Magic Marine RS400 Sprint Championship overall

by Max Tonsetti on 26 Apr 2016 Saturday morning with intermittent bursts of sunshine saw 23 x 400's arrive at Rutland SC, a steady F3 with gusts of F4 came over the water from the N.E. making the decision to wear a drysuit easy (six degrees).

Firstly seeding duty, who is Gold and the rest Silver, or in my case, Bronze!

Sorted six boats each in four flights, each flight with three Gold and three Silver.

An easy launch down a concrete ramp and seven minutes later arrive at the RO boat.

Sprints (in case you've not done them)

Six races, back to back, roughly 22 minutes each, around an M shaped course with spreader marks... easy. Well yes, once you have figured out the course, yellow buoy, black spreader, yellow buoy black, etc, two beats and two runs. Three minute count down and two flights (12 boats) start, three mins later second two flights start.

H Farbrother was in our flight, so as usual but jolly usefully we could follow him around keeping his bright pink kite in our sites, that was until a gybe and the pole jammed causing a swimming session. 'DFL' stated Jenny - not a good start.

Race two which started less than eight minutes after we finished the previous, the breeze had kicked up a notch, spray flying as we beat up to mark one, all 12 boats seemed close as we rounded and reached across to the first spreader. Kites popped and 12 boats powered downwind, a couple of upturned hulls, and then as we gybed, crew missed footstrap and with an ear piercing scream went overboard. At that point I remembered that my drysuit leaked... lovely.

So by the end of race three, all flights had raced each other, and as they say the cream was rising. Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin 1454, Sean Cleary and Andy Jarvis 1286, Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin 1415 or was it 1215, Steve Restall and Chris Stubbs 1189, Howard Eales and Wayne Hancox 1452 appeared to be that rising cream, others just behind by race five would be joining them.

By the end of race six the RO's had a pretty clear idea who was in Gold fleet, the top 10 boats. (The only incident involved a skyward pointing spinnaker pole and a split rudder blade. 'Hello is that Noble Marine.....err yes I had a small incident'. 'Well I was on Port and... ')

Having said that the competition amongst the rest (silver) looked pretty tight too.

That evening, some went to bed early, others ended up in the Wheatsheaf Public House. (The Bartley crews had booked a meal in January!! subsequently filling it). A number of Gin and tonics later crews were seen meandering their way back to B&B's.

Day two - Similar conditions, dry suit dry again.

I suppose day one is all about qualifying for Gold fleet, because now the fleet was split, Gold fleet started first, three minutes later Silver set off. In effect better racing as the crews were more evenly matched. Silver Fleet race one. 1342 had a good start at the pin end, clear air and second at the first mark. John Cooper and Andy Maw 1220 held onto first, Grant Blake and Jessica Barker 904 finished third

Gold fleet race two. John and Nicky 1454 took the bullet, Sean and Andy 1286 second with John and Sam Knight 1202 third. After that it all went pear shaped for three Gold boats, as 1202, 1215 and Andy Hatch and Dan Hawkin's 1390 fell apart.

By race six in the Gold fleet Jon and Nicky held a slim lead over Sean and Andy with Steve and Chris close behind. Ben Robertson with novice 400 crew Joe Howell 1161 finished a creditable fifth

In the Silver fleet Grant and Jessica took a commanding lead (and therefore must be promoted next time to Gold fleet), newcomers Tom Haslam and Karen Baldwin 971 (Notts County) took second, closely followed by a consistent 1220 John and Andy.

The impression I got, was that everyone thought that Sprint racing was great fun. So I asked the Rutland Commodore and Race Officers if when we return on the 5/6 Nov for the End of Season event, could we have it as a Sprint event. His reply was positive... so watch this space!!

RS400 Gold Fleet

Rank	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	RS400 Gold	1454	Jon Heissig	Nicky Griffin	Llangorse SC	3	1	1	1	3	4	13	13
2nd	RS400 Gold	1286	Sean Cleary	Andy Jarvis	Oxford SC	4	2	4	2	1	2	15	15
3rd	RS400 Gold	1189	Steve Restall	Chris Stubbs	Downs SC	1	4	3	4	4	3	19	19
4th	RS400 Gold	1452	Howard Eeles	Wayne Hancox	Bartley SC	8	6	5	5	2	1	27	27
5th	RS400 Gold	1161	Ben Robertson	Joe Howell	N/A	7	7	2	3	5	6	30	30
6th	RS400 Gold	1414	Caroline Downing	Jason McDonnell	Bartley SC	2	5	6	6	6	5	30	30
7th	RS400 Gold	1435	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan	Netley SC	9	9	7	7	7	7	46	46
8th	RS400 Gold	1202	Sam Knight	John Knight	Bartley SC	5	3	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	52	52
9th	RS400 Gold	1390	Andy Hatch	Dan Hawkins	QMSC	6	8	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	58	58
10th	RS400 Gold	1215	Howard Farbrother	Dan Martin	QMSC	11 DNF	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	11 DNC	66	66

RS400 Silver Fleet

Rank	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	RS400 Silver	904	Grant Blake	Jessica Barker	Oxford SC	3	1	1	2	1	1	9	9
2nd	RS400 Silver	971	Tom Haslam	Karen Baldwin	Notts County SC	4	4	4	1	4	2	19	19
3rd	RS400 Silver	1220	John Cooper	Andy Maw	Burghfield SC	1	3	3	4	6	5	22	22
4th	RS400 Silver	1131	Ben Williamson	Ryan Willars	Welton SC	7	2	2	3	7	9	30	30
5th	RS400 Silver	1342	Max Tosetti	Jenny Douglas	QMSC	2	5	6	8	8	3	32	32
6th	RS400 Silver	1392	Chris Stanton	Jules Thorne	QMSC	9	9	5	10	2	6	41	41
7th	RS400 Silver	1212	Richard Ashwell	Joe Ironside	Bartley SC	6	12 DNF	12 DNC	12 DNC	3	4	49	49
8th	RS400 Silver	1380	Jon Willars	Richard Wharram	Welton SC	11	7	9	5	5	12 DNC	49	49
9th	RS400 Silver	1205	Gareth Blakemore	Guy Mason	Bartley SC	8	8	10	7	9	8	50	50
10th	RS400 Silver	1175	Shawn Woodcock	Tony Cliff	Bartley SC	10	6	7	9	12 DNC	7	51	51
11th	RS400 Silver	1383	Phil Robinson	Dave Pears	Carsington SC	5	10	8	6	12 DNC	12 DNC	53	53