Europe Open at Rutland Sailing Club

Rutland's excellent facilities and wide open waters are a great venue for the three bendy-rig singlehanders that offer between them excellent racing for all shapes and sizes.

Unfortunately the weather did not agree, so Saturday was mainly spent discussing the prospects for Sunday. Sunday wasn't great either, but at least the rain stopped before breakfast and didn't start again until packing-up time. In between we had a gentle south/north-westerly-ish (mainly) with a sprinkling of shifts and lulls and the occasional puff. My weekend crossword puzzle had clues about a king called coeur-de-lion and the great bear constellation, which seemed a sure sign that Richard Major would beat me again. But Aeolus had other ideas.

To be sure, Richard Major controlled the first race, leading throughout, although Richard Eagleton nearly caught him on the finish with a lucky shift.

Ros Nickols led the second race to the windward mark but found some lulls on the downwinds. Richard Major took up the lead again but on the final reach he found a lull where a few yards away Richard Eagleton found the last puff of the day and kept enough momentum to get to the upwind finish.

Most people had had enough and were well on the way home even before AP over A went up!

So Richard Eagleton took the win with a first and second, Richard Major was second with a first and third, Ros Nickols was in bronze position with a second and third.

All agreed that we should persevere and look forward to the same event next year.

Overall Results: