Shearwater TT Round 1 at Rutland Sailing Club

Shearwater TT Round 1 Rutland © Sam Vaughan

A small dedicated fleet arrived at Rutland SC for the first TT of the year. After a winter of preparing boats the fleet were excited by the prospect of sailing there boats not preparing in the garage.

Race One

The new team of Chloe Stuart & Darren Tulley on SimSek were first around the windward mark in Chloe's first season as a helm. Mark Norman & Catherine Tulley sailing Jessabelle were in hot pursuit followed by Nigel & Sarah Stuart on Crowns. Jessabelle managed to get away on the second upwind, but unfortunately for Mark he could not count how many laps and decided to do an extra lap to allow Crowns through for the first win of the year.

Race Two

With an increased breeze and shifts to boot Crowns did to be honest a horizon job.... they lead from start to finish and sailed a really great race winning by a long margin. Not much more to say other than well done!

Race Three

The race where Chloe lost her pocket money for ever! In her third race of helming she and Darren dominated the start locking out Crowns (sailed by Chloe's parents) who needed to restart. Jessabelle tussled with SimSek and Crowns went hard right up the beat and managed to catch up. With increased an increased breeze which was now shifting around this caused lots of place changing. However a similar story at the end Crowns came out on top winning the race and the day.

Saturday night saw the fleet wowed by Magic Nick Winram, as he impressed with his card tricks. An intense 16 people game of spoons, where Nigel and Darren were left in the final. Who would come out victor, would it be Nigel like he was in races 1 - 3? After 59 seconds Darren was crowned the winner after bluffing Nigel for the victory!

A new day broke and wetsuits had dried in Rutland's warm changing rooms, which were definitely warmer than tents in the campsite!

Race Four

With a bitterly cold wind race four got under way. A port biased start meant Crowns and Jessabelle took full advantage and led up the first beat, followed by Sam Vaughan and Oliver Stuart on Cajensa. On the first downwind leg Crowns and Jessabelle tussled for the lead with Airflow sailed by Louise Curry and Nick Winram and SimSek duelling with Cajensa for third place. Following a close race Crowns took the win from Jessabelle.

Race Five

With an ever shifting breeze the majority of the fleet decided to start at the port end. The fleet headed for the right hand side of the course and the whole fleet were within three boat lengths of each other. The Rutland Belle provided an obstruction and this provided Jessabelle with the opportunity to get away. On the first downwind leg the fleet was close tussling for all positions. With a big left hand shift on the second beat, Crowns managed to take advantage and finish in first place.

With five wins to Crowns can they get a clean sweep of 6 race wins?

Race Six

After some buoy fiddling due to the shifting breeze, Jessabelle led for the majority of the race with Airflow in close pursuit. But where was Crowns? Up the second windward leg Crowns started to reel in Jessabelle. The downwind leg saw Jessabelle and Crowns constantly changing positions following the puffs of breeze as they came down the course. With one lap to go the place changing continued on the windward leg ending with Crowns taking the victory.

Well done to Nigel and Sarah on Crowns finishing first overall with 6 race wins! Mark and Catherine on Jessabelle finished in second place with new team Chloe and Darren on SimSek finishing in third place.

Fantastic first TT of the season with great entertainment on and off the water. Huge thank you to Rutland Sailing Club for brilliantly organised races and for making us feel so welcomed.

Overall Results:

1st Crowns, Nigel & Sarah Stuart
2nd Jessabelle, Mark Norman & Catherine Tulley
3rd SimSek, Chloe Stuart & Darren Tulley

The countdown is now on for TT #2 of the season at Minnis Bay on 18th - 19th May.

If anybody is interested in getting involved in the friendliest small catamaran class please contact us, boats are available to borrow or purchase!