Magic Marine RS300 Sprint Championships at Rutland Sailing Club

by Paul Watson on 26 Apr 2017 With a forecast suggesting the bar might need opening early 13 eager RS300 sailors arrived at Rutland to realise their fears of a patchy and sometimes windless lake.

Not to be put off we rigged, consumed fried goods and coffee, questioned Steve B over his purchase of a non-300 and waited to be told to either launch or get the first round in.

The race team, seemingly knowing something that we didn’t, sent us out for a long and sometimes frustrating, sail up/down to the starting area where we sat for some time discussing which side of the committee boat would make the sail back to the club the shortest.

After a bit of a wait floating about in the sunshine the word of the race team came true and from nowhere a pleasant F2-3 arrived kicking the now 12 remaining boats into action, desperate to get a few qualifying races in before it decided to disappear again.

After three incredibly tight races only two points separated the top six boats with almost everyone having a result that left them questioning whether or not they had made the cut.

An evening at the now re-opened Wheatsheaf pub was enjoyed with excellent food, beer and just a little rum thrown into the mix for good measure, at least for those of us who didn’t then have to spend the evening listening to Sparky’s car alarm.

Sunday dawned with a light but seemingly stable breeze. After more coffee and fried goods, the fleet headed to the now slightly closer committee boat, where the race team had set a what would prove to be a challenging course with the shifty wind making for another day of tight and tactical racing.

In the Gold fleet, after a rocky start, Rob Jones settled into a bit of a rhythm scoring back to back first places in races two and three. This proved too much for Steve B who chose this point to call it a day, shortly followed by Ian after race four who perhaps wasn’t enjoying the light and sometimes fluky weather. With less boats meaning the score lines were getting even tighter the battle for the top step went down to the final race, Rob needing a third or better to secure the event.

As the gun went for the final race three boats hit the middle of the line at speed heading up the middle of the course into what seemed like a reasonable breeze. Unfortunately, for Rob, he had chosen different tactic and was stuck in what appeared to be the only wind hole on the lake at the pin end of the line. Helpless, he watched the fleet sail away, the result now dependant on whether Steve S took the final bullet. The race for the front now became one of the closest of the weekend, the three boats crossing each other on the beats, rarely more than a couple of boat lengths apart.

Going into the final downwind leg Paul Watson had found a small amount of breathing room with Steve second, Pete Ellis third and Rob not quite recovering to follow in fourth place but still having done enough to win the event!

In the Silver fleet the racing looked to be even closer, and with a point to prove they even caught the Gold fleet up in the first race making up a three minutes deficit before the end of the 15 minute race. After the first few races it was looking to be a two horse race, with a slightly erratic Alistair ‘Storky’ Mclaughlin facing off against an incredibly consistent Alastair Wood.

Going into the final races it appeared to be Alastair who was in control, but the door was still open for Storky who had a bit of an outside chance. As the last race of the day came to a close there was still some doubt over the result.

Had Alastair held on to it? Had Storky done enough? Had Mark’s late charge of bullets changed everything? In the end it came to a count back, Storky taking it on number of first places from Alastair second and Mark a couple of point back in third.

With the racing done and boat packed up we gathered for a final mug of tea and some excellent cake from the Rutland galley team. Thanks must be extended to all those involved in such a well run, enjoyable event and to our generous RS300 National Tour sponsors in Magic Marine. See you at next year’s RS300 Sprints 21-22 April 2018.

Rank	Fleet	Helm	Club	Sail	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total
1st	Gold	Rob Jones	Warsash SC	480	5	1	1	2	2	4	15
2nd	Gold	Steve Salis	Hykeham SC	476	1	6	5	1	1	2	16
3rd	Gold	Paul Watson	Bowmoor SC	337	4	5	2	3	3	1	18
4th	Gold	Pete Ellis	Stewartby Water SC	500	2	3	3	4	4	3	19
5th	Gold	Steve Bolland	Bristol Corinthian YC	411	3	4	4	7	7	7	32
6th	Gold	Ian Clarke	Warsash SC	527	6	2	6	5	7	7	33
7th	Silver	Alistair Mclaughlin	Prestwick SC	490	1	4	1	1	4	2	13
8th	Silver	Alastair Wood	Medway YC	424	2	1	2	2	2	4	13
9th	Silver	Mark Newton	West Lancashire YC	454	6	3	3	3	1	1	17
10th	Silver	Bob Peak	Alton Water Sports	452	5	2	4	4	3	3	21
11th	Silver	Gary Morris	South Cerney SC	318	4	5	5	5	5	5	29
12th	Silver	Richard Le Mare	Notts County SC	555	3	7	7	7	7	7	38