Hunter Formula One Nationals at Rutland Sailing Club
by Bruce Bonar 23 Jun 2008 23:37 BST
20-22 June 2008
Racing in the Hunter Formula One nationals at Rutland © Bruce Bonar
A fleet of 17 boats took part in the event with 7 visiting boats from Ireland, Windermere and the South Coast. They joined 10 home boats from the strong Formula 1 fleet at Rutland Sailing Club.
The first day had 10-12 knots of wind with the majority of the fleet using their small genoas. Whiskey Mac from Parkstone Yacht Club won race 1 and Tearaway from Rutland Sailing Club won race 2. As is normal in the Formula 1 fleet there was very close racing throughout the whole fleet with positions changing regularly throughout the fleet.
Day 2 saw lighter conditions with more variable wind directions and these conditions allowed War Department from the Lake District Boat Club to show their superior speed to post 3 straight wins from the 3 races sailed. Rutland boats Tearaway & Kingfisher were very close behind and Jibberish from Courtown Sailing Club in Ireland gained a 3rd place in race 5.
On Sunday morning the predicated strong winds arrived and with gusts in excess of 40 knots racing was abandoned.
Defending Formula 1 National Champion Paul Harkness (War Department) from the Lake District Boat Club was declared the winner for the fourth year in a row with Bruce Bonar (Tearaway) from Rutland Sailing Club in 2nd place and Chris Wright (Kingfisher) from Rutland SC in 3rd place.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Nett |
|---|
| 1st | War Dept | 8052 | Paul Harkness | Laura & Kevin | Lake District BC | 2 | -3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | Tearaway | 8018 | Bruce Bonar | Andrew, Ben & Chris | Rutland SC | 3 | 1 | -5 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 3rd | Kingfisher | 8030 | Chris Wright | Josh, Olly & Nick | Rutland SC | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | (18 OCS) | 13 |
| 4th | Jou Jou | 805 | Dermot O'Morchoe | Pat, Elaine & Ian | Courtown SC | 4 | 7 | 2 | 5 | -8 | 18 |
| 5th | Jiberish | 8001 | Michael Jones | Robert, Michael & Owen | Courtown SC | -8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
| 6th | Tenacious | 8050 | Paul Bancroft | Mary & Chris | Rutland SC | 7 | 4 | 4 | -10 | 6 | 21 |
| 7th | Apocalypse | 7283 | Nick Bett | Linda & Declan | Rutland SC | -9 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 25 |
| 8th | Whiskey Mac | 8060 | Steve Pirnie | Darren, Chris & Mike | Parkstone YC | 1 | 9 | 14 | 8 | (18 OCS) | 32 |
| 9th | Contraction | 8049 | Fergus Roper | Paul & Tim | Royal Lymington | 13 | (18 DNF) | 8 | 7 | 5 | 33 |
| 10th | Jni Mac | 8020 | Bob Sherriff | Tom, Peter & Michael | Courtown SC | 6 | 11 | 13 | 6 | (18 OCS) | 36 |
| 11th | Spritzer | 8037 | Nick Clarke | Guy, Craig & Tim | Rutland SC | 10 | 8 | 9 | -15 | 10 | 37 |
| 12th | Bitz | 8002 | Jonathan Sutton | Susan, Mark & Elaine | Courtown SC | 11 | -13 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 41 |
| 13th | Premier Cru | 8036 | Mike Harte | Mark & Jan | Rutland SC | -12 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 43 |
| 14th | Caveat | 8017 | Nigel Pask | Ros, Nigel/Graham | Rutland SC | -16 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 48 |
| 15th | Fracas | 8042 | John Ball | Mark & Marie | Rutland SC | 14 | 14 | -15 | 14 | 9 | 51 |
| 16th | Zigi | 8012 | Mike Flint | Mark & John | Rutland SC | 15 | 15 | -16 | 16 | 13 | 59 |
| 17th | Inconceivable | 8063 | Martin Gordon Kerr | Andrea & Dan | Rutland SC | -17 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 64 |