Laser Radial Inlands at Rutland Sailing Club

235 Lasers (inc 4.7 and 1s) at the Rutland event which includes the Laser Radial Inlands © Martin Hollingshead

235 Lasers (inc 4.7 and 1s) at the Rutland event which includes the Laser Radial Inlands © Martin Hollingshead

The final Radial event of the year, the Inland championship, was held at Rutland Water on the first weekend of November. Despite the forecast of strong winds and rain, over one hundred and twenty boats participated in the regatta, the last one in the qualification series for the ISAF World Championships.

Saturday saw three races sailed in twelve to sixteen knots of breeze. The fleet were keen to get away and throughout the day several fell victim to the Black Flag, including Laura Baldwin and top French sailor Sophie de Turckheim in the first race!

Race one saw Tom Levick leading around the windward mark, but Jon Emmett sailed over the top on the reach to win. Karin Soderstrom took second place comfortably in front of Adam Simms. Levick just dropped out of the top five at the finish but had a great race.

Race two, and Ross Harvey led Emmett round the first mark and managed to hold him off for two of the three laps, but Emmett gradually gained ground on Harvey eventually passing him on the final upwind leg. These two finished well ahead of the rest of the fleet which was led by Colette Blair.

Race three and the course was now lengthened to four laps. De Turckheim initially led the race but Emmett managed to pass her downwind; de Turckheim hung on for a lap but a death roll and the resulting swim let Emmett get clear. However Turckheim hung onto second. Baldwin should have been third but forgot to sail through the finish line, handing Ali Young third place on a plate!

Sunday and the race course was extended for the final two races sailed in twenty knots of breeze, with some extremely strong gusts and at some point, torrential rain. Four laps was hard work for some, with the leaders lapping some of the slower boats on the second lap!

Race four and Lizzie Vickers led for the first lap but was passed by Emmett down the run. Vickers showed good pace and hung onto second place. Baldwin pulled through the pack to take third place.

Race five and Laura Baldwin led Emmett round the top mark but Emmett sailed under her on the reach to grab the lead which he held to the finish. Baldwin could not stop a determined Vickers from stealing second. Sari Multala also managed to pass Baldwin but her mast snapped, returning third place to Baldwin.

Overall Emmett took the event with straight firsts, but behind him the points were very tight with the top international girls really making their presence felt. Despite gear failure Multala retained second place overall and Baldwin and de Turckheim sailed with great maturity, not letting an early disqualification upset their series.

Overall Results:

1st Jon Emmett, GBR 4pts
2nd Sari Multala, FIN 19pts
3rd Laura Baldwin, GBR 21pts
4th Sophie de Turckheim, FRA 22pts
5th Lizzie Vickers, GBR 28pts
6th Ali Young, GBR 30pts
7th Karin Soderstrom, SWE 34pts
8th Colette Blair, GBR 36pts
9th Cameron Steele, GBR 37pts
10th Charlotte Dobson, GBR 47pts

In qualification for the ISAF Worlds you have got to feel extremely sorry for Andrea Brewster who has sailed consistently all season and was leading the qualification, only to become injured on Sunday, forcing her to miss both races and therefore her place for the World Championships. After three events Laura Baldwin and Penny Mountford are tied on 37 points (from the last three events) and will therefore represent the UK in Austria next May. The team for this year’s World Championship will be heading out to Brazil over the next couple of weeks.