2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Saturday morning racing began on time and the 46 strong ILCA 6 fleet was greeted by 15 knots of wind from the Southwest. Racing was held at the opposite end of the lake to the clubhouse with the Committee boat right by the dam and the windward mark underneath the peninsula.

The inland nature of the venue and the course location had the fleet expecting shifts to be a major factor in the racing during their sail out and sure enough a day of shift management followed.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The ILCA 6s were last in the starting order with the 7s and 4s setting off first on an outer loop. This allowed for the 6 sailors to watch the previous fleet's starts and build up an idea of the different angles boats were sailing across the upwind leg. From prestart routines and information gathered from watching the earlier fleets it was clear that shifts were a major factor with the right-hand side getting a nice lift and pressure.

The first sequence came around and posed a key question. Take some pin bias and potentially struggle to get back right or give up some line bias to work the shifts on the right? Anstey sailed the first beat better than anyone else coming from the left and leading his way back to the right. He led at the windward mark with Emmett, also taking line bias, and Brown and Mitchell who came from the right close behind. Downwind pressure was key, and this was a theme that prevailed throughout the weekend. Brown kept in the pressure nicely and was leading by the bottom gate. There was a split at the bottom gate with Brown and Emmett taking the left turn and Mitchell and Anstey taking the right turn. The top five were battling and going back and forth with the shifts the entire way up the second beat. By the second windward mark Brown had a lead big enough to hold to the finish with Mitchell, Wilcox, Emmett, and Anstey rounding in a pursuing bunch that battled the entire reach and downwind leg to the finish, resulting in a top 3 of Brown, Mitchell, and Wilcox.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The second race followed shortly after the first and the question the fleet was asking themselves was much the same as the first race. This time however, there was a different outcome. The right was good but far right was better, displayed beautifully by Curtis who took the 15-degree shift and was comfortably the first round the windward mark. He was followed shortly by Brown and Emmett. The downwind saw few place changes and at the leeward gate Curtis, Brown and Emmett all made their way off to the right with the shift from the first beat still present. The fleet were sailing an I3 course with the second downwind initiating an awesome battle for the lead between Emmett and Brown that continued until the last Leeward mark. Emmett and Brown overtook Curtis on the second beat and opted to split the course at the second leeward gate. Emmett took the right turn and Brown took the Left. Emmett sailed the better second beat and led handsomely at the last windward mark. A planing reach got the leaders to the reach mark, and they began the turn downwind. Emmett led but Brown, noticing they had a reasonable gap behind, decided to split the course and put lots of leverage between the two boats. He was fortunate his decision paid off and the top three at the finish was as such Brown, Emmett, and Curtis.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The final race of the day once again posed the same question but this time the consistent 15-degree right shift was not present. Anstey demonstrated his shift sailing ability for a second time taking some line bias and sailing the best first beat, leading comfortably by the windward mark. An unfortunate death-roll lost him his lead and empathy was felt throughout the fleet. Brown, Mitchell, and Emmett battled for many of the following legs until the last upwind when the trio found themselves right of middle, the same side as a drop in pressure. Scurrah made the most of the pressure on the left and caught everybody off guard, nearly leading by the final windward mark. Another to benefit from the left was Anstey who had recovered well and placed himself in 5th by the end of the race. Brown ended the day with a win and 3 bullets under his belt with Emmett and Scurrah behind after a good battle on the final downwind.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Race day two on Sunday was promising big things in reference to both the forecast and the on-course battles. Brown led at the start of the day, but it was no means over with Emmett close behind. The first race was vital as it would set the momentum for the day and very nearly overturn any point advantages. The breeze started from the SE but the forecast predicted a front to come over and a swing right to follow. Sure enough, the front came over just as the first boats began to launch and 40 knot gusts descended onto Rutland Water. The Fleet was left waiting on the shore as AP was raised. The postponement was the right decision as some boats were unfortunate enough to be blown off their trailers.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The breeze died down and went right and the first and only completed race of the day got under way in 20+ knots of breeze. The race area was similar but on Sunday working the left paid off due to the lifts coming off the shore. Emmett displayed his intent to dominate the day and led at the first windward mark with no-one getting a look in during the entire leg. Brown and Anstey followed behind. Emmett led for much of the race with the main battle being behind between Anstey and Brown. Anstey was sailing well and constantly attacking, almost overtaking Brown, but a tight windward mark rounding enabled Brown to break away and focus on Emmett. The last downwind rolled around and Brown used this to mount his attack on Emmett. A smaller split downwind this time and Brown used the inside overlap to overtake Emmett and crossed the finish line half a boat length ahead rounding off his event with 4 bullets. Emmett was 2nd with three 2nd places and Anstey finished 3rd in both the last race and overall.

2021 UKLA ILCA 6 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

This however was not the end of the story. A fifth race was started with a massive squall lurking on the horizon. Emmett showed his skill leading the entire race all the way through the huge squall. He crossed the finish line in first only to find the race had been abandoned.

Thank you to Rutland Water Sailing Club for hosting a brilliant event and thank you to all the competitors for racing on the second day especially those that were unsure of the conditions. Everyone from RSC and UKLA deserve thanking but a special shout out to the RO, Mike Haynes and the on-the-water team who did a brilliant job at managing two challenging days.

Hats off to our sponsors:

• Sailingfast - Duncan brings his battle buss down from Scotland for most the big events, which is so ridiculously well equipped, you could replace everything on your boat. Although based in Scotland they will get anything to you super fast. He also supplied many of the prizes for the draw on Saturday evening. sailingfast.co.uk

• Ovington Boats - Chris Turner lives dinghies and has been a significance presence in the boat building world for decades. OB are now the official UK builders of ILCAs. A very smart new Ovington ILCA Dinghy was on display at the Masters event. www.ovingtonboats.com

• Vaikobi - a brand born on the waters of Sydney Harbour, out of a passion for all ocean sports. Across the team, we paddle, Surfski, SUP, Wing Foil and Sail. Sailing has been a passion within the business right from the start. The senior management team at Vaikobi comprise more than fifty years of marine industry and sailing experience between them. www.vaikobi.com

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