Noble Marine Laser Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Sponsored by Noble Marine

An excellent fleet of 44 Laser Standards arrived at Rutland Water for the 2014 Inland Championships over the weekend of 25–26 October. They were greeted by perfect conditions and a forecast which indicated that the breeze would be there all weekend and probably increase over the two days. There was a good mix in the fleet with everyone from those trying the event for the first time right through to Olympic campaigners.

Race 1 set the scene for some epic battles. Early front runner was defending champion Jack Wetherell with younger brother Henry leading the chasing pack. These two pulled away and on the last run Henry got his nose in front and claimed inside berth at the last leeward mark. They were neck and neck down the high-speed reach to the finish, but Jack managed to take the gun by less than half a boat length. Behind, the racing was just as intense with Harry Blowers claiming 3rd at the finish with James Skulczuk 4th.

Races 2 and 3 followed a similar pattern at the front with Jack taking two, slightly more comfortable, wins with Henry 2nd in both. Anthony Parke recovered from a disastarous 21st in Race 1 to post an excellent 3rd in Race 2 with Freddie Chiddicks in 4th and Alistair Goodwin 5th. James Skulczuk took 3rd in Race 3 with Kieran Hill 4th. By the end of the day the wind had exceeded the forecast and was really blowing. It was a tough test but very good racing.

Sunday morning brought more of the same, so everybody was pleased that the change of the clocks had given them an extra hour in bed! Race 4 had Henry Wetherell with a comfortable lead at the first mark with James Skulczuk 2nd and Jack Wetherell only 3rd. The pace was relentless with Jack very gradually reeling in the deficit. At the start of the last run it was down to a couple of boat lengths but by the finish the positions were reversed and Jack had win number four. Behind, James took a very comfortable 3rd with Kieran Hill again 4th. Matt Stephens made his presence felt coming home 5th after an average day one.

Race 5 saw the first two dominate again, but with James Skulczuk, Matt Stephens and Sam Whaley putting in a string of consistent results to take control of the lesser places. With the first two places settled overall, the Wetherells did the start and first beat of Race 6 and then carried on to the comfort of the clubhouse. Back on the race course, Quentin Bes-Green finally got his act together to take the win from Oliver Groves, with Matt Stephens 3rd, Sam Whaley 4th and Harry Blowers 5th.

The final results sheet might look a little one sided, but there was some epic racing between the first two and behind them the competition was intense. A fourth title for Jack Wetherell with Henry pushing him all the way in second. James Skulczuk handled the testing conditions beautifully to take a well-deserved 3rd overall – comfortably ahead of the rest. Matt Stephens and Sam Whaley both improved throughout the series to take 4th and 5th overall to just edge out Kieran Hill who could not quite hang on in the last two races.

Another great Inlands was raced in superb conditions with an excellent race team. There was a big contribution from the safety crews because, with the Radial and 4.7 Inlands being on the same course, there was plenty to keep them busy.

Overall Results: (top ten)

1 Jack Wetherell, 5pts
2 Henry Wetherell, 10pts
3 James Skulczuk, 21pts
4 Matthew Stephens, 29pts
5 Sam Whaley, 30pts
6 Kieran Hill, 31pts
7 Harry Blowers, 35pts
8 Oliver Groves, 37pts
9 Freddie Chiddicks, 46pts
10 Tom Scott, 48pts