RS400 Sprint Championships – 83 race across four clubs

by Paul Allen on 15 Apr 2014

What a great start to the year. With 25 RS400s at the Sprint Champs, 21 boats at Findhorn, 10 boats racing at Notts County, and a bumper 27 turnout at the Irish eastern, that's 83 400s racing at just four clubs this past weekend.

75 RS boats enjoyed another brilliant Sprint Championship, expertly hosted by Rutland Sailing Club. A gusty north westerly force 4-5 greeted 24 RS400 teams for body breaking qualifying series on Saturday. Four races were completed in two hours before a quick lunch break found most of the teams looking for extra clothes and many visiting the chandlery to buy more layers. The fleet was evenly split into two mixed ability fleets for the three afternoon races. In flight one, Paul and Michael Allen (1395) scored a 1,2,1, narrowly leading Josh and Patrick Metcalf (1215) who scored a 2,1,2. Fleet newcomers Jonathan Swain and Craig Williamson sailing a 20 year old EBAY classic (sail number 422!) showed excellent pace scoring consistent top three places. In flight two, Roger O’Gorman and Roger Craig won two of the three races. Ben Robertson and Peter Snowdon (1161) and Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin (1418) scrapped it out for second place as the breeze moderated from at times wild to an enjoyable blast.

At the dinner table and at the bar, tales of aching legs, near misses and rapidly approaching shorelines dominated the banter. On Sunday the fleet launched into clear skies and a building breeze, once again from the northwest. Overnight the two mixed ability fleets were split into silver and gold. All was set for another beast of a day’s sailing! Nick Craig and Toby Lewis joined the gold fleet on Sunday, and normal order was resumed with Nick leading the charge from the first gun scoring 13,1,1,1,1,2. Unfortunately Nick and Toby didn’t sail the qualifying series on Saturday and therefor didn’t qualify overall. In the gold fleet Josh and Patrick Metcalf (1215) claimed the championship, sailing a super consistent series scoring 1,2,6,2,2,1. Paul and Michael Allen (1395) started with intent scoring a second in race 1 followed by two third places with the boom not attached to the mast thanks to a broken goosneck. They headed home in race 4. Dave Exley and Jo Hartigan (1186) finished second scoring 5,4,4,3,4,4 followed by Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin in third place scoring 3,6,5,5,3,6.

Competition was tight in the silver fleet and after six races, four points separated the top three. Bill Kenyon and Andy Dawson (725) finished first, counting 14 points and scoring 3,3,3,1,3,1. Matt and Ellie Sheahan (1051) claimed second place scoring 1,6,2,3,1,3. Just two points adrift, Ben Williamson and Fay Wheldon (1131) finished in third place scoring 2,5,1,4,2,4.

This year the RS400 celebrates it’s 20th birthday. This weekend, 83 RS400s were competing around the UK at four clubs, let alone all the normal club sailing. Rutland for the sprints, Greystones for the Irish Easterns and Findhorn for Scottish training, and Notts County. There is a buzz in the air and all is set for a bumper year in the RS400 fleet.

RS400 Gold Fleet

Sailed: 6, Discards: 0, To count: 6, Entries: 12, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Sail No	Club	Helm	Crew	Rating	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	1215	Y Felinheli	Josh Metcalfe	Patrick Metcalfe		1	2	6	2	2	1	14	14
2nd	1383	Frensham Pond SC	Nick Craig	Toby		13 DNF	1	1	1	1	2	19	19
3rd	1186	Leigh & Lowton SC	Dave Exley	Jo Hartigan		5	4	4	3	4	4	24	24
4th	1418	QMSC	Howard Farbrother	Dan Martin		3	6	5	5	3	6	28	28
5th	422		Jonathan Swain	Craig Williamson		5	9	2	4	7	3	30	30
6th	1161	N/A	Ben Robertson	Pete Snowdon		7	8	7	6	8	7	43	43
7th	1342	Arun YC	Jack Holden	Hannah Parr		6	5	9	7	5	13 DNS	45	45
8th	1395	Leigh & Lowton SC	Paul Allen	Michael Allen		2	3	3	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	47	47
9th	1340	GWSC	Sam Neal	A Johnson		13 DNF	7	11	10	6	5	52	52
10th	1296	Bartley SC	Howard Eeles	John Knight		8	10	10	8	9	8	53	53
11th	946		Nick Eaves	Dave Prosser		9	11	8	9	13 DNF	13 DNS	63	63
12th	1344		Roger O'Gorman	Roger Craig		13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	78	78

RS400 Silver Fleet

Sailed: 6, Discards: 0, To count: 6, Entries: 12, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Sail No	Club	Helm	Crew	Rating	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	725	Budworth SC	Bill Kenyon	Andy Dawson		3	3	3	1	3	1	14	14
2nd	1051	Netley SC	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan		1	6	2	3	1	3	16	16
3rd	1131	Welton SC	Ben Williamson	Fay Wheldon		2	5	1	4	2	4	18	18
4th	697	Bartley SC	Richard Ashwell	Matthew Jones		5	2	4	2	4	9	26	26
5th	628		Bob Peak	Barry Garrad		7	4	5	6	7	6	35	35
6th	1101	QMSC	Simon Baker	David Rueda		6	7	8	10	6	2	39	39
7th	1175	Bartley Green SC	Shawn Woodcock	Tony Cliff		4	1	11	8	9	7	40	40
8th	1168	Alton Water SC	Oli Harris	Ed Deacon		9	9	9	9	5	5	46	46
9th	1216	Leigh & Lowton SC	Caroline Exley	Jude Allen		13 DNF	9	7	6	9	9	53	53
10th	1275	Hickling Broad SC	David Hearsum	Gareth Fay		8	11	7	7	13 DNF	13 DNS	59	59
11th	1416		Norman Bell	Barbara Bell		10	10	10	11	13 DNF	13 DNS	67	67
12th	983		Kevin Podger	Heather Chipperfield		13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	13 DNS	78	78