Four Olympic and one Paralympic class made the trip to Rutland Sailing Club over the weekend of the 1-2 November for the penultimate round of the Holt RYA National Ranking Series. Two of these classes, the Europe and Finn, were also using the event as their Inland Championship.

With a pleasant 7-15 knots of wind on the Saturday and a forecast of gales for the Sunday the race committee made the decision to sail four races on the first day. Fortunately the gales blew through during the night and on Sunday competitors managed to complete the series.

Fourteen boats competed in the Finn class and Matt Howard from Lee on Solent Sailing Club won the weekend and the inland championship with a race to spare. While he reached the dock early, the battle was on for the remaining podium places. A first place in the final race for Ed Greig from Hayling Island Sailing Club saw him take second place from Mark Andrews of Largs Sailing Club.

Chris Gill from Portishead dominated the first day in the Europe class winning three out of four races. A third and fourth on the final day was enough to see him win the weekend and be crowned Europe inland champion. Two first places on the Sunday for Frensham Pond SC’s Andrea Brewster saw her finish in second place in front of Lizzie Vickers from Hayling Island Sailing Club.

Despite a relatively small turn out in the 470 class the sailors still enjoyed close racing and after six races it was Nick Asher and Elliot Willis from Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club who won the weekend by two points from John Pink and John Gimson from Hill Head Sailing Club.

Two points separated the top three places in the Mistral fleet and only one person managed to win more than one race. This accolade went to Peter Bird from Largs Sailing Club, but the inconsistency he suffered saw him finish in fifth place overall. In the end it was Leo McCallin who took the top spot by one point from Adam Pepelasis, with Doug Etheridge from Bray Watersports finishing third.

A combination of able and disabled bodied sailors competed in the 2.4mR class and the blustery conditions on Sunday tested all of the sailors. In the end it was local sailor Allan Smith, who recently finished twelfth at the International Federation for Disabled Sailing World Championships, who won the class. Despite having to manually pump out his boat by hand in the final race he managed a second place in the race, which was enough to see him win the weekend from Peter Cook. Megan Pascoe from Weir Wood Sailing Club finished third.

The sailors will now go on to race the final round of the Holt RYA National Ranking Series over the weekend of the 15-16 November. The event takes place at Warsash Sailing Club and will see racing in the Tornado, Yngling, Europe, 470, Finn and 49er classes.

Overall Results

470

1, Nick Asher/Elliot Willis, WOBYC, (1,1,(3)2,1,2) 7 pts 2, John Pink/John Gimson, Hill Head SC, ((3),3,2,1,2,1) 9 pts 3, Neil Marsden/Graham Neilson, Blackpool, (2,2,1,3,(4),3) 11 pts

Finn

1, Matt Howard, Lee on Solent SC, (1,1,1,2,1,(14)) 6 pts 2, Ed Greig, HISC, ((6),2,2,1,2,1) 8 pts 3, Mark Andrews, Largs SC, (2,4,3,(7),3,5) 17 pts

Europe

1, Chris Gill, Portishead, (1,1,1,3,3,(4)) 9 pts 2, Andrea Brewster, Frensham Pond, ((4),4,3,1,1,3) 11.9 pts 3, Lizzie Vickers, HISC, (3,(5),2,2,4,1) 12 pts

2.4mR

1, Allan Smith, Rutland SC, (1,1,2,(4),2,2) 8 pts 2, Peter Cook, RYA, (2,3,5,1,1,(13)) 12 pts 3, Megan Pacoe, Weir Wood SC, ((5),4,1,3,5,1) 14 pts

Mistral

1, Leo McCallin (2,5,2,(6),2,1) 12 pts 2, Adam Pepelasis (3,(6),4,2,1,3) 13 pts 3, Doug Etheridge, Bray Watersports, (4,4,1,(5),3,2) 14 pts