RS100 Harken Sprints 2026 at Rutland Sailing Club

RS100 winners in the Harken Sprints 2026 at Rutland © Laurie Callaghan

Four competitors gathered at Rutland Sailing Club on Saturday 25th April for the annual RS Sprints, sponsored by Harken, part of the Rooster National Tour. The sun shone, but the wind failed to appear.

The planned 12.30 start was delayed an hour and then again. With the forecast showing no sign of the wind conditions improving, the decision of the race team led by PRO John Fothergill was to abandon racing for the day.

Sunday morning dawned with a steady 7 kt south easterly. The forecast was for the wind to shift progressively to an easterly and wind strength to slowly drop, so the race team were keen not to hang around and fleet racing duly started on time at 10.30.

Ian Gregory (Frensham Pond/Stokes Bay SC) took an early lead in Race 1, which he wasn't to surrender and was first to claim the windward mark. Tom Fletcher (Hunts SC) pulled clear of Martyn Catlow (Leigh and Lawton SC) to claim second and third respectively.

The wind shifted left for the start of Race 2 and so everyone ended up at the port end of the start line but all were able to get away cleanly. The fleet split with Darrell Sleep (Burghfield SC) staying left and everyone else tacking off. Darrell Sleep was able to find a lift and some extra breeze and claimed the windward mark ahead of Ian Gregory. On the downwind leg Ian was able to overhaul Darrell by finding a better angle while maintaining his speed. Ian Gregory claimed his second bullet with Darrell Sleep claiming second and Tom Fletcher taking third. With the wind strength falling patches of wind could be seen across the race course.

Ian Gregory took an early lead in Race 3 while behind Darrell Sleep, Tom Fletcher and Martyn Catlow fought it out for the other places. At the start of the downwind leg, Tom Fletcher gybed off as he had seen a patch of wind on the right hand side of the course, enabling him to overtake Darrell Sleep and reach the leeward mark second behind Ian Gregory. The positions didn't change again and so Ian Gregory took his third bullet with Tom Fletcher taking second ahead of Darrell Sleep in third.

Race 4 saw Ian Gregory pull out an impressive lead in very light and patchy wind conditions allowing him to claim his third windward mark with Darrell Sleep in second and Martyn Catlow in third. On the final downwind leg all three stayed on the left side of the course while Tom Fletcher in fourth immediately gybed off and it paid off allowing him to overtake both Darrell Sleep and Martyn Catlow to claim second behind Ian Gregory claiming his fourth bullet of her day. Behind, Martyn Catlow claimed third by finding pressure enabling him to go low and inside Darrell Sleep before the finish turning mark.

With the wind pressure dropping to virtually nothing and with no hope for it to return the Race Officer abandoned racing for the day. With an impressive display of speed, Ian Gregory (Frensham Pond/Stokes Bay SC) took all four wins and first overall. With three seconds, Tom Fletcher (Hunts SC) was second overall ahead of Darrell Sleep (Burghfield SC) in third overall, with Martyn Catlow (Leigh and Lawton SC) being awarded the Endeavour prize.

Overall Results: