RS400s in the Harken RS Sprints Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club
by Richard Hanby 29 May 2025 10:06 BST
26-27 April 2025
RS400s at Harken RS Sprints Regatta © Malcolm McGregor
The 2025 Rutland Harken RS Sprints kicked off with very light shifty winds and a lot of eager racers. All the races were very competitive with not much distance between the boats.
The first four races saw Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst from Beaver Sailing Club take early wins followed by Tom Halhead and Paul Hilliar from Llandefedd SC, with Rich Hanby and Gemma Francise-Burnett challenging for second place.
Race five saw Rich and Gemma breaking Ollie and Esther's winning streak; a shift to the left of the course had favoured the duo and put them first round the windward mark. At a very crowded windward mark Bruce Mills and Andrea Jarman snuck around to gain a third place hot on the heels of Ollie and Esther.
Sunday brought a lot more promising winds, with gusts into the 20s. So the RS400 could finally stretch its legs on the run.
The racing got off to a good start. In race 8 everyone was so keen to get round the windward mark that half the fleet jumped the starting gun. With everyone rounding the outer distance mark as quickly as they could the fleet was split into two.
Overall it was a good turnout with lots of competitive racing throughout the entire fleet. Congratulations to Ollie and Esther who dominated the racing with a clear win over the rest of the fleet.
Many thanks to Rutland SC for putting on such a great racing event. We look forward to more thrilling racing at the sprints next year 25-26 April 2026! Thank you to Harken for their generous sponsorship. Thank you to Rooster for sponsoring the RS400 Rooster National Tour.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1526 | Ollie Groves | Esther Parkhurst | Beaver SC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| 2nd | 1535 | Tom Halhead | Paul Hilliar | Llandefedd SC | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 30 |
| 3rd | 1510 | Richard Hanby | Gemma Francise‑Burnett | Beaver SC | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 38 |
| 4th | 1502 | Jon Heissig | Nicky Griffin | Llangorse SC | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 46 |
| 5th | 1558 | Bruce Mills | Andrea Jarman | Warsash SC | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 63 |
| 6th | 1210 | Niall Houston | Harry Gilchrist | HISC | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 77 |
| 7th | 478 | Richard Ashwell | Anja Josefsberg | Aylesbury SC | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 81 |
| 8th | 1007 | Roger Marino | Peter Brent | Warssh SC | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 89 |
| 9th | 1324 | Richard Watney | Grant Shoebridge | HISC | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 101 |
| 10th | 1383 | Phil Robinson | Tim Cresswell | Carsington SC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 132 |