Solo Winter Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

by Mike Sims, Ian Walters & Guy Mayger 16 Mar 00:59 AEDT 8 March 2025

The Solo fleet returned to lovely Rutland Water for the first time in a few years and were delighted to find near perfect conditions for our Winter championship and first North Sails Super Series event of 2025.

For your class President, this was my first visit to Rutland in over 45 years of sailing, never having had the pleasure before, and I have to say I was very impressed with the location, club and the super-efficient race team, expertly led by PRO Don Munro.

With a few noble absences due to holidays and health (get well soon Tom Gillard from all in the Solo class) a still very competitive 36 boats took to the water in ideal conditions ranging from 8-15 knots in a generally veering breeze and glorious sunshine. This was the winter championships, right??

With four races scheduled, this was going to be a challenging start to the season, but I think it's fair to say everyone enjoyed their day, even if we were all aching a bit by the end of it!

With Will Loy easing back from full-on event reports, I've asked some of our leading sailors to contribute towards the reporting.

Over to are in-race reporters for details of the action.

Race 1 (by Andy Carter)

Champagne sailing greeted us with sunshine and warm winds over 10 mph to fully power up in plus regular hard gusts over 20mph. Did we dare put on lighter weight wetsuits, out with the sunglasses and hope we didn't need suncream?

It took a short while for the race officer to feel confident in the wind direction that swung 90 degrees into the predicted easterly quadrant. The winds were gusty all day and the direction did shift around significantly. Windward/leeward twice around was to be the first race of the day.

We were all too keen to get started and had a general recall which is something most have come to expect from the Solo fleet! At the start, most boats favoured the committee boat end and those that tacked early and hit the far right led at the first mark as the shift off the shore over-rode the shifts in the gusts in the middle of the beat.

First round was Ian Walters followed by Alan Gillard, standing in for Tom, and then Andy Carter with a very large, tight pack close behind. The front three held on nicely down the run holding slightly left of centre and seeking the gusty lanes of wind. Behind a pack of about twenty boats fanned out over the course with gains depending on the gusts though the inside left position counted at the leeward mark.

The leading three were less disturbed and extended from the pack up the next beat playing the shifts but heading hard right again, Carter getting ahead of Gillard on a shift.

Again, on the downwind there was plenty of snakes and ladders in the tight pack in a gusty wind, but the leaders remained unchanged at the finish Walters, Carter and Gillard slightly ahead of a tight pack of about six boats led by Jonathan Swain, then Mike Sims, Jasper Barnham, Andrew Wilde, Mike Dray and Jamie Cuxson.

The remainder of the fleet cruised in with some "names" licking their wounds, wondering how in a breeze forecast to go to the right that they'd managed to, more often than not, find themselves too far to the left.

Would lessons be learnt for the forthcoming races?

Race 2 (by Mike Sims)

The breeze had built further for the start of race 2, the course changed to a more traditional triangle / sausage course, with a pin end biased start line, but with the direction continuing to track right as forecast, the favoured choice was again to start at the committee boat and play the middle / right hand of the course upwind.

Rounding the windward mark 1st was Olly Davenport, closely followed by Andy Wilde. The breeze now noticeable increased from race 1, there was plenty of place changes downwind, especially on the first reach, with Mike Sims pulling up to 2nd. Places for the top 3 remained unchanged after lap 1, with Olly taking the win, Mike 2nd and Andy in 3rd. In 4th was inland specialist Ewan Birkin-Walls, 5th Jonathan Swain and in 6th class Vice-President Paul Davis who was earlier seen waving at his Solo friends as he flew into the windward mark on a huge lift, pulling himself up many places in the process. I'm sure others were waving back at him, after a fashion! It's friendly racing for sure!

Two races down and you can already see those who can keep things consistent in the challenging breeze, and those who are a bit more up and down... without mentioning any names! Once again, only showing how close the Solo fleet racing is and given a good start and a couple of shifts, there are many with in the fleet more than capable of going the front of the fleet regulars something to think about.

Race 3 (by Ian Walters)

Race three started with a steadier wind direction gusting to 20mph. The start line was very even with possibly a bit of pin bias, so the fleet was fairly spread out. Ian Walters started at the pin end and went left which paid as he was first at the windward mark from Olly Davenport, Mike Sims and Chris Bunn, making his push for the front of the fleet. Olly was first to the gybe on the first triangle and at the second windward mark it was Davenport followed by Walters, Bunn and Sims. On the last beat Sims got past Walters and it finished Davenport, Sims, Walters Bunn. Behind these four the ever-present Wilde, Birkin-Walls and Barnham continued to put a nice series together. Race 1 superstars, Gillard and Carter were starting to find the pace a little challenging but could still turn things around with a low last race result.

Race 4 (by Guy Mayger)

Conditions were very much the same as race 3 but this time the pin became a little more bias due to a left shift coming down the course in the last minute prior to the start. Most of the fleet continued to stack up close to the committee boat end with a few mid-line starters. That was apart from Mike Dray and Joe McLaughlin who both came out on port from the pin and cleared the fleet! Nice work gents!

Once across the fleet, Dray did a nice job of positioning himself to just about maintain the lead at the windward mark with Davenport, Sims, Mayger and Walters in close contact. With many going high on the first reach, Mayger managed to find a low lane which allowed him to sneak inside Davenport at the gybe mark. A less than elegant gybe saw Mayger let Davenport, Sims and Walters slip by, before these four engaged in a ding-dong battle around the rest of the course. Only a few boat lengths further back, Bunn, Matthew Frary, Barnham and Birkin-Walls held their own fight.

On the final downwind, Sims and Walters played a game of cat and mouse with each other that allows Davenport some breathing room and very nearly let Mayger back into the equation. At the line, Davenport took the win from Sims, Mayger and Walters in very short order. Bunn held off the challenge from training partner Frary, followed by Barnham and Birkin-Walls. The rest of the fleet came in as a very tight bunch and must have kept the race team busy taking down numbers.

Event round-up

And with that the 2025 Solo Winter championships had finished. Davenport (or Sir Olly, as he would prefer) took another well-deserved win. Mike Sims, a welcome return to the fleet, also put in a very consistent series of second places with Ian Walters keeping the younger ones on their toes in third.

Olly graciously thanked Rutland SC for hosting an excellent event and we very much look forward to coming back.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm Name	Sail number	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	Oliver Davenport	6110	Northampton	‑16	1	1	1	3
2nd	Michael Sims	6128	Carsington	‑5	2	2	2	6
3rd	Ian Walters	5586	Grafham Water	1	‑10	3	4	8
4th	Andrew Wilde	6125	Ogston	7	3	5	‑9	15
5th	CHRIS BUNN	6067	Lady Yacht Club	‑29	8	4	5	17
6th	Ewan Birkin‑Walls	5729	Grafham Water SC	‑25	4	6	8	18
7th	Jonathan Swain	6055	Carsington	4	5	‑18	10	19
8th	Jasper Barnham	5887	Snettisham Beach	6	‑18	7	7	20
9th	Guy Mayger	5691	Hayling Island Sailing Club	11	‑12	8	3	22
10th	Thomas Gillard	6021	Sheffield Viking SC Staunton SC	3	13	9	(DNC)	25
11th	Mike Dray	6017	Hawley Lake SC	8	9	‑17	11	28
12th	Andy Carter	5807	Leigh & Lowton SC West Kirby SC	2	‑20	15	12	29
13th	Mathew Frary	5953	Norfolk Broads Yacht Club	‑22	11	12	6	29
14th	Stephen Denison	5880	RYA	12	‑17	10	13	35
15th	Olly Saunders	6049	Shustoke SC	18	‑30	11	15	44
16th	Jamie Cuxson	5704	Shustoke SC	9	‑27	23	14	46
17th	Paul Davis	611	Lymington Town Sailing Club	28	6	13	(DNC)	47
18th	Richard Instone	6076	Chase SC	‑27	7	25	16	48
19th	Simon Maskell	6037	Hunts SC	14	14	20	(DNC)	48
20th	Neil Wilkinson	5210	Shustoke sailing club	10	19	‑21	21	50
21st	Nigel Davies	6108	Draycote Water SC	‑23	15	19	17	51
22nd	William Todd	5967	Largs Sailing Club	‑24	21	14	20	55
23rd	Vincent Horey	6080	King George Sailing Club	13	28	16	(DNC)	57
24th	Andy Bines	5796	Brightlingsea Sailing Club	17	23	‑26	22	62
25th	Mark Maskell	6007	Blackwater SC	15	24	24	(DNC)	63
26th	Andrew Bownes	5897	Barnt Green	20	25	‑29	23	68
27th	Samuel Bailey	5927	South Staffordshire Sailing Club	26	16	27	(UFD)	69
28th	Stephen Hawley	5429	Bartley	‑33	29	22	18	69
29th	Joe McLaughlin	6044	Tamesis Club	‑30	26	28	19	73
30th	David Winder	6093	Hollingworth Lake Sailing club	19	22	(DNC)	DNC	78
31st	Vernon Perkins	6130	South Cerney SC	31	‑32	30	25	86
32nd	Jack Barrett	5189	Maidenhead SC	32	‑34	31	24	87
33rd	Bill Hutchings	4551	Tonbridge	35	33	(DNF)	26	94
34th	Stuart Gibson	5948	CCCC Bardowie	21	(DNS)	DNC	DNC	95
35th	Chris Bolton	6064	SFSC	(UFD)	31	DNC	DNC	105
36th	Kevan Gibb	6043	Largo Bay Sailing Club	34	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	108

Looking down the results sheet it was also great to see a new group of Solo sailors joining the class from around the country. The strong regional and national circuit was a big draw as well as the very tough racing. Many commented on how much they're learnt from just this one event and were looking forward to the next.

With that in mind, our next North Sails Super Series event is at Whitstable YC on 27th April and is preceded by a training day on the 26th April, free to Association members. Please follow the link for training and race entry.

www.wyc.org.uk/solo-spring-championships-2025