RS600 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club
by Will Russell 7 Nov 2023 17:52 GMT
4-5 November 2023
RS600 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland © Natalie Smith
The RS End of Season Regatta (and Rooster National Tour finale) started off slow with a few people running into issues. Jamie and Jake had to go pack their boats up in the morning after forgetting the previous weekend. George had a tyre blowout on route, Will's trailer decided it didn't want to stay on the back of the car as he drove off the driveway and Matt forgot his sailing watch so went back for it and barely made the first start. Despite this, the forecast was set to make a great (but cold) weekend!
Wind started off strong but brought a lot of cold rain with it so we were all wrapped up warm for the long day ahead. As we had 12 boats, we had our own start making for some exciting action! Off the start, George, Will and Richard tacked off early and made it to the windward mark first, but that didn't stop everyone else keeping up.
George and Jamie were already on each other's tail after the first lap as the Rooster National Tour winner would be decided on who beats who at the event!
George made it round ahead with Richard Smith and Will Russell getting involved in the action too! Jamie managed to squeeze ahead and win it. Race 2 was a similar affair but George managed to keep ahead and win it putting the top 2 on equal points.
Between Race 2 and 3, the course was reset to the new wind direction. However, with that the wind was also dying. Race 3 began and we were already struggling to trapeze off the racks. The racing was very tight with George leading ahead and Jamie making a recovery through the fleet. As we went into Lap 3, Will's mainsheet ratchet had got jammed so let Jamie past and by the time he got it sorted, the wind had died even more.
By the time everyone got onto the run, it was a mirror. No sign of finishing any time soon, so much so that the race was shortened and boats were towed back in. The results were mixed allowing for it all to change with 3 more races to go!
Day 2 greeted us with blue skies, sunshine and lots of breeze! A few were wondering about raking back, and other ways to make the day more manageable! The course was the other way around as the wind had done a 180 overnight making for a new set of challenges!
Race 4 got under way into some big waves for a reservoir. Richard Smith led to the finish but fell out over the rack on the final tack allowing George, Jamie and Will to slip pass! Jamie thought he had to tack to get through the line, meaning George had to quickly duck him, while Will sneaked up near the pin end. All 3 finished within 10 seconds of each other with Jamie just taking the bullet before capsizing!
Race 5 was also tight with Jake and Will fighting it out for 3rd place and George and Jamie trying to get past each other! Jamie was on George's tail but an unexpected capsize pushed him back on the run letting George take the win.
Will had a comfortable lead on Jake going into the final lap but Jake went the other way down the run and found a huge amount of pressure and came round in front at the gybe mark! Will put the pressure on all the way to the line, but Jake was able to just nip ahead and take 3rd.
Going into Race 6, the Rooster National Tour was all going to be decided on this final race with George only 1 point ahead. Jamie led at the windward mark (first time this weekend!). George managed to get past on the second beat. Jamie nearly caught him on the last run after catching a huge gust, nip and tuck up the beat to the finish. It was neck and neck but George won by a few seconds to take the race, event and series.
Jake was over the line in Race 3 so despite getting past Will in the final lap after Will had a few lightning quick swims, Will took 3rd place securing 3rd overall for the event!
That concludes the 2023 Rooster National Tour and we can't wait to see more people in 2024. The calendar is already set so make sure you put the dates in your diary and we'll see you there! Again, thanks to Rooster for sponsoring another fantastic National Tour!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1005 | George Smith | Bough Beech SC | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2nd | 1001 | Jamie Mawson | Notts County SC | 1 | 2 | ‑4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 3rd | 728 | Will Russell | Grafham Water SC | 3 | 6 | ‑9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
| 4th | 803 | Richard Smith | Medway YC | 5 | 3 | (DNC) | 4 | 5 | 7 | 24 |
| 5th | 907 | Matt Potter | Notts County SC | 4 | 4 | 3 | ‑9 | 8 | 6 | 25 |
| 6th | 800 | Tim Cutsforth | Felpham SC | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | (DNC) | 27 |
| 7th | 810 | Jake Willars | Notts County SC | (DNC) | 7 | 2 | 6 | 3 | UFD | 31 |
| 8th | 850 | Neil Cooney | Carsington SC | 7 | ‑10 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 34 |
| 9th | 938 | Simon Hibbert | Notts County SC | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | ‑9 | 5 | 36 |
| 10th | 900 | Alex Piggott | Notts County SC | (DNC) | 9 | 8 | 7 | DNC | DNC | 50 |
| 11th | 616 | Archie Clark | Grafham Water SC | 10 | 12 | 11 | (DNC) | DNC | 8 | 54 |
| 12th | 694 | Raife Piggott | Notts County SC | 9 | 11 | 10 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 56 |