Hunter Formula One National Championship at Rutland Sailing Club
by Hugh Neill 15 Jun 2015 13:17 BST
12-14 June 2014
Nick Hollis, Mark Felton, David Borrett and Chris Wright win the Hunter Formula One National Championships 2015 © Hugh Neill
This year saw the 23th consecutive running of the F1 Nationals, again being held at Rutland Sailing Club, on Rutland Water. Over the 3 days the fleet encountered a mixture of weather from warm Mediterranean on Friday to light shifty winds on Sunday with a day of rain thrown in on Saturday.
The fleet enjoyed close racing throughout the event, with several boats performing well in many of the races. A previous champion ship winning boat Evolution had a slow start due to engine trouble, not on board, but a missed flight saw half her crew returning from honeymoon several hours late and miss the first race.
Grower started well recording 2nd in Race 1 but they could not find the consistency required for a podium finish. Fingers Crossed being sailed for the first time by members of the Rutland SC laser fleet slowly discovered how to handle more than 1 sail and by the end of the event had scored 2 firsts, they finally finished in a well-deserved 3rd place.
Evolution rose up the ranks when fully crewed but eventually had to settle for 2nd Place. Kingfisher last year's champion showed her pedigree with three 1st places on day one & one 1st & 2 seconds on day two, they finished 1st overall and Chris Wight retained the F1 Trophy for another year.
The event was run alongside the 50th anniversary Soling National Championships, the fleets sailing the same course.
Overall Results:
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| Pos | Boat Names | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Kingfisher | 8030 | Chris Wright | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ‑4 | 2 | 10 |
| 2nd | Evolution | 8045 | Josh Wilce | ‑8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 3rd | Fingers Crossed | 8015 | John Williams | 4 | 4 | ‑7 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 25 |
| 4th | Growler | 8056 | Nick Verdino | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | ‑6 | 5 | 3 | 25 |
| 5th | Apocalypse | 7283 | Nick Bett | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ‑6 | 6 | 26 |
| 6th | Umzingeli | 8048 | Ralph Mason | 5 | 6 | (DNF) | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 37 |
| 7th | Premier Cru | 8036 | Richard Lindley | 6 | ‑7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 42 |
| 8th | Whiskey Mac | 8060 | Hugh Neill | 7 | ‑8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 53 |