Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club

Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland © Clare Sargent

Last weekend saw the Harken RS End of Seasons Regatta held out of Rutland Sailing Club. Twelve RS800s rigged up with a slightly grey backdrop over the lake, treated to a few showers of rain. The forecast for the weekend looked promising and as the boats made their way to the start the breeze was gently building.

The first race started with some patchy pressure. The majority of the fleet took the middle left up the first beat with the pressure lifting port tack on the way up the track.

Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore rounded in first which was the start of their trend for the weekend. Jack Elsby-Hartman and Ben McMeekin rounded in second closely followed by Fiona Hampshire and Hugh Shone, who snuck down the inside on the bear away, taking an early gybe out left. Some tight racing to kick off the weekend.

Race one concluded with Tom and Guy taking the first win of three for the weekend, with Fiona and Hugh taking the first of their three seconds.

Race two saw some similar action with the breeze starting to build, the downwinds got faster and more exciting, gybing into pressure and avoiding the RS400s and RS500s coming upwind.

The breeze pumped up to 16-22 knots for the final race of the day, with a few mistakes being slightly more costly for some boats. Tom and Guy once again put on a consistent performance to pick up the final first of the day.

Day one ended with another Race Clinic from Tom looking at starting technique. Using onboard footage from the day, it was helpful to understand how different teams approached their starts. The session snowballed into a broader set of questions as participants tried to get to the bottom of Tom and Guy's insane height and speed upwind.

Following this grilling, things took a tropical turn for a Hawaiian themed dinner at the club. There were some particularly fruity shirts on display as the fleet saw out the 2022 Rooster National Tour in a blitz of garlands and rum punch. It was a great evening!

Sunday morning was another grey start. Racing was postponed ashore due to light winds and a heavy fog. Unfortunately, the weather didn't play ball and the Race Committee signalled AP over A just before 1200hrs. Even cut short the weekend was heaps of fun and not short of some great racing.

Thank you to Harken for sponsoring the event and to Rooster for sponsoring our National Tour.

Harken RS800 End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland - photo © Paul North

Overall Results: