RS Tera Northern Championship at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

RS Tera Northern Championship prize winners © Jennie Clark

Rastrick brothers take the trophies home to Ripon SC

Thirty-two competitors gathered at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club on 2 and 3 May to compete for the RS Tera Northern Championships. It was the first time the fleet had visited 'Bass' but it won't be the last with the competitors and their families being shown fantastic hospitality by this amazing lakeland club.

It was good to see some of our older Pro sailors, who are now transitioning to Lasers, back on the water and supporting the class for the event, and the conditions certainly suited them with very strong and gusty winds being the order of the day for Saturday. The Sport fleet has grown considerably with new helms (and even a new boat, fresh out of it's wrapper on the Saturday morning) joining the existing group which all bodes well for this very vibrant junior class. With representatives from Scotland, Wales and England it was very much a chance to celebrate how much the class has done to reinvigorate junior and youth sailing.

PRO Andy Smith and RO Jon Denwood got the fleet off for race 1 using the Northern end of the lake to set a large trapezoidal course. In the Pro fleet Peter Owen took line honours, with Henry Rastrick second. The fleet came back in for a late lunch and with a few more reefs put in and more layers put on the fleet went back out for another battle with the wind. Race two in the Pro fleet went to Henry Rastrick, followed by Peter with George Combe taking the gun in the Sport fleet and Tom Storey second. Race 3 was run back to back and saw Peter and Henry battling it out at the front of the Pro fleet with Peter taking the line honours after a great race. Tom was first home in the Sport fleet, followed by Jamie Rastrick.

The club hosted a 'Pie Supper' on the Saturday night which saw a large number of the visitors enjoying excellent local fare, and the odd bottle of local ale for the parents too!

Sunday dawned wild, windy and wet and a check on the wind on line showed that the worst was due to hit the club around 10am. There must have been a lot of sailors laying in bed hoping that was going to be the case as the wind howled around and the rain poured down! Racing got underway at 10.30am and in the Pro fleet there was a fantastic battle between Peter and Henry in race 4, which sadly drew to a premature end when Henry hit a mark and then fell in whilst doing turns. Mark Donald took 2nd in his place. Henry's brother Jamie was luckier in the Sport fleet taking line honours from Oliver Kent. There were capsizes galore and the safety boat crews were kept busy throughout with strong winds and big waves providing some fantastic conditions.

After a lunch break a somewhat depleted fleet went back out into some still wild conditions, which thankfully became a bit less testing as the final races were run. Two races were sailed back to back with the Pro battle continuing and with all to play for. Henry beat Peter to the line in race 5, and this pattern was repeated in race 6, giving Henry the Pro Northern Championships. In the Sport fleet Tom took race 5 from Jamie, but Jamie came back to take race 6 with Oliver grabbing another 2nd.

PRO Andrew Smith paid tribute to the skills and good manners of the fleet, and presented prizes to the following competitors.

Overall Results:

Pro fleet
1st Henry Rastrick, Ripon SC
2nd Peter Owen, Derwent Reservoir SC
3rd Rohan Murphy, South Windermere SC

Sport fleet
1st Jamie Rastrick, Ripon SC
2nd Tom Storey, Ripon SC/Yorkshire Dales SC
3rd Oliver Kent, Ripon SC/Yorkshire Dales SC
4th Ewan Wilson, Wormit Sailing Club
5th Ellie Clark, Ripon SC/Derwent Reservoir SC
6th Thomas Nicholls, Derwent Reservoir SC

Endeavour Award: Maddie Bristow, Leigh and Lowton SC