Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club

by Luke McEwen 11 Nov 2021 05:54 GMT 6-7 November 2021

It's not often that you get to race an RS800 in 30 knot gusts, so we should probably consider ourselves lucky to have had the opportunity twice in consecutive events.

The forecast of 22-30 knots each day probably put a few people off going to Rutland for the Harken RS End of Seasons event, including class chairman Dan Goodman (who therefore missed his own surprise 50th birthday party - oops). But for those who made it, the wind gods delivered on the forecasters' promise which made for an exciting weekend of sailing and swimming.

Somehow, despite being Britain's largest man-made lake (allegedly), Rutland is surprisingly narrow. Particularly on Sunday when racing in a Westerly wind up the Southern leg of the lake felt like being on an America's Cup course, with boundaries forcing several tacks and gybes on every leg.

Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire - Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The fleet was rather starkly divided into those who'd had a good bit of breezy practice through the Nationals and then the Inlands, and a few brave / innocent new faces who were trying out RS800 racing (or even trapezing) for the first time. Regardless of prior experience we all had fun, all capsized and as far as we know, no RS800s or their sailors were harmed in the making of this event, thanks in no small part to the race team's wise decision not to run a third race on Saturday. On Saturday night the whole RS800 fleet had a very convivial evening in the bar, re-living the joys of choosing which pair of inverted RS400s to gybe between.

National champions Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore once again showed us how windy weather skiff sailing should be done, leading at every mark rounding of every race bar one. For the first time in their RS800 sailing careers they were eligible for the traditional Endeavour prize for the last placed boat to finish all the races, despite also winning them all. Their other claim to fame for the weekend was leading the way after the first race on Saturday to what became known as "Serenity Bay", a small patch of apparently flat calm water in the lee of the clump of trees on Rutland's big headland.

Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

More and more boats were tempted to join them, drawn like moths to a flame as we saw G&T drifting about in sunshine and no wind, while the rest of the lake was a maelstrom of whitecaps and upturned hulls. Only when we got to the bay did we discover that vertical tornado gusts of monumental intensity would indiscriminately flatten three or four boats at a time while leaving others only a boat-length away unscathed, their crews laughing at the fate of their neighbours before they too got nailed.

When the racing resumed it became apparent that Hugh Shone and Fiona Hampshire were by a good margin the best of the rest of us, counting straight second places through the weekend and demonstrating a remarkable ability to stay dry while all around were upside down - helped by their prudence in keeping the kite in the bag when the gusts had wiped out everyone behind.

Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The finishing order behind them largely depended on how many races each team managed to complete: Luke and Emma McEwen (four finishes), Cameron and Darrol Moss (two finishes) and Fred Lord and Louise Gale (one finish). Thank you very much to Rutland SC for running such great racing. Thank you to Harken for sponsoring the event. We look forward to returning to battle it out again at the 2022 RS800 End of Seasons Regatta 5-6 Nov 2022.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	1144	Tom Morris	Guy Fillmore	HISC	‑1	1	1	1	1	4
2nd	1231	Hugh Shone	Fiona Hampshire	Swanage SC	2	2	2	2	(DNC)	8
3rd	1220	Luke McEwen	Emma McEwen	Royal Lymington YC	3	(DNC)	3	3	2	11
4th	1232	Cameron Moss	Darrol Moss	Lyme Regis SC	4	3	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	25
5th	1224	Fred Lord	Louise Gale	Carsington SC	5	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	32
6th	1188	Debbie Clark	Daniel Goodman	QMSC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	36
6th	1014	Bryn Abendstern	Sam McKay	Rutland SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	36
6th	1122	Robert Loverage	Dominick Burke	Grafham Water SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	36

The End of Seasons was, of course, the final event in the Rooster National Tour for all RS classes present with the top placed sailors taking home Rooster vouchers (thank you Rooster). Our wonderful RS Class Association Secretary Clare Sargent broke her own impressive record in giving out about fifty thousand prizes in half an hour or so.

For the RS800s this event was the decider for the overall series winner: Tom and Guy equalled Luke and Emma's event tally of 1,1,2 to count, so won the tie break as winners of the last event. Congratulations to Tom and Guy for such an impressive end to the 2021 season, and to all the RS800 sailors who made it onto the water this weekend. We had 32 boats and 71 sailors on this year's tour. Let's try to get even more in 2022!

Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Rooster RS800 National Tour Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Stokes Bay	Torbay	Lymington	Grafham	Rutland	Pts
1	1144	Thomas Morris	Guy Fillmore	HISC	5	2	33	1	1	4
2	1220	Luke McEwen	Emma McEwen	Royal Lymington YC	1	1	2	2	3	4
3	1231	Hugh Shone	Fiona Hampshire / Becky Diamond	Swanage SC	4	9	1	33	2	7
4	1122	Tom Bucktrout / Robert Loverage	Dom Burke	GWSC	33	33	3	5	6	14
5	1232	Cameron Moss	Darrol Moss	Lyme Regis SC	8	12	33	3	4	15
6	1224	Fred Lord	Louise Gale	Carsington SC	9	33	4	33	5	18
7	846	Joshua Poat	Robbie Cherry / Hattie Field	Chew Valley Lake SC	33	13	8	13	33	34
8	1215 / 1058	Joseph Bradley	Ben Bradley / Henry Jameson	HISC	3	7	33	33	33	43
9	1129	Leo Wilkinson / Sam Jones	Sam Jones / Richie Thurlby	Maidenhead SC	6	33	5	33	33	44
10	1166	Ralph Singleton	Mike Chapman / James Wilkinson	Restronguet SC	33	10	33	6	33	49
11	1203	Grace Fell	Tim Gratton	Beadnell SC	33	8	33	10	33	51
12	1222	Paul Jenkins	Peter Jenkins	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	2	33	33	33	33	68
13	1124	Robert Gullan	Tristan Jaques	HISC	33	3	33	33	33	69
14	825	James Curtis	Tom Walker	Grafham Water Sailing Club	33	33	33	4	33	70
15	1207	Phil Walker	John Mather	HISC	33	4	33	33	33	70
16	1221	Nick Redding	James Grummett	Oxford SC	33	5	33	33	33	71
17	1057	Mark Oakey	Jamie Pidduck	HISC	33	33	6	33	33	72
18	1157	Chris Catt	Chris Martin	Netley SC	33	6	33	33	33	72
19	1014	Bryn Abendstern	Sam McKay	Rutland SC	33	33	33	33	6	72
20	1188	Debbie Clark	Daniel Goodman	QMSC	33	33	33	33	6	72
21	814	Ellie Cumpsty	Connor Banks	Stokes Bay SC	7	33	33	33	33	73
22	913	Adrian Howe	Fenella Williams	Oxford SC	33	33	7	33	33	73
23	1204	Martin Orton	Ian Brooks	Chichester YC	33	33	33	7	33	73
24	820	Bryan Ormond	Anna Prescott	Queen Mary SC	33	33	33	8	33	74
25	985	Stuart Keegan	Sophie Johnston	Derwent Reservoir SC	33	33	33	8	33	74
26	954	Paul Molesworth	Caroline Harris	Weymouth and Portland	33	33	9	33	33	75
27	919	Luke Burywood	Rob Baddeley	Stokes Bay SC	10	33	33	33	33	76
28	968	Chris Haslam	Cliff Haslam	Stokes Bay SC	10	33	33	33	33	76
29	1065	Robert Dunn	Marina Dunn	Grafham Water Sailing Club	33	33	33	11	33	77
30	1126	George Smith	Alice Crick	Bough Beech SC	33	11	33	33	33	77
31	1247	Paul Molesworth	Caroline Harris	Stokes Bay SC	33	33	33	12	33	78
32	1008	Ben Palmer	Bruna de Queiroz	Hayling Island SC	33	33	33	14	33	80