Gul RS K6 Inlands at Carsington Sailing Club

The RS K6 fleet journeyed the furthest north in its history to Carsington Sailing Club based in a very picturesque Derbyshire. Carsington has 13 of their own K6s at the club, and with light and shift breeze forecast, it was always going to deliver a tight weekend of racing. We were not disappointed.

The fleet woke up to a typical sunny day in beautiful Derbyshire with a steady 8 knots of wind the scene was set. On the race course, it was all about picking the right shifts up wind (it was shifty!) and spotting the puffs coming down the track once the kite was up. David Hitchcock and Ian Nicholson sailing 155 showed how it was done with 2 wins in race 1 and 3. Their form was spoilt by locals Steve Blake and David Lucas sailing 112 who found some very local breeze on the last run in the second race to record a bullet. They weren’t the only local boat enjoying the conditions - Chris Hyde and Martin sailing 200 left the water with a brace of 3rds giving National Champions Ian Robson and Sandy Johnson a good run for their money. David and Ian were sitting pretty at the end of Saturday, but things were decidedly close behind them with just two points separating the next four boats.

Saturday night saw the club host a slap-up dinner with entertainment given by the youngest K6 crew – George, aged 9 – who showed the older generation how a Nintendo wii is really played. By the way, like every other boat at this open meeting, George was sailing two-up, so the jib and kite were his alone! With a late night return via one of the three local ‘Red Lion’ named pubs, it took a while for everyone to actually end up in the same one, but the beer was well worth the wait. Philip Waterfall provided transport home for a few more than the car was designed to carry…most accommodating!

Sunday morning dawned cooler and still very light – Derbyshire was going to be challenging again….

The bullets were more evenly distributed on this second day of racing with David and Ian (155) having to share the front with Chris and Martin (200) and Ian and Sandy (162). Howard Garner and Richard Harvey (194) were consistently in the front pack, clearly preferring the flat water of Carsington to the chop of Hayling at the Nationals. Their consistency paid and they were the first Carsington boat in the final results. Where ever you looked in the fleet, the racing was extremely close – five points separated second and fifth, and just one point separated sixth from eighth.

Great racing, great food, great beer and great scenery. The fleet will be back!

Overall Results: