Competitive action at RS400 Sprint Championships

by Hamish Gledhill on 26 Apr 2017 A record thirty RS400s arrived at Rutland Sailing Club for the ever increasingly popular Sprint Championships. As ever the fleet had a very competitive look about it with the current and previous National Champions present.

As the briefing took place at 1200hrs on the Saturday, the lake had a glassy look to it, but the fleet confidently set off to the starting area for the round robin qualifying series, which would ultimately decide the flights for Sunday’s racing. The wind rotated a full 360 degrees, not to mention vanishing completely as the crews waited for the wind. (What can two people in a boat talk about for two hours waiting for the wind arrive?)

The wind did arrive, and in far greater strength than anyone dared hoped for to create some great racing. The round robin format meant that after three races, everyone had raced everyone else in the fleet. Ideally six races would have been sailed, but the long postponement meant there was only time for three. The crash and burn nature of the event meant consistency was important, a little error cost you dearly. With the fleet returning to the shore there was uncertainty amongst crews as to whether they had done enough to reach their hoped-for flight. With great efficiency, the results were soon posted with some surprise names missing the cut for the Gold Fleet.

Sunday dawned with a better breeze than greeted the competitors on Saturday, but on the way to the start line it was clear it was by no means constant. It was going to be one of those days!

As the day progressed there were times when both crews were hiking hard, reaching for the kicker, before the crew was packed up into a box and tucked up under the foredeck with the spinnaker and chocolate bars (OK some athletes may have packed something resembling bird seed cast in epoxy).

Remember no discards – even more stress!

The OOD promptly got the fleets away and soon it was evident that shuffles in the pack could come at any time.

In the Bronze fleet consistency was the name of the game, with Chris and Claire Bownes from Bartley SC finishing consistently in the top five, including three first places, to win the six-race series. However, only five points separated the top three boats with Mark Dingsdale and Vanessa Evans from Leigh and Lowton SC taking second place and Mike Tustin and Emily Watson from Bowmoor SC third.

On another day, the many of the names in the Silver Fleet would comfortably have been in the Gold Fleet. Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop from Leigh and Lowton SC strung together six excellent scores all in the top four to take the series. Howard Fairbrother and Lou Hosken from Queen Mary SC, were under pressure after an eighth in the first race, but kept cool to recover well, including three firsts to take second place, whilst Caroline Whitehouse and Jason McDonnell from Bartley SC won the scrap for third place.

In the Gold Fleet, with the rest of the fleet bouncing up and down the results, Dave Exley and Mark Lunn from Leigh and Lowton SC were imperious finishing all three races in the top three to win overall. Every other boat in the fleet included a seventh or worse! Mark and Paul Oakey from Portchester SC, except for the obligatory seventh, were equally consistent with seconds, one third and fourths. They took second place from Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse from West Riding SC, who managed two firsts in the last two races to pull ahead from others, with only six points separating the next four boats.

At the prize-giving Dave Exley thanked the club, and in particular the OOD and race team, for running such a super event. Thanks to Magic Marine our National Tour sponsors.

What a great event -if you’ve not done it you must try next year. If you have I’m sure you’ll be there next year 21-22 April 2018!

RS400 Gold Class

Rank	Fleet	Class	Helm	Crew	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st		RS400 Gold	Dave Exley	Mark Lunn	1460	Leigh & Lowton SC	2	2	1	1	2	3	11	11
2nd		RS400 Gold	Paul Oakey	Mark Oakey	1441	Portchester SC	3	4	2	2	7	4	22	22
3rd		RS400 Gold	Hamish Gledhill	Simon Dowse	1407	West Riding SC	4	5	8	5	1	1	24	24
4th		RS400 Gold	Mike Simms	Keith Bedborough	1432	Dalgety Bay SC	5	1	3	8	3	9	29	29
5th		RS400 Gold	Steve Restall	Chris Stubbs	1189	Downs SC	1	8	4	3	8	7	31	31
6th		RS400 Gold	Russell Clark	Penny Clark	1309	RNSA/Stokes Bay SC	8	9	6	4	4	2	33	33
7th		RS400 Gold	Sam Knight	John Knight	1202	Bartley SC	6	6	5	7	6	5	35	35
8th		RS400 Gold	Josh Metcalfe	Jack Holden	1262	Y Felinheli SC	9	3	9	9	5	6	41	41
9th		RS400 Gold	Sean Cleary	Annalise Nixon	1017	Oxford SC	7	7	7	6	9	8	44	44

RS400 Silver Class

Rank	Class	Helm	Crew	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	RS400 Silver	Richard Catchpole	Gary Coop	1396	Leigh & Lowton SC	2	4	1	2	3	2	14	14
2nd	RS400 Silver	Howard Farbroher	Lou Hosken	1418	Queen Mary SC	8	1	5	1	1	5	21	21
3rd	RS400 Silver	Caroline Whitehouse	Jason McDonnell	1414	Bartley SC	9	2	2	9	2	3	27	27
4th	RS400 Silver	Francisco Lobato	Teresa Lobato	1215	QMSC	1	6	10	5	5	1	28	28
5th	RS400 Silver	Adam Whitehouse	Sam Pickering	963	Weirwood SC	3	3	4	8	8	4	30	30
6th	RS400 Silver	Ben Williamson	Jon Willars	1465	Welton SC	7	8	7	7	4	6	39	39
7th	RS400 Silver	Richard Ashwell	Tony Cliff	1212	Bartley SC	6	7	8	4	6	9	40	40
8th	RS400 Silver	Wayne Hancox	Gareth Blakemore	767	Bartley SC	10	5	6	3	10	7	41	41
9th	RS400 Silver	Caroline Exley	Jonny Limebear	1461	Leigh & Lowton SC	5	9	9	10	7	8	48	48
10th	RS400 Silver	Nick Eaves	Greg Pace	1450	Bartley SC	4	10	3	11	11	11	50	50
11th	RS400 Silver	Max Tosetti	Anna Wallin	1342	QMSC	11	11	11	6	9	10	58	58

RS400 Bronze Class

Rank	Class	Helm	Crew	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	RS400 Bronze	Chris Bownes	Claire Bownes	1235	Bartley SC	4	5	1	1	2	1	14	14
2nd	RS400 Bronze	Mark Dingsdale	Vanessa Evans	1257	Leigh & Lowton SC	1	2	6	2	4	2	17	17
3rd	RS400 Bronze	Mike Tustin	Emily Watson	1447	Bowmoor SC	5	1	3	6	1	3	19	19
4th	RS400 Bronze	Chris Williams	Martin Spencer	828	Leigh & Lowton SC	2	6	4	8	3	6	29	29
5th	RS400 Bronze	Richard Wharram	Hannah Wharram	1380	Welton SC	8	8	2	3	5	4	30	30
6th	RS400 Bronze	Rob Dunkley	Angie Grimes	1313	Hollowell	3	7	5	4	6	8	33	33
7th	RS400 Bronze	Uel Webb	Stephen Webb	1156		6	3	7	7	7	7	37	37
8th	RS400 Bronze	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan	1435	QMSC	7	4	8	5	8	5	37	37
9th	RS400 Bronze	Andy Powell	Ian Verso	527	Warsash SC	9	9	9	9	9	9	54	54