2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

A surprisingly warm Rutland greeted 26 hungry ILCA sailors all hoping to show their best performance before the winter sets in. The pre-event favourite varied massively from up and coming youth squad sailors, a former Olympian, a former winner and even a school teacher. This really shows what the Laser Inlands are all about, making the racing closer and sets the scene.

The competitors launched on a downwind run in about 15-20 knots. First to the windward mark in the first race making a comeback to the class after many years was 2009 Champion Rob Holmes. The chasing pack with the top 10 all nose to tail, some big gusts on the downwind led to a game of snakes and ladders. Making the most of that was Kai Wolgram and Charlie South, closely followed by 1996 Olympian Mark Lyttle. With Inland sailing, all 3 fleets are very closely compacted on the race course and this can bring another element of skill and precision in trying to navigate through the slower moving boats. On the final downwind of race 1 this had a big effect with Wolgram losing places on the heavily compacted right side of the downwind with James Foster making big gains down the open field on the left. Charlie South held off the hard fight from Lyttle to claim victory with Foster taking third.

Jamie Blake during the 2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Race 2 and the wind had died off slightly and bigger patches of differing pressure were all about the course. First to the windward mark in his £300 'fender boat' laser was Joe Woodley who hasn't sailed since the Nationals in August! Closely followed by Neil Peters a.k.a Stick Daring and Ben 'Floz' Flower. Three iconic sailors having a laugh on the downwind and enjoying the moment, however they couldn't get too relaxed as race 1 winner Charlie South was determined to get back to back race wins and was hunting the trio down. South managed to climb up into 2nd with Finley Dickinson overtaking Jack Hopkins down the final run to take 3rd place.

Joe Woodley during the 2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Race 3 and as the sun started to set straight upwind you couldn't have painted a better picture with champagne sailing conditions. The majority of the fleet went towards the left hand side of the course with the two northern buddies Hopkins and Holmes leading the charge on the right. Foster was making a charge through the fleet picking off sailors one by one before taking Hopkins on the final beat in the congestion of all the 4.7 sailors. Soon they'll be charging congestion a charge at mark roundings during UKLA events! On the final run Dickinson managed to pip Hopkins to the finish line once again to Hopkins despise but a heroic effort just to get through all three races after ending up in hospital only a week before at the Qualifier in Weymouth.

Jack Hopkins during the 2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

The Sunday looked marginal but the race committee powered on and postponed the competitors a little while on shore before launching in a lull of wind. By the time the fleet got to the start area the wind was steady above 20 knots and even a dragging anchor couldn't stop the race officer and his team from getting racing under way. After tying up to a permanent club mark, the line was set, the horn was sounded, the race was under way. First to the windward mark and leading the fleet all around the course showing a fine turn of speed was Kai Wolgram but his lead was not comfortable with Hopkins, Dickinson, Lyttle, Holmes, Foster and Woodley all chopping and changing positions chasing Kai down. As mentioned previous however Kai held off the chasing pack to take victory from Dickinson who once again overtook Hopkins for the third time on the final sector of the final downwind leg of a race.

Going into race 5 the wind picked up even more with some sailors heading for home early. Hopkins was fired up and determined to get a good result under his belt and he started off brilliantly by leading at the end of lap 1 but there was still 3 laps to go, yes this was a 4 lap race. Attrition started to play a big factor with Lyttle being one of many to retire, having experienced gear failure. The front of the race had Dickinson and Wolgram once again showing their super speed and extending on the rest of the fleet with the latter taking victory again to round off a perfect day on the score card for Kai as the 3rd scheduled race of the day was cancelled.

Ben Flower wins the 2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

However the show was not over yet, the 3rd race was cancelled due to the wind picking up even more and in hindsight it was good job too as on the sail back for home a 50 knot gust blasted down the lake flattening most the fleet. One of which was Ben Flower who got separated from his boat and giving everything to try and swim back to his boat he couldn't. By the time somebody had saw him the ILCA6 fleet had made their way past with Luke Anstey hauling Flower into his boat and giving Flower a first taste of radial sailing in his life. At the prize-giving Luke was given a special prize for saving Flower's life, though a few in the room might have hoped otherwise!

Despite this with luck more than skill Flower was able to claim overall victory. Dickinson took home 2nd, Wolgram 3rd and just missing out on the podium was South and Foster in 4th and 5th respectively, four young hungry sailors to watch out for in the future.

Prize winners in the 2021 UKLA ILCA 7 Inlands at Rutland - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

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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