RS300 Rooster National Tour and Harken RS Sprints Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club
by Steve Sallis 24 Apr 18:27 BST
20-21 April 2024
Rooster National Tour and Harken RS Sprints Regatta at Rutland © Mark Coupar
As the online entry deadline approached it seemed prudent to check that there wasn't another named storm heading across the country. On the contrary high pressure seemed to be coming over and according to the usual wind forecast websites it looked like average wind speeds of sub 10 mph and light wind specialists would have their day.
How wrong could they be!
As the fleet went afloat a fresh breeze was blowing with some strong gusts. With the sprints format of six back to back races each day it turned out to be a real test. Racing was close throughout the RS300 fleet and getting a shift wrong could easily cost several places.
On day one it was Richard Hanby who topped the leader board with 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1 - of course in the sprints there is no discard. Peter Makin was the closest challenger with the other race wins and Steve Sallis held 3rd with the most consistent results of the rest. George Bender and Josh Oates, both new to the RS300 open circuit achieved notable performances with second places in races five and six respectively.
By the end of the day most were welcoming the moderating breeze.
On Sunday morning the fleet were greeted with a scene of even stronger wind and white horses rolling down the reservoir and by launching time the conditions and the exertions of Saturday had taken their toll and only six boats took to the water for the first race of the day.
The most notable absentee was Peter Makin who had sustained a thigh strain during Saturday's racing, was struggling to walk and decided to call it a day.
Thankfully the wind did moderate through the day and again it was Richard who dominated the results with four more race wins, although racing was close and he had to work hard for each race win. Tom Moore and Sam Davy both deserve a mention for taking a swim while contending for the lead.
The performance of the day, apart from Richard's of course, was achieved by Neal Gibson, also new to the RS300 open meeting fleet, achieving two race wins to pull himself up from sixth after day one to second overall just one point ahead of Steve Sallis in third.
As ever congratulations to the Rutland SC race management team, led yet again by John Fothergill, for running the meeting with military precision. Thanks must go to Harken for their sponsorship of the event, and to Rooster for sponsoring our RS300 National Tour.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 545 | Richard Hanby | Beaver SC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 2nd | 308 | Neal Gibson | Downs SC | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| 3rd | 476 | Steve Sallis | Hykeham SC | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 51 |
| 4th | 457 | Sam Davy | Hykeham SC | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 57 |
| 5th | 560 | Tom Moore | Shropshire | 5 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 59 |
| 6th | 359 | George Bender | Midland SC | 8 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 67 |
| 7th | 556 | Peter Mackin | Stokes Bay SC | 2 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 83 |
| 8th | 460 | Josh Oates | Bartley SC | 9 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 2 | DNC | DNC | 7 | 6 | RET | DNC | 95 |
| 9th | 527 | Ian Clark | Warsash SC | 4 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 9 | DNS | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 107 |
| 10th | 501 | Roger Marino | Warsash SC | 10 | 10 | DNC | 9 | 10 | 9 | DNC | 7 | RET | DNC | DNC | DNC | 121 |