WASZP National Championship at Rutland Sailing Club - Days 1 & 2

WASZP Nationals at Rutland © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

The WASZP UK swarm has returned to Rutland Sailing Club for the national championship this year. Sailors from all corners of the country have made the trip, including competitors from Scotland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Isle of Wight and far west Wales. The fleet also welcomes Kiwi sailor and 2022 WASZP Games Champion Sam Street to the event, making the top of the field extremely high calibre.

Thursday's racing consisted of three alternative race formats that saw the fleet departing from the typical windward-leeward courses. The first format was the NASCAR - a reaching sausage course that suits beginners by offering maximum flight time with minimal manoeuvres. With a good foiling breeze, NASCAR delivered a gripping mini-series of nose-to-tail, cat-and-mouse action as the WASZPs whizzed around the track.

WASZP Nationals at Rutland - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

For the lower half of the fleet, the result of the NASCAR mini-series constituted the first race of the overall championship. The top half of the fleet qualified to a Slalom final - a three-race mini-series of the downwind course that has become a firm favourite for many WASZP sailors. Sam Street took the win in the Slalom tournament to kick off his championship campaign with Ross Banham second and Hattie Rogers third. Sam Whaley, despite qualifying first from the NASCAR, suffered a UFD to put himself sixth in that race.

The third discipline of the day was the distance course, dubbed the 'Two-Towers Race'. Competitors raced around the two towers in the reservoir, which required the fleet to sail a gruelling upwind all the way up the far leg of the lake. For a moment, Rutland could have been mistaken for Garda as the wind funnelled perfectly down the leg. After 2 miles of sailing, Sam Whaley and Martin Evans rounded the top tower overlapped, but Whaley soon stretched his legs on the downwind and took a convincing win. Evans held second and Arthur Fry took third.

WASZP Nationals at Rutland - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

This morning, the fleet launched into what they thought would be moderate conditions for the four championship races scheduled. By the time the boats made it to the starting area, the conditions were pretty punchy! Throughout the day, sailors battled big shifts and gusts regularly into the high twenties. In the fruity conditions it was an energy-sapping war of attrition for many, and those that stuck it out were rewarded on the scoreboard as natural selection whittled away the general population.

Sam Whaley was the stand-out performer of the day, winning all four races. Some were convincing but others close-fought with Ross Banham and Sam Street. The podium after day one: Whaley, Banham, Street. Hattie Rogers put on an incredible show for a sailor on the lighter end of the range to claim fourth place overall and top of the women's division. Alice Senior and Chloe Collenette are locked in battle for the second and third spots in the women's, sitting side by side on the scoresheet. Senior is also deep in the fight for the 6.9 division, tied on points with Jack Woolterton who is currently ahead on countback! Isle of Man sailor Peter Cope is topping the junior division in 9th place overall and Dan Goodman tops the masters in 14th.

WASZP Nationals at Rutland - photo © Georgie Altham / www.photoboat.co.uk

With half of the event still to go, it is all to play for. The forecast is for two more days of great foiling breeze, so we can expect another 8 races by Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned on WASZP UK social channels to keep up with the action.

Results after Day 2: