A Class Cats at the Rutland Cat Open
by Gordon Upton 20 May 2015 07:38 UTC
16-17 May 2015
The Rutland Cat Open is one of the top UK inland cat events and, as it is home to the largest fleet of A Class cats, some 14 boats, it tends to be pretty well attended, even before the visitors arrive. This year was no exception, however the forecast was not to be for the faint hearted. The 5 travelling visitors who turned up were added to the home fleet and a total of 14 boats eventually signed on.
The Saturday was not quite as forecast. It was a bit windier. The race officer decided to postpone the start an hour in the hope that the wind might drop a little as it was forecast to do. So, a flotilla of brave or blissfully unaware souls sailing Hurricanes, Darts, Unicorns, a Falcon, a Viper, a Tornado, a Spitfire and a Duma all set off with 5 of the 'A' cats to the eastern end of the lake a good two miles away for the delayed start. Not all made it. A few of the Hurricanes were shot down on the way there, as was the Viper. Then a few more turned back, including an 'A' Cat, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and seeing no point in snapping his expensive toy for no reason.
Race one got underway with the 4 remaining 'A's in the Fast Handicap fleet. I know it says in the Int. A Cat Association rules that if it goes above 22 knots average, we get to go home, but this was a general cat open, so it's down to the sailor. The 31 knot gust recorded by the committee boat was thus deemed acceptable.
National Champ, Sam Newton, together with 'A' cat rookies Ian Blease-Dudley, Andy Hay and Kevin Dutch all started, possibly wondering why it was only them racing Sam and why all the grizzled old veterans had stopped on the beach. Andy Hay found the answer after one lap, when a mainsheet strop failure caused a capsize and the subsequent loss of a daggerboard, that finished his weekend. Kevin blasted on in a borrowed boat. But coming from Dart 15s, he wasn't freaked out by big wind, and having never sailed an 'A' cat until the day before, was blissfully unaware of what they can do to you in the upper wind speeds. The same probably was true for Ian and Andy too. But Sam, all 60kg or whatever of him, possessing a freakish ability to depower his Exploder A15, just carried on regardless and got a bullet in the first, with a second to Lloyd Turner's Duma 16 in the fleet results. Kevin had had enough after the first race, but Ian kept plugging at it for the next two, securing good results due to the numbers not racing – lessons learned gentlemen?
Day two was a little kinder, with 17 knots gusting to 20. Still in the upper end, but a good one for the, dare I say, 'larger gentlemen', in the fleet. All the 12 surviving boats were on the start this time and got away cleanly in the first race of the day. Again Sam lead the way, being chased by Dave Lowe, Gordon Upton and Phil Neal hot on his heels at the first top mark. The downwind charge then began and they then had to keep their eyes well peeled as they ran head first (literally sailing at 180 degrees at each other, but with them on starboard) into the Hurricane and Dart fleets who started later in the sequence. Over to the South shore, a fast gybe and down to the bottom mark. It seemed to only take a couple of minutes, but I suppose the time expansion effects of fear played a part.
Rounding the bottom to port, we continued on that tack and some discovered an interesting lift at you got near the North shore. By near, I mean within 50m. This was enough to lift the lucky ones, who could point well, almost 10 degrees until they could sail 30m parallel to the shoreline into Whitwell Creek. Then, with a well placed and executed tack would see them get another lift, but on the starboard tack this time, from the wind rounding the little peninsular by so much that you could lay the top mark with angles to spare. Sometimes things actually do go to plan!
At the top, realising the wind was down the sides of the lake and not the middle, the decision was to either gybe left at the spreader mark and use the lift again back down the course before crossing to the bottom, or to carry on, braving the slighter lighter stuff in the middle until picking up the big stuff again on the other side. The problem was, each lap was different, so yer takes yer choice.
This carried on for a further two more laps with Dave leading Phil over the line with Gordon, Mike Bawden and Bob Fletcher following behind. Sam had mysteriously disappeared for some reason.
Race two was basically the same tactic, only this time the front runner had to do battle with that Duma 16. In case you are wondering what that is, it's an F16 designed by Lloyd Turner on Canvey Island. It's designed for the Thames Estuary, so seems to have really deep hulls with lots of freeboard to cope with the sharp chop you get there. But belying it's slightly comical appearance, it goes like an absolute monster in a blow and was well sailed too. We kept encountering it at crucial points on the course like a charging rhino, so was best avoided and daren't look it in the eyes.
So at the end of lap three, Sam was first, followed by Dave then Gordon, who had pulled out over a minute or so on Phil and Bob Fletcher. The first three all crossed the finish line and pulled up, but then wondered why no finish horn was heard. Sam was the first to twig the reason, Dave gybed about to look at the sign on the stern of the committee boat and Gordon saw the dawning realisation on Dave's face, so quickly reconfigured the boat for uphill sailing as fast as he could. The RO had added an extra lap to the race before the start and we hadn't noticed – lesson learned number two!
So, after giving the rest of the fleet a sporting chance to catch us all up, the last lap started but the leading three managed to just keep ahead to the finish. Won't be making that mistake again.
The final race saw Sam head for shore safe in his first place in the class. The race started but this time Phil went like a man possessed. The deceptively competitive Phil was not going to get beaten three times by his Rutland club mates. Dave made a sterling effort to keep up, but to no avail. Gordon's largely pie based diet was starting to come into play and as he started to flag at the end of the last lap when Mike, no stranger to the pie cupboard himself it must be said, zipped past him at the bottom mark after Gordon made a mess up of his rounding by leaving all the string pulling a bit too late before the mark. Phil won by a good distance from Dave, with Mike third.
But again, the 'A' class rookies were also impressive, all sailed in high winds and made it back alive with big grins on their faces. Those who travelled were made welcome and gained valuable experience together with extensive bruising. In all, it was what we hoped it would be.
Thanks to Rutland Sailing Club and Cat Captain John Terry for a good event.
'A' Cat Class Results:
1. Sam Newton (RSC)
2. Ian Blease-Dudley* (Bala Cat Club)
3. Dave Lowe (RSC)
4. Phil Neal (RSC)
5. Gordon Upton (RSC)
6. Mike Bawden (RSC)
7. Bob Fletcher (RSC)
8. Kevin Dutch* (Seasalter)
9. Richard Bartholomew (RSC)
10. Lester Barr (RSC)
11. Robin Cruickshank (Ullswater YC)
12. Jamie Walker (RSC)
13. Andy Hay (Mayflower SC)
14. Chris Field (Did not sail) (Whitstable SC)
* denotes first A Class event