Rooster RS Tera End of Season Championships at Draycote Water Sailing Club
by Rob Ahlheid & William Bailey 1 Nov 2020 07:23 GMT
24-25 October 2020
The final class event on the RS Tera calendar, the Rooster End of Season Championships 2020, was held at its traditional venue, Draycote Water Sailing Club, on the weekend of 24th/25th October.
What should have been a near-record entry of boats for the event was curtailed by the Welsh lockdown which meant we lost our strong Welsh contingent, who were greatly missed.
Unfortunately, due to the stormy winds forecast for the Saturday, Race Office Richard Pye and the Race Management team made the decision to cancel sailing on the Saturday in light of the Covid restrictions in place, but 60 enthusiastic sailors turned up early Sunday morning for an excellent day's racing.
Our Tera sailors were greeted at the drive-through registration by a copy of "The Racing Rules Companion" very kindly supplied by Fernhurst Books and a stick of Filey rock, more on which later!
Our new End Of Season 2020 Champion William Bailey takes up the tale with his report on the Pro fleet racing:
The RS Tera End of Seasons Championship, at Draycote Water Sailing Club, was a very well attended event with 36 sports and 26 pros. Sadly, due to stormy weather, the first day of racing was cancelled but the Race Officer, Richard Pye, did an amazing job to get 4 close races in on Sunday. The wind was quite strong throughout the day, but it was very shifty, and the sun came out for most of the day. It was nice to see lots of familiar faces in the pros and sports, but also great to see so many new sailors around.
In the first race the fight for top three was very tight, with Toby Smith leading most of the way around but was just topped on the last run, the top three went to myself, Toby Smith, of Rutland Water, then Toby Hatsell. The second race was also very close between all of the fleet, the positions were always changing, but the podium positions went to myself, Toby Hatsell, then Mark Jenkins Jauma. Coming into the third race, it was all to play for as the top five was very close in points. Unfortunately, Toby Hatsell was over on the start, which was costly for him in a regatta with no discards. The front of the fleet had a breakaway in this race, and the race went to myself, Toby Smith, then Fred Salter, of Gurnard Sailing club. Before the last start, the wind shifted around, causing a slight postponement to change the course. Once the race had kicked off, there was an eventful run as both leading boats, Freddie Sunderland and Fred Salter, capsized! They both managed to quickly right their boats and podium positions deservedly went to Fred Salter followed by myself, then Freddie Sunderland at his home club. Joseph Henderson showed a great example of consistency, just missing out on 3rd by one point and it was really good to see sailors like Aimee Bulkes sticking at it, completing all of the races."
Meanwhile in the Sport fleet all the big guns were out with Oliver Stratton-Brown and Finlay Lomas-Clarke making a final appearance before moving into the Pro fleet. Race 1 went off with a bang with still some nasty gust upsetting some sailors' progress. This did not deter Alex Sydenham who sailed a fine race into first place followed home by Finlay and Oliver in second and third respectively.
Race two saw little change at the top with Alex sailing fast and clean to a second bullet, again followed by Finlay. the race was on for third spot, which was taken by Jack Bew followed by Max Rawlinson in fourth and Charlotte White in fifth who was chalking up a solid set of results. Race three saw a mix up at the front end of the fleet with Oliver SB coming backing into focus at the front in a close battle with Theo Smith. Experience paid, and Oliver took the win in race three with Finlay now becoming accustomed to another 2nd spot!
William Stratton-Brown also showed his Tera talents and came in fifth place in race 3.
Race 4 was a decider for many places with Finlay and Alex tied on points and third to 6th place all to play for. So, consistency became the name of the game. Finlay threw everything he had to keep Alex behind him, but in then Alex took the win in the last race and saw claimed overall victory. Finlay was second and Oliver S-B third. Max Rawlinson, Jack Bew and Charlotte White were all tied on points and so the count back rule applied to settle the tie, with Max in fourth, Jack in fifth and Charlotte in sixth.
Full results for Pro and Sport fleets can be found here.
A huge thank you must go to our sponsor Rooster for a very generous range of prizes for both fleets.
Many thanks to all our volunteers, on and off the water, and to our Race Officer Richard Pye,and to Dave Rowe and his Draycote team for running a very smooth and enjoyable event.
Still wondering about the stick of Filey rock? At the end of racing Filey Sailing Club, on the North Yorkshire coast, was revealed as the host club for the 2021 RS Tera Nationals, and we are all very excited about sailing in this beautiful part of Britain.
The final word on the event goes to William Bailey, who was racing in his last Tera event.
"The end of seasons was my last Tera event and I am very sad to leave this friendly class; the Tera has been a perfect boat to learn to sail in and to compete later on. I can still remember my first event at Ripon Sailing Club several years ago and my first winter training in the Northern Squad, which grew my skills, especially in getting ice off the boat! Since then I have competed in national and world events, which has taken me to amazing places like Spain, France, Sweden, Wales and the South Coast. I have been lucky enough to share these memories with my friends that I have made along the way and look forward to seeing them in the next class of boat."
To keep up with the exciting world of the RS Tera in the UK, visit the UK RS Tera Class Association website at https://www.rstera.org.uk/