2000 Crewsaver Millennium Series Round 7 at Rutland Sailing Club

2000 Class Millennium Series © Andrew Phillips

The last event of the 2014 Crewsaver Millennium Series was held at Rutland Sailing Club over the weekend of 11th & 12th October, and was part of the Laser Multi-class event. There were 8 visiting boats from as far away as Bough Beech, Cardiff and Snettisham Beach, and along with 5 local boats from Rutland met up on what was an overcast day, but with a nice 14 knot breeze over the race area, with occasional gusts of 18 knots passing through.

Race 1 had a clean start which saw Fergus Barnham & Katie Burridge flying out of the starting blocks and setting the pace up the first beat, along with the local boat of Steve Tylecote & Andy McKee. During the first downwind leg Jasper & Laura Barnham found some speed to get back up with the early pace setters and started to make a 3 way battle at the front on the fleet. Meanwhile places 4 to 6 were being swapped and changed between Helen & Andrew Phillips, and the local boats of Andy Dring & Simon Laken and Henry and Simon Morley. During the second and final lap, Jasper managed to pull ahead of Steve Tylecote and Fergus to take the race, whilst back in the next little battle, the Phillips' took the left hand side of the run to overtake both of the local boats which had gone right, enabling them to come out in 4th place at the finish.

Out of the 13 boats that started on Saturday, 3 were being crewed in some challenging conditions by young lads, one of which, Sam Byrd, was only 7 years old.

Race 2 and 3 were extend to 3 lap races and were run with similar battles evolving between the same groups of boats throughout the fleet. By race 2, Steve Tylecote & Andy McKee had found their rhythm in the boat, and started to show the two Barnham boats who was boss this weekend in leading them around the course, with Fergus in turn showing a clean pair of heels to his father towards the finish line in each race as well!

After a hard days racing, it was time for an evening meal at the Club, followed by the quiz compered by local 2000 sailor, Simon Morley.

Sunday morning was a gloriously sunny morning, with clear blue skies and a somewhat healthy breeze rustling in the trees overhead. The forecast was for the average wind speed to start off where yesterdays gusts had finished, and to pick up towards the early / mid 20s by lunch time, with gusts forecast to touch 30+ on times.

By 10am, 10 boats were down by the shore ready to go, trying to convince themselves that as it's sunny, and the sky is blue, then it can't be that windy, can it? The race officer announced that the wind on the race course was 13 knots gusting 17, although some waiting anxiously in the changing rooms thought they heard "30 knots gusting 70"

The answer came a short time later. The two Barnham boats went out for some early practice and soon found spinnakers bulging and white water splashing up as they got out of the shaded launching area. Now it's unclear what was intended, but Jasper & Laura soon found themselves practising their capsize recovery procedure come their second gybe of the morning!

Out of the 10 boats that set sail, nine started the first race of the morning, among them being 7 year Sam Byrd. What a brave boy! In what started off as a good breeze, it did not take long for most boats to go into a survival mode as the wind started to pick up. Steve and Andy continued to lead the Barnhams around the first lap, but not by much as competition was still strong despite the wind strength. During the first beat, two boats decided enough was enough and headed for home, whilst the rest went haring off downwind using the trusted windy strategy of go for speed and bang the corner. Having completed their one gybe per leg, each boat then caught the next gust downwind, it was hang on, hang out and go - you know the sort of conditions where only the centre board and transom are in the water! During the next beat, both Fergus & Katie and Helen & Andrew got caught by a huge gust causing both to capsize on the jib alone. (Un-cleating the jib is nigh on impossible as the boat suddenly goes over on its side). Fergus & Katie bravely rejoined the race in 5th place, whilst Helen & Andrew decided they wanted to go home without a broken boat and any broken bones. That then left Steve and Jasper to carry on, allowing Andy Dring and Henry Morley to move up two places each to 3 and 4. However, their luck was to improve, as Jasper & Laura were required to use the capsize recovery drill they had practised earlier following a windy gybe on the last downwind leg. This ultimately dropped Jasper down to 5th as Andy and Henry went past, followed soon after by Fergus, yet again!

The race officer then sent all the boats back ashore, with an indefinite postponement, although virtually everybody had decided enough was enough, and headed for their undercovers instead.

Presentations were made for the event with Steve Tylecote & Andy McKee taking the honours with Jasper & Laura taking second and Fergus & Katie third.

Following James' quick calculations after this events results, the Crewsaver Millennium Series Winners were Rob & Katie Burridge, with Fergus Barnham and his assorted crews second and Chris & Gill Jordan third. The endeavour award went to Guy and Julie Boswell.

In Rob's absence, Katie used her years of listening to Rob's thank you speeches, to say thank you on behalf of Rob and herself.

Overall Results:

2014 Crewsaver Millennium Series Results: