25th Squib Inland Championships at Rutland Sailing Club

Dave Jones and Mark Hogan win the 25th Squib Inland Championships at Rutland © Nigel Grogan

The 25th Squib Inlands were even more closely contested than usual this year. The 31 boat fleet was confronted with a very patchy and shifty 3-7 knot breeze from the south east on Saturday resulting in many place changes and as twice Squib Nationals champ and former Enterprise World champ Alan Johnson remarked: "mind numbing" conditions.

First race was won by Robert Coyle and Mark Irwinski after a close tussle with the Grogans who crossed the line first to the silence of the U flag. Gerard Dyson and Tony Saltonstall, in a fine return to Rutland form crossed second and Stu Rix and Steve Warren Smith were third.

Race two saw Dave Jones and Mark Hogan do some really smart upwind sailing to recover from pretty deep to win with Malcolm Blackburn and David Shiel mastering the light conditions in second. Steve Allso and Glen Pritchard went well in third.

By race three it was becoming clearer that the left only paid every now and then and the right paid most often. But most were still scratching their heads to make sense of the big pressure variations added to the big shifts. A bad tack seemed to go on for ever..... Malcolm and David seemed to understand it better than most to take the win, followed by Alan Johnson and Dave Garlick and then the early leaders and current National Champs the Grogans.

Some questions were asked about whether to go ahead with race 4, but it started in a 7 knot breeze that had shifted further right by 12 degrees and faded. Phil Aspinall and Howard Enkells were the early leaders but as the breeze faded to 3 knots so did they. Alan and David won with Ian Ackroyd and Pete Richards second, Gerard and Tony came third to lead the regatta at the end of the day.

Saturday night comprised a Hyde sponsored Turkish dinner in Stamford with the young Portsmouth team heading up the drinking with a clean win for eventual Youth Prize winners, Chris Rust and James Vineer.

Sunday was a different regatta. The wind howled and the sun came out for some boat breaking conditions. David and Mark led the whole race but a desperate dash to the line under kite saw the Grogans second by a second, Gerard and Tony kept things alive with third.

Race six, which turned out to be the last, began in even stronger gusts, such that spinnakers were kept in the bags for reach one. The Grogans won by a distance with David and Mark second, so clinching the Inlands Trophy easily. Micky Wright and Alex Porteous managed a third despite having to fly their kite pole-less.

Will Davies and Kevin Gibb made the long trip from Scotland worth while winning the Silver Fleet with an impressive fifth place in the very windy last race.

Race officer John Fothergill wisely called it quits and canned the last race, leaving the fleet to be craned out with exceptional speed and efficiency by the Rutland shore team and the much appreciated assistance of Brian Holland.

Dave and Mark's win was popular and well deserved showing great skill in both extremes of the wind range, Gerard and Tony were delighted to be back on the podium at a major Squib event after a longish gap. Malcolm and David took third place with a very spirited and skilful performance.

Overall Results: