2.4mR National Championship at Rutland Sailing Club
by Megan Pascoe 14 Sep 2021 16:22 AEST
10-12 September 2021
The 2.4 fleet joined the Challenger fleet at Rutland for their National Championship. The rain on Friday morning was a little disappointing but by the time racing had started it had dried up and the wind had filled in.
It was close in the middle of the fleet with Johnny Currell and Kate Hedley sharing the minor podium places. Martin Whittingham-Jones wasn't having the best day out as a former national champion with suspected weed in the first race and parking at the second windward mark of the second race.
Day 2 saw more breeze and a top 3 finish for both new comers to the travelling fleet Kate Whyatt and Simon Meehan. Martin, Kate and Johnny were having a good battle at the top.
The breeze was shifting a lot with place changes happening often. One trick was apparently not to go where the swans were eating weed. In the last race Johnny managed to nearly take a race off Megan who took a clean sheet for the weekend.
Over Saturday night there was much talk about who was close to who and who had to beat who. The forecast for Sunday wasn't great and the actual wind was about the same. The fleet launched into patchy breeze and sadly it never settled down. Apart from a good gossip not much else happened that day as the wind wasn't playing ball.
The fleet is looking forward to a better circuit next year with hopefully a fuller year of travelling. Some of the fleet are heading to the end of season event in Antwerp later in October.
Many thanks to Pete and Rutland Sailing Club and to Richard and the Challenger class for a great event. Special thanks to Ben and Sean for getting the fleet on the water each day.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail number | Boat | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 163 | Pink and Stormy | Megan Pascoe | (1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | 124 | | Jonathan Currell | 3 | 2 | (6) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| 3rd | 143 | String Theory | Kate Hedley | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | (5) | 4 | 15 |
| 4th | 153 | Javi | Martin Whittingham‑Jones | (6) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| 5th | 161 | Ginger B | Simon Meehan | 4 | (6) | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 22 |
| 6th | 16 | Comet | Kate Whyatt | 5 | 5 | 3 | (7) | 6 | 5 | 24 |
| 7th | 1004 | | Brian Harding | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | (DNC) | 34 |