RS300 Inlands & Magic Marine Grand Prix at Hykeham Sailing Club

RS300 Inlands at Hykeham © David Whitefield

The RS300 Inland Championship and Magic Marine Grand Prix final event were held at Hykeham SC over the weekend of 22-23 October. 18 visitors joined 6 home boats for the event. The first day was held in generally sunny conditions with a light to gentle breeze from the North-East, which is not the ideal direction for Hykeham and was always going to challenge the competitors. The Race team lead by Sam Mason did an excellent job of making the most of the conditions setting a course using the whole lake and turning around the 3 back to back races with minimal delay.

Local knowledge and concentration would be as important as boat speed and Steve Sallis made the most of the home advantage with three bullets on day one. In race one Steve was closely challenged by Tim Keen (Sheffield Viking) and Alistair McLaughlin (Prestwick) who took 2nd and 3rd respectively.

In race two it was again Tim and Steve battling for the lead, but on the long downwind leg Luke Pepper (Hykeham) and Chris Bridle (Hykeham) used their local knowledge to find the stronger breeze and passed Tim and Steve. There was a close battle up the final beat and unfortunately for Luke a momentary lapse of concentration sent him too close to the trees allowing Steve and Chris to pass, holding 1st and 2nd to the finish with Luke 3rd and Tim 4th, who was surely feeling a bit baffled how he had been passed by the three Hykeham boats.

In race three Rob Jones (Warsash), who is more used to the wide open lumpy stuff, seemed to have picked up some local knowledge from races one and two and took the lead on the first lap, but with Steve just behind, two races of experience at Hykeham was never going to match 30+ years. Rob held on to second followed home by Alistair in 3rd.

RS300 Inlands at Hykeham - photo © David Whitefield

After soup, tea and cakes at the club the fleet made their way to the Fox and Hounds in the evening for a meal and a few beers.

The forecast for day two was for the wind to be more Easterly and slightly stronger, but it seemed to swing anywhere from North-East to East. In races four and five Tim sailed impeccably taking both races after a close battle with Steve, who followed him home in both races. In race four it was Paul Watson who led the chasing group to take 3rd. In race five Alistair took his third 3rd of the weekend.

The final race was led by Chris Bridle from the first mark, a lead he was to extend, looking comfortable for a victory right up to the point where he rolled it in on the run in one of the stronger gusts of the day. This left Alistair to take the win followed home by Tim in 2nd and Steve in 3rd. Despite Tim's 1, 1, 2 on day 2 Steve had done enough to secure the overall victory and the RS300 Inland Championships.

Overall Results: