4000 UK Series Round 1 at Rutland Sailing Club

by Fran Howell 23 Apr 2015 08:08 BST 18-19 April 2015

The 4000 fleet arrived at Rutland last Saturday, to be greeted by glorious sunshine and a stiff force 5 north-easterly breeze – classic Garda conditions, just 20 degrees colder! This was to be the 1st event of the 2015 UK series (see www.4000.org.uk for the full calendar). Some of us were relatively fit, like Steve and Sarah Cockerill, fresh from their creditable performances in the Laser Masters at a very windy Grafham the previous weekend, while others were only just out of hibernation.

Geoff and Bernice Holden (4266) were sporting a brand-new Rooster red kite, but on their test hoist, they found they had rigged it wrongly and had to return to shore to fix it, unfortunately missing the 1st race. The race officer set 3 laps of a fairly short but true course, with a starboard-biased line. Father and son team Tim and Alex Litt (4546) were so keen to start this season's challenge that they were OCS and had to go back. This allowed Steve and Sarah (4190) to romp away, playing the shifts on the beats expertly as usual, and by the end of the race which lasted barely half an hour, they had built a commanding lead over John Reynolds and Fran Howell (4682), with David Marchant and Matt Reynolds (4568) coming in 3rd.

Race 2 was sensibly extended to 4 laps, and this time John and Fran rounded the top mark in 1st position, having hit the left side of the course hard and tacked in good wind just off the peninsula. They headed back that way downwind, closely followed by Steve and Sarah. After gybing, John was determined to make the bottom mark in one, consequently slowing down somewhat. Steve decided to gybe out in an effort to overtake, but capsized in the disturbed wind. John and Fran held their lead almost to the end, but things really hotted up at the final leeward mark. Tim and Alex just got through John and Fran at the mark rounding. 4682 immediately tacked off onto a good shift and had slightly better wind on the left, and as they tacked they realised that they could just have the yellow boat at the finish, provided Tim couldn't get them on starboard. But somehow, Tim and Alex capsized while tacking, allowing John and Fran to win comfortably. Meanwhile another close battle was being fought between the next two boats. Neil Heffernan and Matt Barker (4343) capsized just after rounding the leeward mark – was this a case of some of the more unfit sailors getting a tad tired perhaps??? This allowed David and Matt (4568) to fill the vacant 2nd slot with ease.

Race 3 began, still with breezy conditions and a clear blue sky, with no change to the course. There was never a dull moment in this race. Geoff and Bernice were jostling with Richard and Jo de Fleury (4572) on a reach when Geoff slipped off the rack and almost abandoned ship; he would have been instantly run over by the other boat had he not somehow clung on to both the tiller extension and the mainsheet.

He managed to keep the boat upright, despite sending Bernice flying around the shroud! Further back down the fleet, Tim and Alex were chasing the pack after an earlier capsize, and as they reached off towards the peninsula, found themselves on a collision course with 2 Sprint 18's who were beam reaching on port but not racing. Tim knew it would be impossible to get above them in the strong wind, and by the time it was evident that the cats either would not or could not keep clear, he had no alternative but to ditch the boat, catapulting Alex into the "GBR" on the mainsail. 4000 crews have to be strongly made!

So at the end of Day 1, 4190 and 4682 were on level points at the top of the leaderboard, with everything to play for. The day certainly showed off the superb weight equalisation system of the 4000. Where else could we lightweights compete on level terms with the heavy teams in a solid force 5? The day also posed some interesting questions:

1. Martin Burgess and Martin Scholes, sailing together for the 1st time in the challenging conditions, were frequently seen washing the cobwebs off 4467. Would they be able to keep it upright on the Sunday, with the wind forecast to moderate slightly?
2. Would rumours that John and Fran (combined age 120+) are "getting past it" be proved to be somewhat premature?
3. Would Matt Reynolds finally get to beat his dad? (Answer: yes, by the narrowest of margins in race 4.)

Sunday was cloudy, with larger shifts than the previous day, and a more manageable force 3 to 4. We were racing on the club course, leading to some interesting traffic scenarios. Yet Steve and Sarah stamped their authority on the event, with 3 bullets, always seeming to spot the shifts upwind and find the best pressure downwind. In race 5, after a good start, John and Fran sailed a near-perfect 3rd beat to round the top mark ahead of them, only to be overtaken again as Steve and Sarah powered away downwind. Race 6 was started by the OD, with Tim and Alex continuing their starting woes as they tried to do a port flyer. They succeeded in ducking David and Matt but failed to duck John and Fran, hitting their port wing and capsizing (again). As the club boats went in for lunch, we had to finish ourselves at the top mark in order to get in our back-to-back races, a first for the fleet in any full open meeting that I can remember! Local boat Simon Laken and Andy Dring (4574) managed their best result coming in 7th. Thankfully, there were no contentious issues with the results.

There were a couple of highlights for me:

1. Steve going topless at the weigh-in, in an effort to stay the correct side of the 2 / 3 weights boundary on the equalisation chart, stretching the definition of "light clothing" somewhat!
2. A peal of laughter rang out across the fleet as the 1st five-minute gun went off on the Saturday, as our brand-new class flag (still lime green, but with the new 4000 logo, recently supplied by Scott Dawson) was hoisted upside down! This proved to be prophetic, as only 3 boats stayed upright throughout the Saturday.

Overall this event was a brilliant start to the new season. Thanks go to Wave Clothing for the prizes, complete with the new 4000 branding, and to Tim Litt for his sterling work organising the event.

Next up: Langstone Harbour in less than 2 weeks time, a new venue for the 4K's.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm & Crew	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Steve & Sarah Cockerill	4190	1	(4)	1	1	1	1	5
2	John Reynolds & Fran Howell	4682	2	1	3	(5)	2	3	11
3	Geoff & Bernice Holden	4266	(DNC)	3	4	2	3	2	14
4	David Marchant & Matt Reynolds	4568	3	2	(6)	4	4	5	18
5	Richard & Jo de Fleury	4572	6	(7)	2	6	5	4	23
6	Tim & Alex Litt	4546	4	6	(7)	3	6	6	25
7	Neil Heffernan & Matt Barker	4343	5	5	5	7	7	(8)	29
8	Simon Laken & Andy Dring	4574	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	8	8	7	43
9	Martin Burgess & Martin Scholes	4467	(DNF)	DNC	DNC	9	9	RTD	48