Results / RS Sprint Championship Rutland SC - 21/04/2018

85 boats from RS Aero, RS100, RS200, RS300, RS400, RS Feva and 2000 fleets sprinted this weekend at Rutland SC.  We had sailors from right across the UK from Mounts Bay SC in Cornwall to Port Dinowig SC in North Wales, and sailors of all ages from nine years old upwards.  It was a great RS sailing “family” weekend. 

The full results are below

Peter Fothergill has created a fabulous event photo gallery from which you can purchase prints here

Please note that Fothergill photo will use your email address to grant access to the gallery and not to add you to part of a mailing list to receive lots of spam.

Why not use the special Sprints promotion code RS2018 to enable you to buy 2 items and get one extra item free?

Click on your fleet to go straight to your report:

RS100

RS200

RS300

RS400 - await report

RS Aero

Please mark your diary up for the 2019 Sprints which will be held 6-7 April 2019 at Rutland SC.

Your next big multifleet event is the Rooster RS Summer Championships to be held at the brand new Parkstone YC 23-24 June 2018.  Event entry opening soon…

RS Sprints Reports

RS100s at Rutland – nary a cliché in sight (RS100 Rooster National Tour event number one)

This year’s RS Sprints held at Rutland SC on 21 -22 April were the proverbial game of two halves; the gods smiled down, giving us sun, snakes and ladders on Saturday and some champagne sailing on Sunday.

In the final analysis, although racing in the RS100 fleet is always hotly contested within its dizzying array of talents,ultimately it came down to a battle royal between three: the youthful prodigy Robert, hard trained, superfit, man in his prime (Steve) and the aging, cunning pond-sailor (Clive).  If you subscribe to that sort of thing, there’s also a North-South-Cornish (respectively) frission there too somewhere.

The sprints format adds an extra challenge, with no discard it rewards consistency and not dropping a clanger.  At the end of the day you cannot win at the start, but can certainly lose it there.  The genius innovation of “everybody around the ends” in the case of a general recall also seems to induce good start-line behaviour.

Conditions on Saturday were particularly interesting; with streaks of pressure and the wind varying by as much to 60 degrees, it was not a numbers game.  Boat-speed was not necessarily a benefit either; if you went the wrong way, it would then be a lot further to come back.  You could go from hero to zero in no time at all, always a bitter pill to swallow; so not a day to crack under pressure, but one to bring your A-game.

Sure enough, for Clive Eplett, Christmas came early, it was pondie heaven, although he still managed to let Steve Lee and Robert Richardson mug him at the close of race 3, having led all the way around.  This gave him a score of 2,1,3,1.  The real-deal that is Robert posted a 1,4,2,2 making it tight at the top, with Steve third on 16 points.

But what a difference a day makes.  Sunday morning and the wind was up.  Hope filled the air; would this be a game-changer?  If history is any guide, we would be in for more close racing and a new lease on life for the usual suspects in particular.  Some of them had been giving themselves a good talking to, it transpired, as all that came to pass.

But performance of the day was Robert, who engaged warp drive at times (winning race 8 by a country-mile), scoring a day-winning 20 points.  Why does he keep saying he’s not heavy enough?  Greg Booth bounced back from his nightmare Saturday with 22, including two bullets.  Steve had the same score, Huw Powell chalked-up 24 and Clive 25.  That reversal earned Robert the chocolates (he’s not even old enough for a bottle of wine), was enough for Clive to hold second and Steve to retain third, Huw climbed to fourth,with Greg zooming up the leaderboard to fifth and pipping David Smart on countback.  For Mark Harrison, it just wasn't meant to be.  Stop tittering at the back.

Thanks go to Rutland for again providing a brilliant but difficult-to-run event like clockwork, even calling a halt at just the right time when the wind was fading to zilch on Saturday.

The next RS100 event is POSH (Paignton Open Single-Handers) on 12 and 13 May.  Strongly recommended to all RS100 sailors, we hope to see you there.  Entry is on the club website here.

Early season report card

Robert Richardson

If results were based on aggregating race times, would have won by a landslide after a horizon-job victory in race 8 and second to Clive when both broke away in race 4.  Deserved winner, the worry is that he’s only going to get bigger, stronger and better.

Clive Eplett

Had no excuses on Saturday when conditions, as Frensham Pond-like as you could get on Rutland Water, played into his hands.  Went with his trade-marked get-worse-on-day-2 but found a nice compression zone on the second run in the final two races to get back past Steven overall.

Steven Lee

Used-only-once under-cover for sale.
Famous for turning up with a boat covered in road-filth and then beating everyone, the newly-polished boat and UC, tales of lost weight and even greater fitness were all a bit concerning.  But a couple of un-characteristic mid-fleet results were ultimately damaging this time, even though he won more races (3) than anyone else.  Will rise again.

Huw Powell

Suffered in the light, but a much better Sunday; ultimately, class will out.  Needs to read the instructions for attaching ti-lite blocks to the boom though.

Greg Booth

Horrible scores on Saturday, but pulled his finger out on Sunday with two bullets to pip his daemon Smartie on countback.  But is that really enough Greg?  OK, apparently it is.  Objective observers would suggest needs to improve on light-weather performances.

David Smart

Defied expectations and failed to find an excuse for not turning up.  Which was nice.  No, really.  Showed flashes of inspiration (or was it just luck) with two second places on Sunday, but needs to work on consistency both within races and over the series if he is to beat Greg (nothing else matters between these two).

Mark Harrison

Only highlight of a weekend to forget was leading the fleet off the line on the first race on Sunday.  But we can all do that from a boat length over the line when the gun goes.  Boasts he’s lost lots of weight, then brags of eating 6 choc-bars in a day.  Maybe a second career in fad-diet books?

John Richardson

The wily fox had a good Saturday with 3 results in the top 4.  Needs to look out for 2000s; rolling in to windward avoiding one was entertaining for the rest of us but not necessarily quick.

Joe Scurrah

Got better as his first RS100 event progressed.  Showed signs he can become a proper nuisance in future, with a strong finish to the weekend.

Martin Wilson

Consistently thereabouts with two good results on Saturday and won the Datchet club mates’ bragging honours over Simon.

Simon Geyman

Somehow capsized 4 times on Saturday when it was light but not at all on Sunday.  Mixing it at the front on Sunday when the wind came up, fast upwind, less down the run it seemed.

Mostyn Evans

Needs to focus more on the time function of his watch and less on the calorie-usage counter, then he might not miss the start.  Also needs to get wife Pippa to check he has rigged his kite properly.

Simon Dodds

Would benefit from reading the Sailing Instructions.  Leading for the first lap of the first race, then forgetting the course is never ideal.  We weren’t joshing you Simon when we called out – we really were trying to help and get you to go to the correct next mark!

By Clive Eplett

RS200 Sprints, 21-22 April 2018, Rutland Water SC

RS200 Rooster National Tour Event Number Two

Stanley Laurels

The essentials of risk management are ‘don’t make any mistakes today, don’t make any mistakes tomorrow, repeat’.   With no discards available to spend from the Bank of Stupid (I’m overdrawn), the sprints format meant you can forget all that aspirational stuff about ‘missing 100% of the shots you never take’.  Go fast, stay out of trouble.  Easy, huh?  Trickier when you’ve blancmange brain after several tours around an ‘M’ Shaped course of 7 or 8 marks.

Day one our estimable RO managed 4 races in a dying breeze.  To be honest, it was wheezily asthmatic in the first place, but the sun was out, so amen to all that.  All this meant picking the lift on the beats and getting lower than an armadillo’s armpit downwind.  At the end of day 1, Maria Stanley  and Rob ‘Top Bants Hendo’ Henderson won 3, leading myself and the Killer Shrimp, then Steve and Becky Wilson (trapeze artists formerly associated with RS800s).

Then ensued for many the prospect of actually getting fed in the fleshpots of Edith Weston – with one pub and (probably) one horse.  To be fair, the staff at the sailing club did sterling work.  The barman (think Moe from ‘The Simpsons’  … I like to think he killed a man)  demonstrated his stout snurger, and the lady in the kitchen hid her true, sunny disposition, behind a winsome scowl.  I then managed to find myself locked out of my accommodation, but that’s another tale.

Day two, and the breeze was up to force 3-4 for 6 races.  Steve and Becky won the first, but it was then all Stanley and Henderson, who dominated with 8 wins from 10 for the weekend.  Steve and Becky came in second from myself and Cafferata - for once not putting all our money on the Zero.

Thanks must go to Rutland Sailing Club, their charismatic staff and very efficient race management. Credit is also due to Clare at the RS Class Association for her organisational demonry, and Rooster, for the novel approach of awarding bathroom tiles as prizes.  Just another 1,999 to go to finish my new lav.

By Julian Bradley

RS300 Sprint Championship, Rutland SC 21-22 April 2018

(RS300 Rooster National Tour event number two)

For England’s largest, by surface area, reservoir Rutland Water is a shifty place.  Or at least is was during the RS300 sprint championships which were held over the weekend of 21^st-22^nd April.  Saturday dawned and greeted 9 boats to compete for the 13^th, unlucky for some, Sprint Championships.

The first unlucky sailor was Harry McVicar.  Harry, who is normally fighting for a podium, started his event with no less than 4 DNCs having failed to turn up until the evening meal was well underway in the pub. Normally this sort of commitment to drinking would be commended but unfortunately you don’t get any discards at the sprints, which all but wrote off his chances.

Back to the sailing… Day 1 gave us a pleasant, if a little light, breeze and glorious sunshine.  Those who heeded the advice layered up the sunscreen before heading out for 4 races back to back lasting roughly 25 minutes each, I’m sure these sprint races get longer each year.  After 4 tight races it was Steve Sallis who took the overnight lead having managed to slip away in all but 1 race.  Everyone else had been busy changing places and sat within a couple of points of each other on the leader board.

Boats were quickly changed to bar stools as the evening took hold.  The fleet’s yearly visit to the Wheatsheaf ended by watching a passing Thunderstorm under the warm glow of Paul Watson’s sunburnt arms.

Sunday would be a day where little mistakes would not go unpunished.  Fortunately for some we got them out of the way early.  Non-earlier than Rich Le Mare who actually got his swim out of the way on Saturday. He must have known something the rest of us didn’t…  Luckily for both Watson and Tom Moore (x2) they got their dips out of the way before the racing started.  Which for Watson, at least, woke him up enough to remember how to sail the boat again.  The next unlucky victim was Alastair Wood whose dip in Race 5 allowed a beaming Cheryl Wood to come through in her A rig to take her first scalp at an RS300 event.

Going into the final race of the series Watson had taken advantage of the slightly stronger breeze and put himself marginally ahead of Sallis.  Knowing that he needed a good result in the last race Sallis went off like a train from the starting line, putting a couple of boats between himself and Watson, before the approach to the first mark where a slightly over enthusiastic tack saw his mast hit the water and with it his hopes at this year’s title.  By the bottom of the first run Watson had now retaken the lead and played a safe second beat up the middle,losing out only to Mark Cooper who came in from the left with good speed to take the lead into the last run.  He held to the finish to claim his first race win on the RS300 circuit and became the 6^th of 9 sailors to take a win over the course of the weekend!  How’s that for close racing!  Watson crossed the line a boat length further back in 2^nd, enough to claim this year’s title.

The weekend was finished off with tea, coffee and snacks from the excellent Rutland Galley team and prize giving courtesy of this year’s National Tour sponsors Rooster Sailing.  Our next event is in just under 2 weeks at Bristol Corinthian YC, with prizes that are likely to involve cheese or cider this could be a hotly contested event.  See you there!

By Paul Watson

RS Aero Sprint Championship, Rutland SC 21 April 2018

For the first time in RS Sprint history, the RS Aeros were welcomed to Rutland Water for the inaugural event.  As always, the sun was shining and a light breeze swept across the water.

 With eight boats registered for the event, there was an amendment to the SIs to ask sailors to sail a 7m rig or less to keep it competitive.  Being the 13th Sprints for which the Rutland SC Commodore had been Race Officer, the event got underway quickly with the RS Aeros.   All classes sailed the same course and the format was six races in the day, one lap round the backwards ‘M’ course.

 Steve Stewart from Yorkshire Dales made a quick breakaway in the first race to secure his first win.  The second race was slightly disrupted at the first windward mark when Rutland Belle, the reservoir’s 110 person water cruiser, barged in on the inside line!  Ben Tylecote from Rutland SC had made good progress on the first beat and was well positioned to get ahead of Rutland Belle, whereas the rest of the fleet was turned on its head and all was to play for.  With Ben well ahead and a win secured, the rest of the fleet fought it out for the remaining places.  Race three saw racing resume without external disturbance, and Steve and Emily Watson (Bowmoor SC) pulled ahead to fight it out on the last run for the race win.  Emily snuck ahead just before the last mark and managed to take the win.  With the wind dying, race four began with a slow start.  Most of the fleet stayed left, whereas Emily broke right in search of more wind.  Emily’s gamble paid off and gave her a clean break from the rest of the fleet all the way to the finish.  The rest of the fleet battled it out for the race in what was at times very painfully slow conditions.  Nick Neve from Rutland SC claimed second, Steve in third and Ben in fourth. 

With two bullets Emily pipped Ben to an overall win, but only by one point!  Final results were Emily in first, Ben in second, Steve Stewart took third.

Big thanks to Rutland Sailing Club and RS for adding in the RS Aeros as a late addition, and I’m sure all the competitors will look forward to this becoming a regular fixture in the calendar next year (Sat 6 April 2019 is booked).

By Emily Watson