port gate mark so they went round the starboard gate mark to port and the sought in vain for a finishing buoy. Two thirds of the fleet then did a good sheep impression and followed. After a while some boats who had 'finished' realised the error of their ways unwound themselves and finished correctly whilst many drifted around having confused banter. I think the results took a while to compile!

Race 5 started in a very soft breeze that was saying hello to the 4 knot limit. Tom and Jo Hewitson sailing together for the first time since Jo's leg injury rolled back the years to lead with Ben Saxton for close company. With the fleet on their 2nd beat and many struggling to move the race officer took the decision to abandon the race.

Ashore looking at a flat calm lake the vast majority had already gone into shrimp alley to wash their boats well before the decision was made at 13.00 to abandon for the day. So ended a very eventful RS200 inlands. With the entire top 5 discarding their result from race 4 the overnight positions still stood so Maria Stanley/Alan Roberts were RS200 Inland National Champions. Do they start the Endeavour as favourites??

Ollie Groves/Ester Parkhurst were RS200 Youth National Champions and Jamie/bettine Harris were RS200 Junior National Champions.

Pete Vincent

RS400

 The cool temperatures and heavy rain may have deterred a late rush of entries for the RS400 Inland Championships, part of the RS400 Championship circuit sponsored by Rooster Sailing, but the 30 entries who made it to Grafham Water Sailing Club had a weekend to remember. If you had warm snuggly (is that a word?) winter sailing gear, Saturday was a memorable sail in a decent F4/5 gusting plenty breeze. For those that were digging deep into the corners of their sailing bag for extra ways to bulk out their summer togs, it may have been a slightly less enjoyable experience and a visit to the tour sponsor would be recommended (www.roostersailing.com).

The fleet launched for three races on Saturday on the outer loop of a shared course with the RS800s.  Each race was started under a ‘U Flag, which may have caught the odd boat out over weekend, but it got all the races away first time, which was welcomed in the conditions.

Michael Sims, returning to the fleet for the third time, with new crew Jack Holden from Carsington SC, were soon in control of the first race, and took the win ahead of Barrie Thornton and Nick Hunt from Scaling Dam.  Sean Clearly and Annalise Nixon from Oxford SC were third.

The conditions remained constant for the second race, and as with the first race, the boats that explored the edges of the beat rather than the middle were favoured.  This time Thornton and Hunt had the better of Sims and Holden, with Jon Willars and Richard Bramfield from Welton SC finishing third.

Sims and Holden were back in front for the third race, taking the win ahead of Cleary and Nixon, with Thornton and Hunt taking third.

The fleet headed in for warm showers with Sims/Holden and Thornton/Hunt showing great consistency in the conditions. Most other crews were carrying a heavy score from some mishap or other and hoping a new day would provide the opportunity to discard a day one score.

In the evening the fleet did what the fleet does best over a good meal a few beers with good company, and for those who wound up in the Local Pub fun and games with an ironing board, cardboard box and ice cubes.  Thanks to Richard Ashwell who sacrificed his dear Grandma’s ironing board in the name of sport, and special mention must go to Ross Southwell representing the British Army who can crawl in and around places no one has been before.  More about all that can be found on various social media feeds.  Fortunately, everyone made it out alive, and mostly unharmed.

Sunday morning arrived with sunshine, light winds and several sore heads.  The fleet headed out for the 10:30 start, with a few more pairs of sunglasses than you’d expect, to be greeted with a 15-minute postponement for the light winds to settle into a steady breeze.

Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop from Leigh and Lowton had studied the forecast and nailed the pin end and headed left to benefit from the backing breeze. Thornton and Hunt followed suit and headed left.  Both had to hold their nerve whilst the wind veered temporarily and their strategy looked doomed, but it soon returned to allow them to lead around the windward mark.  In the dying breeze Catchpole/Coop took the win ahead of Thornton/Hunt and Sims/Holden. 

The fleet were sent ashore in the dying breeze, before racing for the day was abandoned.  After the four races Sims and Holden were crowned Inland Champions, ahead of Thornton/Hunt and Catchpole Coop.  Hamish and Rachel Gledhill from West Riding Sailing club had pulled through to take a 4^th in the last race which was enough for them to squeak into fourth overall ahead of Cleary and Nixon in fifth.

At the prizegiving Michael Sims thanked Grafham Water Sailing Club for a great event.

Hamish Gledhill

RS800

A rainy, cold and windy start to the weekend was not enough to deter the fourteen RS800s that arrived at Grafham for the 2018 Inland Championships. Looking out into an onshore breeze gusting well into the twenties, there was an air of excitement mixed with apprehension among the sailors. Just under two months after their Nationals showdown, Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore were quickly into the lead off the first start with Luke and Emma McEwen hot on their heels. They kept it that way for the rest of the race, leaving the rest of the fleet in their wake.

Race two saw Morris and Fillmore head to shore to fix a breakage against the clock, while the McEwens took the gun. Frances Peters & Tom Partington and Hugh Shone & Hannah Tattersall nursed themselves around the track to take 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Race 3 saw the breeze notch up slightly – some epic runs and a couple of capsizes, but still fantastically tight racing throughout the fleet! Morris and Fillmore returned to the race course and made it look easy to take their 2^nd bullet of the day, while the McEwens took 2^nd to sit themselves at the top of the leaderboard overnight.

It was certainly an event of two halves. The fleet headed out on Sunday in sunshine and a dying, light and shifty breeze, and it was nip and tuck racing from the outset. Dan Goodman and Debbie Clark led to the first mark, having sniggled up the left hand side of the course. It didn’t take long for the McEwens to find their way into the lead, sailing a seemingly faultless race to take the win. Behind them, Ralph and Sophie Singleton sailed a storming final run in the final zephyrs of breeze to pip Peters & Partington and Goodman & Clark to 2^nd place in a photo finish.

As the lake went calm, the remaining races were canned, which meant the McEwens took the overall win, with National Champions Morris and Fillmore having to settle for 2^nd overall. Peters & Partington and Shone & Tattersall took 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Frances Peters