RS K6 Inland Championships at Carsington Sailing Club
by Stephen Blake 21 Apr 2010 10:15 BST
17-18 April 2010
RS K6 Inlands at Carsington © Pete Shaw
Carsington have the largest K6 fleet in the UK (fourteen boats and counting), so there's no better place to hold the K6 Inland Championships. Brilliant sunshine, tight racing, chocolate box scenery and outstanding food and beer, only reinforced this.
Even though position swapped many times through each race, the overall results remained fairy consistent by the final gun. Four races and four different winners is testament to the closeness of the racing. Bullets went to local boys, Chris and Martin, Peter and Marick from Queen Mary, Fraser and Georgie from HISC and Robin and Louise from Itchenor. Local boys Stephen and David had to get used to playing the bridesmaid, despite David having spent a good chunk of Friday using a secret polishing compound.
Special mention is deserved by Robin sailing 172 from Itchenor. He not only drove up to do the event knowing he could only do one day, but wasn’t even sure if he had a crew until arriving. Rescue came in the form of Louise, a RS400 regular, and she jumped in the boat and helped Robin regularly pop out at the front of the fleet. True dedication by Robin in supporting the K6 circuit!
Another local boat 165 sailed by Chris Hulme showed the ‘family’ side of the K6 by sailing 3 up with his young sons George and William only being 9 and 11. Fast downwind!
Saturday saw 4 races completed in just over 4 hours, but plenty of spare energy for a beer or two and a great meal served at the club. True to forecast, Sunday dawned with mill pond conditions. The decision was taken at 10.45 to abandoned ensuring people could get home at a reasonable time. The wind never did fill in, so an excellent call by the race officer Ged Bellamy.
Overall Results:
1st Peter Kirby & Marick
2nd Stephen Blake & David Lucas
3rd Fraser Elms & Georgie Smith
4th Robin Richardson & Louise
5th Chris Hyde & Martin Fidgeon
6th Phil Waterfall & Harry Briddon
7th Chris Hulme & George and William Hulme
8th Tony Harper & S Watson
Photos by Pete Shaw on flickr.