RS300 Open at Milton Keynes Sailing Club

Race conditions for the first event of the RS300 open, held at Milton Keynes Sailing Club, hovered between light and non-existent! However there were ten entries over the start line in race 1.

Heading, apparently upwind, Tim Keen took the starboard side of the course, John Carron taking the port side, and Paul Keeling leading the rest of the fleet up the middle it was a close call at the first buoy. The fleet was then split into two with a large wind hole allow the leaders two keep ahead of the rear sailors who were stuck going nowhere fast! In the end Paul Keeling, of Blithfield SC, managed to stay ahead of John Carron, MKSC and Harry McVicar, Aldenham, for the final results of race 1.

It was deemed too still to consider another race that day – and so an early start was set for the Sunday morning. At this point, the sailor cut their losses, and special thanks must go out to Jeff Marcz for his excellent hospitality, hosting the evening festivities with an excellent BBQ hosted involving fine food, music and a fiercely contested ‘boules’ championship.

Sunday dawned and whilst the fleet was fully expecting a total write off there appeared to be slightly more breeze, and the race committee’s eagerness to make a start took a few competitors by surprise!

No sooner had the starting sequence for the first race commenced and the intensity of competition was clear. Not wanting to let young McVicar think he was past it, the old master John Carron showed his form with a text book roll tack and promptly capsized with 4 minutes to the gun.

At the first mark McVicar, Keen and Carron got through clear. The rest of the fleet were not so lucky and a 300 raft ensued as the wind decided on its next move. As 5 boats continued in vain to beat round each other the top mark Jeff Marcz approached bow down on a square run looking like he would pass the fleet. This form continued for much of the race but with his local knowledge Carron managed to pull out a convincing lead from the rest of the fleet. The race finished with Carron 1st and McVicar and Keen 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Race 2 started right away and with such a significant starboard bias it was a mystery how Carron managed to find a gap and get off to a roasting start. 10 minutes later the fleet steamed in to the first mark with a clear battle forming between Carron, Keen and McVicar. Keeling made a good comeback taking Keen and the race ended with McVicar first then Caron and Keeling.

The final race started in falling wind with another clear split in the fleet. The top four had a very close race throughout managing to get away from the rest of the gang with what wind there was left. In the end Carron snatched it away with Keeling 2nd and McVicar 3rd.

So in the end Carron managed to win back the title for the MKSC boys closely followed by Harry McVicar and then Paul Keeling in 3rd.

The RS300 fleet would like to say thank you to all at Milton Keynes Sailing Club for a fantastic event in testing conditions and another thank you to Jeff Marcz for hosting an excellent evenings’ entertainment.

Overall Results: