Crewsaver Millennium Series for 2000 class - Overall

Winning 2000 sailors at the end of the 2013 Crewsaver Millennium Series © James Macgregor

Last weekend's event at Rutland SC was the final event in the Crewsaver Millennium Series and as often happens in this series, the overall places were not decided until the final day of racing.

The series has been very competitive this year with 83 teams taking part in the series. Thirty-nine boats travelled to at least one event and eleven teams completed at least four events. As usual with the 2000 class, the boats were mostly crewed by family teams with 14 out of the top 20 boats consisting of husband/wife, father/son and father/daughter pairings.

The series started way back in May at Broadstairs SC in Kent. Very variable conditions saw good racing at this lovely seaside town. The event was won by Graham and Kristina Sexton.

Then on a pleasant weekend at the start of June the fleet met up in Norfolk for MS2 at Snettisham Beach SC. The Class Association paid for a trainer to be on the water videoing the racing and a briefing was given after the racing on Saturday. This was a major success, enjoyed by everyone and will be repeated. The event was won by Jasper and Laura Barnham.

The third event in the series was held in June at Grafham Water SC. Perfect conditions at Grafham for racing and a very good weekend was had by all. The event was again won by Jasper and Laura Barnham.

Then summer arrived in force and the class made a trip to Lee-on-the-Solent for the fourth event in the series. A beautiful hot weekend with very little wind, but three races were completed on Saturday. The fleet went out for a drift on Sunday, but the wind never decided what direction it wanted to come from, so the racing was abandoned for the day. That event was won by Graham and Kristina Sexton.

After the Nationals at Pwllheli the fleet met up again on the only rainy weekend in September at Felixstowe Ferry SC. This was the first time we had visited FFSC and it won't be the last. A very friendly sailing club with a very active youth squad. The event was won by Chris and Gillian Jordan.

The penultimate event in the series was held at Bala SC in Snowdonia. A beautiful setting for sailing and the wind blew up the lake to make some excellent racing on both days for a small but competitive fleet of 2Ks. The event, which was also the Welsh Championships, was won by local sailrs John and Sarah Haywood.

So back to Rutland for the final event. A significant number of travellers made the trip to the Midlands and enjoyed very good conditions. Rob and Katie Burridge showed everyone how to cope with strong winds on Sunday to win the event. But this wasn't enough for them to win the series; Graham and Kristina Sexton finished in second at Rutland, which meant they won the series. Rob and Katie finished second in the series, with Fergus Barnham and Serena de Nahlik in third. Beautiful hand-crafted trophies made by Astins were presented to the winning teams.

Graham Sexton said about the series: "Thanks to James and Jenny for providing a great season of open meetings this season. We have been to some old and new venues, and have mostly enjoyed good racing and good company. Thanks also to Crewsaver for their sponsorship of the series. I have just spent my vouchers, and have found their range and customer service to be very good."

Crewsaver have generously sponsored the series. Prizes are rolled down so 28 boats have benefitted from the vouchers and I feel sure that the whole fleet will be sailing around in nice new Crewsaver buoyancy aids and gloves next season. Many thanks Crewsaver!

Millennium Series overall results: