Gul RS300 Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Gul RS300 Inland Championships 2014 © Ela Miller

Gul RS300 Inland Champion Matt Jenkins © Ela Miller

Gul RS300 Inland Championships 2014 © Ela Miller

The grand finale of the RS300 Grand Prix series and Gul Inland Championships combined to give an eagerly awaited, mouth watering tussle for trophies. The circuit was a straight showdown between Jenkins and Keen with a free for all for the Inlands. With very little prospect of wind on Sunday, the race officer very wisely opted for 4 races on the Saturday in a shifty F2 from the SW.

Bolland arrived just in time for race 1, having completed the destruction of his undercover en-route. Keeping your head out of the boat was going to be key to success with bands of pressure changing sides quicker than a Tory MP. Jenkins got off to a flyer, leading lap 1, before being overhauled by the chasing pack who hooked into some good pressure off the leeward mark. Unperturbed, he decided to tack on Keen at every available opportunity and settle for 4th. Sallis continued his good form from the Nationals with a 2nd and McVicar in 3rd.

Jenkins again got going well in race 2, but this time held on for the win. With Bolland languishing in 6th and Keen in 2nd, the championship and the circuit was wide open. McVicar again sailing extremely consistently in 3rd.

With eyes like a hawk, Ellis hit hard left in race 3 spotting the new breeze from a mile away. He was looking famous for a while until it cruelly headed, leaving him high and dry. Meanwhile, Keen was making the best of a jury rigged rudder and could only manage 7th, leaving Jenkins to get a slightly firmer grip on the circuit trophy and take the win. Perhaps Keens' early confidence in leaving the silverware on his mantelpiece at home was misplaced? Bolland drew on all his experience and luck to storm back to 2nd on the last beat from much further back to keep his championship hopes alive. McVicar again in his customary 3rd. Wood was also having a cracking race before back flipping out of the boat in excitement on the last leg. A broken tiller extension signalled the end of what was otherwise a pretty respectable day.

The final race of the day was a bit odd, but in a good way. It started pretty light with a strongly starboard bias line. Bolland was buried, but quickly cut his losses, escaping to the right in good pressure. Sallis followed to round 1 and 2 around the top mark with Jenkins close behind. Then the fun began! At the start of the 2nd beat the wind went right and suddenly picked up to 15 knots. Jenkins spotted he could lay the windward mark slightly earlier than Sallis allowing him to sneak past. McVicar was also on the ball to get into where else but 3rd. The RS300 was built for power reaching and the windward leeward course had evolved into the perfect autobahn. Le Mare is also built for speed and revelled in the conditions posting his best result of the day (5th). Unfortunately for Keen the rudder lashing gave way in the breeze, forcing a retirement and the end of his circuit challenge.

With no racing as predicted on Sunday, Jenkins took his first ever Inland Championship win at the umpteenth attempt by the smallest of margins on tie-break from Bolland. McVicar had made it very clear all weekend where he thought he should finish and did so by a point from Sallis in 4th. Great event, great turn out and great to see some new faces in the fleet.

So, in a fitting end to a closely contested season, Jenkins managed to wrestle the circuit trophy from triple winner Keen with Bolland in 3rd. Many thanks to Pete Ellis, Steve Bolland and Clare Sargent for all their hard work in making this one of the best attended and most successful circuit for years.

Overall Results:

2014 RS300 Circuit Results: