Harken RS200 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club

Prior to the Harken RS End of Seasons everyone knew it was going to be a windy one. Sure enough upon arrival on Saturday morning the breeze was up and building but thankfully the sun was out too.

After a short-fast sail downwind to the start area the race officer started our first race of two. Most of the boats piled into a boat-favoured line which led to a contested drag race up the first beat. Boats that managed to stick this out benefited from a first left shift coming down. Brendan Lynch and Ellen Clark finished first shortly followed by Chris and Nicki Webber.

By the second race the breeze was up considerably, and boats from both courses had started swimming. After a contested start and first beat, the boats flew downwind. Despite a few capsizes and several boats retiring, most of the fleet finished with Brenda and Ellen taking another race win. By this point the breeze had built considerably to survival conditions and the race officer sent the fleet in one race early.

Harken RS200 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Day two brought a similar, albeit very slightly lighter forecast. Putting on wet and cold kit firmly reminded me why some feel the sailing season ends in November. After a short postponement the race committee got on with the day's racing.

With the breeze shifting left throughout the day the pin was the place to be, and with the breeze coming over the land a lot more than the previous day there were shifts to be had. Following a good display of boatspeed to come from the back, Brendan and Ellen took the win again in race four and again in five.

Race six saw the closest race of the day since with a (relatively) light first downwind leg any boat that could keep planing paid dividends. Chris and Nicki managed to just hold out their lead on Brendan and Ellen in this last race to deny them straight firsts.

Massive thank you to all the organisers of this event, and to Harken for their sponsorship. In fact a massive thank you to all the organisers and sponsors of all the events this year, and of course to Rooster for sponsoring our National Tour.

Harken RS200 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Overall Results: