Hurricane 5.9 SX Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Hurricane 5.9 SX Inlands at Rutland © Jodie Bawden / JNB Images

The fourth Hurricane Inland Championships was held at Rutland Sailing club over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of May. This event is always popular with Hurricane sailors and this year was no exception with a total of 15 boats, some of which had travelled from as far afield as Starcross, Thorpe bay, Ullswater, Bala and Runswick bay. This event forms part of the Catamaran open at Rutland which saw a total of 68 boats.

Saturday saw a steady force 4 with regular gusts of 6 along with a variety of direction changes making course laying challenging. The day was dominated by Julian Reichert and Jeremy Sandford from Thorpe Bay taking three bullets.

Hurricane 5.9 SX Inlands at Rutland - photo © Jodie Bawden / JNB Images

Fleet personality and previous winner John Ready, sailing with a new crew Tom Crossley, let his enthusiasm get the better of him and capsized in the first race. John decided to bow out gracefully for the remaining races of the day. The remaining places where fought out between John Tuckwell and James Stacey taking a 2,7,2, new comers to the fleet Charlie Chandler and Rick Boyce posting 3,7,5, Ben Cutler Sharp and Kez Wiltshire making the transition from Dart 18 posting 4,3,3.

Further down the fleet it was pleasing to see the number of mixed crews competing in the class, which has always been viewed as a heavy weight boat, with special mention going to Doug Smith sailing with his 14 year old daughter Isobel. The one hour wait between race 1 and race 2 was not welcomed, but given the conditions was understandable. Ashore the class beer provided by John Tuckwell and GJW Direct was welcome and upholds a long standing tradition.

Hurricane 5.9 SX Inlands at Rutland - photo © Jodie Bawden / JNB Images

Sunday dawned and the wind had eased slightly. The course was set laid up one of the Rutland 'fingers' which made for even more shifty conditions. John Ready, back from a period of reflection of his own performance, posted a 1st with Chandler / Boyce 2nd and Doug Smith and Isobel 3rd.

The Race Officer moved the course again to keep up with the wind which had also moved. This time racing was more towards the centre of the lake. Reichert / Sandford were back to winning ways from Chandler / Boyce and Ready / Crossley.

In the last race all was still to play for. Tuckwell / Stacy took the early lead but lost it on the last run to Chandler / Boyce with Wood / Heys taking third and Reichert / Sandford taking 5th which was their discard.

Hurricane 5.9 SX Inlands at Rutland - photo © Jodie Bawden / JNB Images

Overall Julian Reichert and Jeremy Sandford took the well deserved win with 8 points from Charlie Chandler / Rick Boyce who took second with 13 points and John Tuckwell / James Stacey were 3rd with 14 points. This was a tough event with changeable conditions which challenged all the crews involved. Everyone left the venue with a smile on their face. This is the first event in the Hurricane calendar with Thorpe Bay on the 10th and 11th June, Clacton on the 15th and 16th July and the National Championship at Pagham from the 17th to the 20th August. The Hurricane class is going through a bit of a resurgence with only a few good second hand boats being available and a number of new crews, not just at club level but willing to support the open meetings as well. Is this going to be a great year for the Hurricanes?

Overall Results: