Gul RS200 Inland Championships at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

Gul RS200 Inlands at Chew Valley Lake © Errol Edwards

Youth Inland Champions were Jamie Baker and Jenny Pearson Farr at the Gul RS200 Inlands at Chew Valley Lake © Errol Edwards

Almost 120 sailors gathered at CVLSC for the 2014 Inlands sponsored by Gul to hear the race officer briefing that he preferred to use individual recalls and would resort sparingly to the black flag. As with all plans it lasted until first contact with the enemy, in this case the RS200 fleet. After 2 recalls and 12 boats sitting race 1 out for 'individual recall' transgressions, we were off.

As last year the wind was strong, gusty and straight down the lake, perfect for nautical snakes and ladders. Taking the most ladders of the day were the Rusdens who led overnight followed by Ed Whitehead/Alice Kingsnorth and Andrew and Jill Peters. Despite this being also the 2014 RS200 youth championships the majority of the first three were let's say, experienced! Lurking in the background were a couple of fast names who were over-eager in race 1; namely defending champions Matt Mee and Emma Norris, so confident of repeating their 2013 performance they had left the trophy at home....they would need an exemplary Sunday to add to their BFD,4,1 Saturday to save some embarrassment.

Saturday night combined an AGM where several important matters were discussed relating to the development of sails and the boat – RS members watch out for voting forms coming your way and see the communications giving full details on the website. A hugely successful cider tasting evening in Cheddar followed. Some enjoyed the cider more than others with several notable 'mojos' being forgotten in the Black Dog Saloon.

Sunday dawned similar to Saturday but with the welcome addition of blue sky. The race officer set a leg busting 4 lap course for the first two races relenting a little for the 3rd with 3 laps. Strong and gusty winds tested everyone. Potential stars of the day Ali Martin and Simon Potts had a quick swim in race 4 to wake them up but followed that up with a 1 and 2, however they were outshone by Matt and Emma who banged in a 1,1,2 scoreline to discard their BFD and retain the trophy.

The Rusdens had a less stellar day but hung onto a comfortable 2nd overall and the Peters maintained a clear third with a consistent 3,4,6 performance. Overnight 2nd place was last seen heading back to Cheddar to find his Mojo..

However RS sailing isn't just about the first three. Silver and Bronze fleets ensure there are prizes to play for throughout the fleet. Clear winners of Silver in 7th place overall were RNSA sailors Sam Thompson and Leanne Hibberd, surely a golden future beckons for these two. Bronze was won by Andy Hadfield and Max Carey from Parkstone in 17th.

This year the Gul RS200 Youth Championship was part of the Inlands. Racing amongst the youths was incredibly tight with a high level of skill on display. The top three youths were separated by only 4 places overall. Winners of the 2014 Youth Championship were Jamie Baker and Jenny Pearson Farr from Wessex SC by 2 places overall from Jack Holden and Alex Lee from Arun.

Many thanks to CVLSC for once again being excellent hosts with a cheap bar, good food and an excellent on the water team. Despite a number of RS sailors keeping rescue teams interested they found time to take a huge number of photos and short videos which can be found on CVLSC's Flickr photo stream: www.flickr.com/photos/cvlsc.

A number of the fleet were equipped with GPS tracking devices. If you want to spot when you should have tacked but didn't, check out www.chewvalleysailing.org.uk/tracktracker

Next stop, the End of Season Championship and RS 20th Anniversary Ball - 8th November

Commodore Mike Thompson with Matt Mee and Emma Norris, winners of the Gul RS200 Inlands at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards

Overall Results:

Gul RS200 Inlands at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards