Rope4Boats RS400 Inland Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Rope4Boats RS400 Inland Championships at Grafham © Paul Sanwell / OPP

The RS400 Inland Championships kick started with sailors rocking up to the club to find glamour conditions awaiting them on the water. It looked like it was not only going to be a big day with strong winds, but the race officer hinted at running a fourth race in the fear of losing races on Sunday due to a light forecast.

The fleet of excited sailors hit the water, to find the conditions were as exciting as they looked. The first two races had some full-on gusts, hitting 25 knots according to the wind readings on the clubhouse.

A special mention has to be made to the fleet legends Stewart and Sarah Robertson who were first to the windward mark in the second race showing the younger sailors how it is done - full respect!

The breeze seemed to be converging consistently off the shore on left hand side of the beat, with some shifts and opportunities to be made along the way. The downwind was a game of snacks and ladders. Connecting the pressure was a necessity to hop on the escalator accelerating you down to the gate.

Another special mention has to go to Hamish Gledhill and Ross Southwell who were pushing it to the limits on their gybes downwind only to have a spectacular wipeout in race two.

The breeze reduced very slightly for the third, and the race officer seized the opportunity of the champagne conditions and fired into the fourth race of the day. Fair to say there were some very tired sailors once we hit the shore.

Rope4Boats RS400 Inland Championships at Grafham - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

As always, the best way to recover after a physical day on the water, in the RS400 class, was a cup of tea swiftly followed several pints. The Saturday evening involved catching up with old friends, joining in on the RS800s and RS200s games and finishing the night off at the mighty Wheatsheaf.

Sam Knight and Chris Bownes had the best day of the fleet scoring an impressive four race wins. In joint second was Oliver Groves with Esther Parkhurst and Jamie 'Boy Wonder' Calder and Keith 'Silver fox' Bedborourgh. Close behind were Stewart and Sarah Robertson.

Sunday Morning began with glorious sunshine, 18 degrees and 7-12knots of wind - more than forecast. It was as if summer had not yet finished, certainly from the Scottish perspective. The conditions presented patchy breeze and shifty conditions for the racing, making it a head out the boat kind of day. It was still all to play for.

Although Sam and Chris had made a comfortable lead on points, they were OCS in the first race of the day leaving the title still open in the final race. Groves and Parkhurst battled it out with Boy wonder and silver fox throughout the 2 races. Although it was Ollie and Esther that took the race wins.

Close racing was had throughout the fleet over the two races. It looked like a close battle between Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Roberts with Christopher Eames and Rachel Tilley in the first race of the day. Race two appeared to have equally as tight racing with Howie Farbrother and Louise Hosken storming through the fleet taking a third followed closely by Gary Knott and Sam Grayton scoring fourth.

Rope4Boats RS400 Inland Championships at Grafham - photo © Paul Sanwell / OPP

Although Groves and Parkhurst managed to achieve the two race wins, it was Knight and Bownes that managed to secure the 2022 Inland Championship title. A huge congratulations to the lads for the win and a massive thank you to Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting another great Inland Championship, to all the club volunteers and organisers for making the fleet feel so welcome and to our sponsors Rope4Boats and Rooster.

Photo gallery: 8573832.tifmember.com/p/82557bnk/rs200-400-inlands-1st-2nd-october

Final stop on the Rooster National Tour is the Harken End of Seasons, at Rutland 5/6 November.

See you all there, or next year - save the dates!

Rope4Boats RS400 Inland Championships at Grafham - photo © RS Class Association

Overall Results:

Rope4Boats U18 awards - Abigail Larr & Sam Grayton
Rope4Boats Spirit of 400s - Ian Peace and Mike Barret
Rooster Endeavour - Pete and John Pickford
Rooster Mid Fleet Heroes - Geoff and Bernice Holden