RS Sprint Championships 2015 - RS400 fleet overall

by Bill Kenyon on 13 Apr 2015 This last weekend twenty RS400’s joined forces with seven RS100’s, forteen RS200’s and eighteen RS300’s and enjoyed another brilliant RS Sprint Championship, expertly hosted by Rutland Sailing Club.

A gusty westerly force 5-6 greeted the sailors for a body breaking series of 12 scheduled short sharp races over the two days.

The 400 fleet was randomly split into four mixed ability groups, each group given a different coloured ribbon. Each group would sail every other group twice. The first day’s results would then be used to allocate the competitors into two fleets the following day.

The PRO Mr John Fothergill had his expert team lay a course with a carefully calculated distance around the “M” shaped course so that each fleet would complete the one lap per race in approximately 20 minutes. With so many competitors, there would be a total of forty-six consecutive starts on Saturday alone.

So with a slight change to the sailing instructions the competitors headed out to attempt to complete all six scheduled races for the Saturday back to back over a four hour period.

Even as the competitors headed out to the start line it was apparent that the conditions weren’t to everyone’s liking and several headed back to the comfort and warmth of the clubhouse. Unfortunately, later in the day this included Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin with a broken wing / wam.

Within the first couple of races it was clear several competitors had posted some quality results such as 1202 Sam Knight and his father John from Bartley SC scoring four firsts and never scoring less than a second as well as 1407 Jon Melsig and Nicky Griffin from Llangorse SC posting three first’s in the latter part of the day. Close on their heels was 725 Bill Kenyon and Andy Dawson from Budworth SC.

With no let-up in the wind, endurance to last the whole day was key. As the weary competitors came back to the shore is was clear that it had been a tough day for all on the water.

Post an evening meal in the clubhouse tales, of aching legs, breakages, near misses and rapidly approaching shorelines, dominated the banter. Having drunk the sailing club bar out of beer, the party moved to the local watering hole for more of the same.

On Sunday morning, the fleet woke to learn of a building breeze from the South West - far greater than that experienced the previous day. As the PRO went out to try to set a course, with average wind speeds of around 25 knots, predicted to gust over 35, it was clear that the day’s sailing lay in abeyance. Thereafter, post a meeting with the various class captains is was agreed to abandon sailing for the day and proceed directly to the prize giving using the previous day’s finishing results. (see attached)

Despite the abandoned days sailing the 400 fleet once again had a fantastic time at the RS Sprints and would like to say a massive collective thank you to Rutland Sailing Club for their slick, professional and faultless race management.

If you have not yet ventured to the RS Sprints, believe me, it’s like no other and one that will put a smile on your face and make you want to come back time and time again.

RS400 Fleet

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Flight	Sail No	Club	Helm	Crew	Rating	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	RS400		R	1202	Bartley SC	Sam Knight	John Knight		1.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	8.0	8.0
2nd	RS400		G	1407	Llangorse SC	Jon Melsig	Nicky Griffin		1.0	3.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	9.0	9.0
3rd	RS400		Y	725	Budworth SC	Bill Kenyon	Andy Dawson		2.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	10.0	10.0
4th	RS400		B	1296	Bartley SC	Howard Eeles	Wayne Hancox		3.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	14.0	14.0
5th	RS400		Y	476	Dalgety Bay SC	Martin Booth	Keith Bedborough		3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	19.0	19.0
6th	RS400		B	1131	Welton SC	Ben Williamson	Tom Day		4.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	4.0	3.0	24.0	24.0
7th	RS400		R	1212	Bartley SC	Caroline Whitehouse	Jason McDonnell		21.0 DNC	6.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	40.0	40.0
8th	RS400		G	1215	QMSC	Howard Farbrother	Dan Martin		4.0	1.0	1.0	4.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	52.0	52.0
9th	RS400		R	1018	Dalgety Bay SC	Richard Bolton	Max Gabbott		8.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	64.0	64.0
10th	RS400		Y	1342	Queen Mary Sc	Max Tonsetti	Simon Baker		5.0	5.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	94.0	94.0
11th	RS400		B	1175	Bartley SC	Shawn Woodcock	Tony Cliff		6.5	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	4.0	94.5	94.5
12th	RS400		B	1290	QMSC	David Brown	Rebecca Witt		2.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	107.0	107.0
13th	RS400		G	697	Bartley SC	Richard Ashwell	Billy Blunden		21.0 DNC	4.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	109.0	109.0
14th	RS400		R	1439	Lymington Town SC	Kevin Podger	Heather Chipperfield		5.0	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	110.0	110.0
15th	RS400		R	1168	Alton Water SC	Oli Harris	Alex Drayson		6.5	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	111.5	111.5
16th	RS400		G	866	Notts County SC	Paul Reynolds	Cathy Reynolds		21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	126.0	126.0
16th	RS400		Y	1051	Netley SC	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan		21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	126.0	126.0
16th	RS400		R	946	Bartley SC	Nick Eaves	Greg Pace		21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	126.0	126.0
16th	RS400		Y	1339	Bartley SC	Mark Reddington	Colin Staite		21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	126.0	126.0
16th	RS400		G	1275	Hickling Broad SC	David Hearsum	Ian Hearsum		21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	21.0 DNC	126.0	126.0