Results / Gul Sprint Championships Rutland SC - 31/05/2008

The RS 800 fleet arrived at Rutland Water on May 31^st to find the English weather had dealt up its usual summer dose of sunshine and a slight lack of breeze.  After a short postponement the fleet were despatched to the far end of the lake in search of some breeze.

1 race was run around a course that meant the helms were left doing their best to remember which buoy they had to go round next and in which direction, and the crews were left remembering why they should have spent some more time in the gym for all those hoists and drops!  Due to the lack of breeze and the 800 fleet having to negotiate a longer course due to their anticipated extra speed, this turned out to be the only race for the day with victory going to Neil Baker and James Hughes in WH Ireland after a long tussle with Spod Olive and Dan Brown in Harken.

Saturday night provided the usual entertainment as all the RS fleets sampled club and pub food, and then descended on the club bar for Pimms and pints.  Those who chose to camp were awoken by torrential rain on Sunday morning, but this relented to allow the fleet to launch for more short course racing just off the clubhouse.

Definitely the quickest team out of the blocks were Charlie Roome and Steve Hall in PwC, who showed the way with three straight victories in the morning’s first three races.  At this point with two more races promised in a dying breeze, one of 4 teams were still in with a chance of victory, as Phil King and Tom Trueman had consistently remained in the top 4 in every race thus far.

Roome & Hall gybe set from 2^nd round the first two marks into a large hole from which they struggled to recover in race 5, allowing Baker and Hughes to sail away to victory followed by King and Trueman.  Behind these two a shake up in the established order was occurring with Jonathan and Ben Lister snatching a third, ahead of Samuel and Joshua Seddon.

The final race saw King and Trueman finally get out in front up a very light first beat, and they were never to be caught.  Roome & Hall pipped Simon Grundy and Neil Farmer at the line for second, with the other contenders and leaders before the final race, Baker & Hughes, caught up further back.

As the fleet got in, the discussion centred around who had won, and the answer was no one in the fleet knew!  Roome & Hall and Baker & Hughes had won 5 out of the 6 races between them, but in the end in a no discarded event with only points for the top 5 in each race, consistency won the day, with Phil King and Tom Trueman being crowned RS 800 Sprint Champions for 2008.

The fleet now moves on to the regular haunt of Stokes Bay on June 14^th/15^th, and the usual bumper fleet is ready to come out and play once again.

1^st – Phil King & Tom Trueman (961)

2^nd – Charlie Roome & Steve Hall (964) – PwC

3^rd – Neil Baker & James Hughes (1130) – WH Ireland