2.4mR Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Megan Pascoe wins the 2.4mR Inland Championship at Rutland © RSC

Three days in a sunny/rainy/slightly cold Rutland for some of the closest 2.4 sailing we've had all year. There was perfect breeze all weekend as the fleet joined the Challenger sailors for their nationals.

Two races on Friday saw the ladies Kate Hedley and Jazz Turner take the line honours with Simon Meehan taking a well deserved second. Kate led overnight with Jazz and the rest of the fleet not far behind. By the time Megan had turned up from work on Friday night the fleet were still discussing the merits of their races especially Simon, Paddy and Kate's port end start.

Saturday saw a nice breeze with rain to come later. After Kate H snapped a main halyard we heeled the boat over to hoist the main swamping the boat in the process. It's ok: we removed Kate first as drowning sailors is frowned upon.

It didn't slow her down much as it was the ladies that took four out of the first five places with Megan Pascoe and Kate Whyatt joining the party.

Simon Hill after a few recent regattas was showing a consistent series with a second and fourth in the morning. Jazz sailed off into the distance in the second race leaving us all to fight for the minor places. John Patrick on his last leg of the European tour with Paddy pulled a blinder at the leeward mark by taking the right hand mark and leaving the rest of us behind. Steve Bullmore was also showing the form he had in Rotterdam with a third.

Lunch whilst we waited for the rain to come meant the afternoon was shifty and wet. Not an easy day to be a race officer. Four of us started on port for the first afternoon race. It was Megan followed by the two Kates who got the better of the storm clouds.

The sixth race was getting quite windy with Megan and the two Simons close behind. The fleet ran home with more storm clouds brewing behind. The evening saw us fix Kate's mast. Luckily only a new halyard tail was required. We had to wait for the rain to start as always for boat work. Luckily we had a few toolboxes and four willing volunteers.

Cormac, a retired vet, was very useful when we need the forceps and a bit of sewing done. His skills were very cool to watch. Thanks to Simon, Shaun, Kate W and Cormac who all helped on the two paw jobs.

The pit crew joined the rest of the fleet in the bar for the class AGM a few beers and dinner. The drinking game that followed involving KitKats brought up the riddle of whether you would like 1 horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses. Many thanks to the catering manager who very kindly let us carry on till late.

Sunday morning came, mast went back in and we went racing. With and extra discard at eight races the fleet was close and the maths was complicated. Megan, Steve and Simon H took the early running on the seventh race. Jazz was keeping it tight with a fourth place.

The last race it was Steve who set the early pace with the fleet close behind. A split at the bottom of the run saw John get it right again coming through by the end to take second.

Thanks as always to Ben for driving the tractor for us to launch and recover. The Commodore Nick joined us for the prize-giving. Apologies to Kate and Jazz as neither me or Chris could do maths so got third and fourth mixed up. Simon took second and the Ladies Trophy that - as we had five ladies and six men in the fleet - the ladies decided to award differently this year.

Thanks to the Challenger fleet and Rutland for organising a great event. Good luck to Jazz who is off to Oman for the Venture Worlds, Megan is off to the 2.4 Worlds and the rest are looking at the possibilities of a trip to Belgium.

Corrected Results:

1st Megan Pascoe - Frensham Pond SC - 10pts
2nd Simon Hill - 17pts
3rd Kate Hedley - Frensham Pond SC - 20pts
4th Jazz Turner - Newhaven and Seaford SC - 21pts
5th John Patrick - Belfast Lough SC- 23pts

Simon Hill takes second in the 2.4mR Inland Championship at Rutland - photo © RSC