Harken Solo Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club - Preview

Andy Davis will be looking to add to his tally of five Solo Inlands titles © Mike Shaw

There is just a week until the 37th edition of the Solo Inland Championship, held once more at Rutland Sailing Club and the NSCA committee are making last minute preparations to ensure it is another fantastic event, on and off the water.

Rutland have hosted the Inlands on no less than 19 occasions, the first of which was in 1991. There were 116 entries in that Championship, won by Geoff Carveth in 3776, a wooden Ledger built Solo with Proctor C/Batt Sails combo. I remember contesting the lead with Ian Mitchell and Carveth in race 2 with Carveth winning despite breaking his footstrap at taking a dip, such is his talent. He also took the final race win which seemed impossible as he rounded the final leeward mark over 300 yrds behind the leaders. I was ahead of him and could not even make out his sail number yet he hit the opposing corner to the fleet and took the gun, miraculous.

This is Rutland and hitting the corners generally pays which may favour the gambler but with 6 race planned over the two days, consistency is the ultimate winner.

Harken are once again our title sponsor for which we are very grateful and there is a whole stash of Harken related prizes on offer over the weekend. We will also be hosting the re-scheduled Magic Marine Nationals draw for those who competed at the National Championship at windy Weymouth in August and having seen the list of goodies on offer, I am considering entering that event, can I do that? By the way, you have to be there to be included in the draw!

There is a Class dinner at the club on Saturday evening followed by the daily prize giving and prize draw. No doubt our President Doug Latta will say a few words, it's content possibly focusing on the last race at the Nationals where he led the fleet around the top mark, or at the Nation's Cup in Carnac where he did the same! There will be daily footage of the racing with the Go Pro on board camera providing all the action from a chosen helm's perspective and I myself may give the fleet an exclusive reading of the day's events before publishing externally..some content may have to be redacted for under 18 consumption.

We hope to see the NSCA demo boat at the event, in the hands of a suitably competent sailor, it is currently based at HISC under the supervision of Ellie Cumpsty so please contact any committee member if interested. I will focus my camera on the demo boat and provide some in depth info of the Winder hull, Superspar rig, Hyde sail and covers and CB combination trailer over the weekend.

The NSCA are holding a pre event training day on Friday 6th Sep, run by top sailing coach Ross Harvey and numbers are limited so again, contact via the solosailing.org.uk website for info. Numbers are always swelled with the inclusion of the trainees so I anticipate 80+ sailors on the water for the main event.

A word from class President Doug Latta:

"Having had a week or two break from sailing, I am now focused on this key event in the calendar, and look forward to seeing many of those who attended the Nationals and Carnac, but also a lot of boats who weren't able to make it. The NSCA team, lead by Steve Ede have put together a great weekend on and off the water, while Mark & Linda Lee have organised a day's training on the Friday before - personally I'm hoping to brush up on my downwind speed so as to try and hold onto a higher position should I end up near the front on any of the first beats. But with the fleet increasingly being dominated by such a wealth of expertise from sailors ranging from 17 upwards, it becomes harder and harder - but it is that very tight competition which continues to draw so many to our fleet. Please book in online as soon as possible on the Rutland SC site, also booking your meals for the Saturday night, where I will also be drawing the Nationals spot prizes draw, so I hope to see everyone there to receive these!

As an aside can I ask all members who have now received an NSCA survey via your email inbox to please fill in and return. Good sailing and safe travel."

Sail Solo, make great friends and memories, win prizes, grab some limelight in the videos and improve... what's holding you back?

See you on the water.