RS800 End of Season Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

RS End of Season Championship at Rutland © www.sportography.tv

What a great weekend's sailing particularly for those who were planning a polar trek later this winter; 20 knots gusting 30 knots from the North on Saturday and slightly less on the Sunday but with a lovely heavy rain shower during the second half of the pursuit race. What more could you ask for? The format was 3 races on Saturday with one discard and a non-excludable double counting pursuit race on Sunday (individual race results extracted for each fleet). Having missed the Inlands at Grafham due to being at the Endeavour Trophy, National Champions Luke and Emma McEwen were fast out of the blocks in race one but had a titanic fight on their hands with former national Champions Peter Barton and Chris Feibusch on their tails for all 4 laps. Just behind Andy and Allyson Jeffries were having a tight battle with Ralph and Sophie Singleton for 3rd place with Andy taking the honours. Having to wait for the RS200s, RS500s and RS400s to start first tested out all the artic sailing kit to its fullest.

RS End of Season Championship at Rutland - photo © www.sportography.tv

Race two started in similar conditions with Luke and Emma again leading the charge. Pete decided that his centreboard needing inspecting mid race leaving the Jeffries and Singletons to have another tight race again, with Jeffries nailing the last beat to take second, the Singletons 3rd and Pete and Chris 4th.

Having recorded two firsts Luke and Emma headed for a much deserved warm shower as they could not improve their own results that day. This potentially gave Pete and Chris an opportunity of a race win and also with a double scoring non excludable race on Sunday the chance to still win the event overall. By this time the fleet had shrunk 6 hardy souls. Pete and Chris lead from start to finish but almost handed the race in the last 100 yards to Ralph and Sophie as a mega gust suddenly meant that the finish line was a little further away than he had hoped ! The Singleton gybed early but not early enough to be able to carry the kite to the finish, giving Pete and Chris the bullet. The third place tussle between the Jeffries and Ella and James Moreland was very close, in fact too close as both boats collided just before the finish with Andy suffering from some brain freeze and believing that Ella was also on port tack rather than on starboard, enabling the Morlands to take a fantastic 3rd place. Ella certainly proved that you don't need to be a big ugly bloke to make an RS800 go fast in testing windy conditions! So overnight the McEwens led the way on 2pts, Pete and Chris on 3pts and the Jeffries and Singletons tied in 3rd on 5 pts.

RS End of Season Championship at Rutland - photo © www.sportography.tv

Sunday dawned with unexpectedly large amounts of sunshine but a wind-chill factor which left the temperature feeling well below freezing point. The all in pursuit race was quite a spectacle with the Aero 5s going off as the RS800s were still tucking into a full English breakfast. The course was not ideally suited to the RS800s with over half of it being a tight 2 sail reach. However the wind strength meant that being out on the trapeze was probably better than hiking for nearly 2 hours! Finally the RS800s set off in pursuit although Ralph and Sophie decided to give the fleet a head start after too much breakfast. Luke and Emma lead the way with Martin Orton and Ian Brooks and Pete and Chris in hot pursuit. The latter again decided that the hull needed inspecting but after the unscheduled stop soon climbed back up the fleet with gritted teeth and a frozen crew. With half an hour to go the rain starting lashing it down making racing even more interesting. Luke and Emma passed the last RS Aero 7 with 20 minutes to go and won the pursuit race by some distance. Peter and Chris came second with the RS Aero 7 of Chris Larr 3rd. Andy and Allyson did not fancy writing this report (they seemed to have finished 3rd a lot this year – OK their rudder downhaul broke early in the pursuit race) and Martin and Ian having stayed upright for an hour and 25 minutes into the one hour 30 minute race went for a swim when Martin failed to clip on after a tack. This enabled the Singletons who had stayed upright all weekend to take fourth in the pursuit race and being 3rd RS800.

After some delay (not sure how the race committee managed to record all the results of the pursuit race given the arctic conditions) the prize giving for the event and the circuit series were held at 1545hrs. Luke and Emma had won the pursuit race, the RS800 End of Season Championship and the overall Magic Marine RS800 Grand Prix capping a fantastic year for them. Pete and Chris were second in the pursuit, 2nd over the weekend and 5th over the year with Pete's RS Aero duties taking precedent over some fantastic RS800 sailing. Ralph and Sophie took 4th in the pursuit, 3rd (report writer for the weekend) in the RS800s and 4th in the circuit after a shoulder operation mid-season. Andy and Allyson were 4th at Rutland but 2nd in the Magic Marine Grand Prix. Fiona Hampshire decided that India was likely to be a little warmer than Rutland leaving the 2015 National Champion Tim Saxton to sail an RS200 for the weekend (not sure how he coped with all that hiking) but still finish 3rd overall in the 2016 Magic Marine RS800 Grand Prix.

Chris Larr finally sucumbs to the power of the lead RS800 with about 10 minutes to go in Sunday's 2 hour Pursuit Race at the RS End of Season Championship at Rutland - photo © www.sportography.tv

A big thank you to all at Rutland, in particular the race and rescue teams who held some great racing and made sure everyone returned safely. Thanks also to event sponsors Volvo and Magic Marine and to Team Volvo sailors John Pink and Nikki Birrell for sharing in the weekend's fun.

Prize winners at the RS End of Season Championship at Rutland with Nikki Birrell - photo © www.sportography.tv

So we all now look forward to 2017 which looks like being another great year for the class. With ex National Champion Laurie Fitzjohn‑Sykes and new crew Ann Babtie and James Hughes (if he can keep the boat and body in one piece) returning to the fleet late this year, rumours that Mr Rooster (Steve Cockerill) having bought a new RS800 and ex RS700 National Champion (and RS800 early adopter) Tim Johnson (sailing with his son Jack) joining in we could be set for some very exciting racing.

Happy Winter sailing to all RS800 sailors and see you next year.

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