RS Tera Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Emily Davis 22 Jun 2016 11:28 BST
18-19 June 2016
A cool but dry Grafham Water Sailing Club greeted the Tera Class sailors as they arrived at a very civilised hour, with racing due to get underway at 1300. After a short briefing from the race officer who was keen to get as many races in as possible due to a failing forecast for Sunday, eager sailors launched and enjoyed a fair wind of between 10 and 16 knots.
Race one saw Josh Davies (RHS) take the win with Oliver Kent (Yorkshire Dales/Ripon SC) in second and Roscoe Martin of Ogston SC third in the Pro fleet.
Roscoe pushed his way into first for the second race, leading Harrison Pye of Draycote and Jamie Rastrick (Yorkshire Dales)in third. Matt Taylor came to the fore in race three, with Roscoe and Jamie close behind. Race 4 was to become the last of the day due to a failing wind, adding a new dimension to the tactics of the sailors but that did not prevent Roscoe from taking the win again, Matt Taylor in second and Jack Lewis (Draycote) putting his name on the board in third.
In the Sports a hotly contested first race ended with Fergus Pye (draycote) winning, Angus Kilpatrick of HISC in second and Phoebe Peters (also HISC)third. The Frensham Trio of Jake Thompson, Ralph Nevile and Luke Anstey showed off their shift spotting abilities coming 1,2,3 respectively in race 2 whilst Race 3 had the 3 fresh faces of Dylan McPherson (Burnham) with a convincing lead, Ewan Wilson (Wormit) and Jack Oakley (RHS) on the podium. Race 4 was dominated once more by Frensham with Ralph taking the win, Jake second and Dylan of Burnham in third.
Day 2 arrived (very early for some!) with sunshine and little wind but a promising forecast of 12knts. With a later start than normal, by the time it came to launch the wind had filled in nicely to prove that sometimes the forecasters get it right.
Race 5 in the Pros saw Ben Batchelor (IOMYC)take the win from Ossian Bracegirdle (HISC) and Roscoe keeping his hand in in third. Jack Lewis held Matt Taylor at bay for race 6, Ben Batchelor taking third place. Jack pulled out all the stops to win Race 7 with Roscoe nipping at his heels and Tim Hire (royal Lymington) enjoying third. It would prove to be Jack's afternoon as he won the final race of the regatta but Roscoe's tenacity holding onto second won him the championship overall. William Carron (AWSC) took third place.
Race 5 for the Sports saw the Frensham crowd once more dominating, Luke taking first from Ralph and Ewan Wilson giving them a run for their money in third. Robbie McDonald (HISC) made his mark winning race 6, Fergus appearing again to take second place and the ever present Ralph in third. All change for race 7 with Ewan getting his first win of the regatta, narrowly beating Fergus into second and Jack Oakley in third. The last race after a big wind shift saw Dylan once more convincingly in the top spot followed by Robbie and Alec Cope(IOMYC). Ralph's consistency however won him the championship.
All in all a fantastic weekend of racing at a great venue. All thanks to the race officer and safety teams, and our sponsors Magic Marine for great prizes.