Laser 4000 Inland Championships at Rutland Sailing Club

Laser 4000 Inlands at Rutland © Richard de Fleury

Laser 4000 Inlands at Rutland © Richard de Fleury

Laser 4000 Inlands at Rutland © Jan Carver

A damp and muggy morning greeted the fleet at Rutland Sailing Club for the 2013 Inlands. However, the breezy day we had been forecast was nowhere to be seen with patchy wind on the water. Nonetheless the fleet of 9 rigged in earnest and by the first start a light wind had filled in.

From start to finish there was good close racing with no runaway leaders and plenty of position changes throughout the fleet creating a mixed bag of results. Fran & John, the favourites to take the title, showed their wealth of experience taking the first two races.

By race three the wind had improved but was still presenting a challenge with crews trying to search out the best of the breeze particularly on the downwind leg. The filling wind brought with it some shifty gusts which caused a few issues, most notably for the early leaders Fran & John who uncharacteristically binned it in the drink during a gybe in race 3 from the lead. With the leaders upside down the championship was flung wide open with Tim & Harry taking full advantage to chalk up a win to close out day one. In the same race 5th, 6th and 7th was practically a photo finish with a big gust carrying in Mark & Matt and Richard & Jo from wide at speed towards a deep soaking Neil & Charlotte. Following much spray and a late aborted gybe by Mark all three passed the line unsure who had got what? 5th was taken by Mark with the others left to work out what happened!

Day 2 brought the wind we had been expecting with white caps becoming more frequent as bigger gusts rolled through providing excellent racing. Tim & Harry picked up where they had left off on day 1 taking another win with a surprise challenge coming from Callum & Tom, Rutland locals and newcomers to 4ks, taking their third consecutive 2nd place. Fran & John replied in the next with a win in the windiest race of the event to force a decider for first overall. The second race also saw a number of the fleet testing the water temperature along with a number of the other fleets present. At one point a significant number of boats were over up and down the racecourse proving some of the gusts were indeed what the weatherman had promised getting well into a F6.

The final race saw Fran & John squeezed into 3rd place by Neil & Charlotte while Tim & Harry took another win to be crowned Inland Champions. Rutland as ever was a cracking event and it was great to see a number of newcomers to the fleet in particular Callum and Tom who showed some real promise for the future coming 3rd overall.

Congratulations to Tim & Harry on their win. Also many thanks to Rutland SC and our race officer David Wilkins and his team for a fantastic event with expertly run racing.

Do you own a 4k? Have you told us about it? If not please email your boat No. and the club you sail at to we're trying to find them all.

Overall Results: