Enthusiastic Contender entry for Inlands

by Martin Frary on 30 Oct 2008
The International Contender class made their annual journey to Rutland for the final Boat Bits Travellers Trophy event of the year, which also comprised the Inland Championships.

The Olympic class that-never-was, continues to attract significant numbers of competitors both in Britain and on the international circuit. Originally designed for an Olympic selection competition in 1967, the class failed in selection but became a successful International class, the biggest single hander trapeze class and another missed chance to move the Games forward, a mistake that the entrenched forces of the ISAF continue to repeat with their refusal to widen the selection process for the events classes.

But, back to the weekends event at Rutland. Forty competitors arrived and racing went right to the final race, with the championship victory going to John Browett on count-back after a three-way tie with Ben Holden and Stuart Jones. Martin Frary finished fourth and collected the Boat Bits National Travellers trophy for 2008.

Race 1 started in a healthy 25+ Knots and was led away by Stuart Jones closely followed by Ben Holden, Stacey Bray and John Browett. Excitement occurred throughout the fleet as what could be described as strong gusts took their toll, many imaginative capsizes were completed further down the fleet, final positions being Jones then Bray followed by Holden.

Race 2 continued with the no let up in the conditions. Competitors had now tuned to the conditions, with extremely close racing throughout the fleet. Ben Holden took the win with a dramatic top batten clearing dive at the finish, followed by a consistent Stuart Jones, and a rapid Paul Ross in third, finally competing in an event in his preferred strong wind conditions.

Race 3 and the excitement continued, John Browett led off the line and extended his lead throughout, the minor placing's were fought out to the end with Jones taking second and Ross again in third.

Sunday arrived with a much lighter breeze, could the big-uns hang on, or would the little-uns make a move?

Race 4 and David Gautier stormed up the 1st beat, unfortunately he relinquished his lead with a slight navigational error. John Browett continued his move up the leader board with Martin Frary taking second and Mike Murley third. Holden and Jones both took their discards, meaning going into the last race the overall winner could be taken from Holden, Browett or Jones.

Race 5 and the breeze had strengthened. Holden returned to the fore taking the win, with Browett in 2nd and Matt Aston in third finally appearing in his normal front of the fleet position. Had Holden done enough to take the win?

Showing the competiveness of the fleet this left the front 3 all tied on 9 points, with John Browett taking the overall win on count back with Holden in Second and Jones in third, a consistent Martin Frary took fourth overall and with this 1st place in the Boat Bits National Travellers for 2008.

Many thanks go to Rutland Sailing Club especially the race and rescue crews who had a lot to do with four classes to after on the water.

Contender Inland Championship - Final overall results

Sailed:5, Discards:1, To count:4, Entries:37, Scoring system:My scoring

Rank	SailNo	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Nett
1st	713	John Browett	Datchet Water SC	(5)	5	1	1	2	14	9
2nd	2315	Ben Holdon	Halifax	3	1	4	(20)	1	29	9
3rd	701	Stuart Jones	Datchet Water SC	1	2	2	(12)	4	21	9
4th	646	Martin Frary	Weston SC	(7)	4	5	2	5	23	16
5th	2405	Stacey Bray	Porthpean	2	6	7	(8)	6	29	21
6th	231	Paul Ross	Shotley SC	6	3	3	(18)	14	44	26
7th	2376	Nick Noble	Portshead Y & SC	4	8	6	(9)	9	36	27
8th	700	Nick Grace	Castle Cove SC	10	7	8	(24)	7	56	32
9th	2373	Mike Murley	Weston SC	(16)	13	13	3	8	53	37
10th	714	Martin Jones	Wilsonian SC	8	9	11	(19)	16	63	44
11th	718	Duncan Ellis	Hunstanton SC	9	11	14	(15)	12	61	46
12th	694	Chris Boshier	Thorpe Bay YC	(21)	15	18	5	10	69	48
13th	2422	Neil Ferguson	Yorkshire Dales SC	12	(18)	10	13	13	66	48
14th	2383	David Davies	RYA	11	10	12	16	(DNC)	87	49
15th	673	Robert Angus	Weston SC	14	12	16	10	(17)	69	52
16th	2423	Sandy Clapham	Yorkshire Dales SC	13	14	(DNC)	21	15	101	63
17th	702	Matt Aston	Datchet Water SC	(38 DNF)	DNC	9	14	3	102	64
18th	615	Stuart Backhouse	Burton SC	(20)	19	15	11	19	84	64
19th	707	Peter Dives	East Bourne Soveign	15	17	17	(22)	18	89	67
20th	634	Marcus Scrace	Castle Cove SC	19	16	19	(30)	25	109	79
21st	2407	Richard Buttner	Royal Cinque Port YC	18	20	20	(29)	24	111	82
22nd	675	David Gauther	Lymington Town	17	(DNC)	DNC	7	22	122	84
23rd	2314	Rodger White	King George SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	4	11	129	91
24th	559	Bernard Shapley	King George SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	6	29	149	111
25th	654	Tom Hooton	Burton SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	17	26	157	119
26th	678	Bill Hooton	Burton SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	23	21	158	120
27th	692	Colin Gates	East Bourne Soveign	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	27	20	161	123
28th	682	P Lincoln	R.N.S.A	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	28	23	165	127
29th	2359	Tony Cook	Downs SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	26	27	167	129
30th	2427	Mark Johnson	Lancing SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	32	28	174	136
31st	476	Daniel Taylor	Mengeham Rythe	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	25	38 DNF	177	139
32nd	604	Phil Alison	GYGSC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	31	38 DNF	183	145
33rd	368	Alan Harris	Restronguet SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	190	152
33rd	577	K Atrasziewicz	Yorkshire Dales SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	190	152
33rd	659	Martin Metcalf	Killington SA	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	190	152
33rd	625	Malcolm Hall	Carsington	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	190	152
33rd	2	Simon Mussell	Highcliffe	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	190	152

Sponsors Boat Bits and North Sails provided the excellent prizes.