Cherub Open at Rutland Sailing Club

Ronin and the Harris brothers sending it big style for the perfect score during the Rutland Cherub Open © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Six Cherubs lined up on the Rutland grass verge, a few shades of green, a bit of black and a smudge of grey, with a dash of blue, but with a curve ball, some red turned up to in the form of 'Dan's Boat' under the new owners Luke and Jeremy Hartley.

With no one having a worthwhile sail since September last year, it was going to be an event to see who remembered the most.

Ronin, a Beiker 1, got off the a good start, straight out the box, the Harris brothers kept the momentum up for the regatta with a perfect score.

Dan's boat, a Banshee design, showed times of excellence rounding the top mark in second a few times, hot on the tail of Ronin, but downwind performance let them down dropping them back down the fleet.

Dan's boat making a triumphant return to the water during the Rutland Cherub Open - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Exultant Jubilation (EJ) , an E5, with Jay Williamson and Ade White rigged late and only did two laps of race one. With a few too many swims in R1 and R2 the called it early and retreated to the warmth of the clubhouse. Ade had prior arrangements on the Sunday which left Jay crewless.

Green Bananas, a Daemon design, was sporting a square top jib to house more sail area up top. Nick and Greg were never going to be the lightest pairing so this was a good plan. Boat speed was good though, proving the idea works, until the batten in the top breaks. After a quick swap to the standard jib on Saturday they were off and causing carnage in race 3.

Banshee Ambulance's wing mast (centre) during the Rutland Cherub Open - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Banshee Ambulance, a banshee design, with Robin Jones and Joe (Sven) White used the wing mast well to cause upset at the front sneaking though gaps upwind, a non-tuneable T-foil caused issues for them though.

The Shiny Beast, a P7, had her first proper outing since major surgery to fit a new, bigger daggerboard. Crew and helm, Rosie Williamson and Jamie Pearson were both casualties of 'the fear' after suffering a broken forestay the week before. A new, untested forestay was used which resulted in safer race tactics wherever possible. Although, crew tiredness was the major issue on Sunday which just let the banshee ambulance through too many times.

Special moments through the weekend have to be seeing Dan's Boat again, and it doing so well!

Drone image of the fleet rigging during the Rutland Cherub Open - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The ribs in the pub were as ever, and getting Ade white out of retirement is always a bonus.

All in all a great weekend. More weekend like that through the year would be gorgeous! Hopefully Weston will deliver.

Thanks go to Rutland Sailing Club for hosting us, the Musto Skiff, B14 and RS800 classes for being well mannered and considerate to each other, Tim Olin for the photographs and the pub for the meat.

Overall Results: