Challenger open meeting at Rutland Sailing Club

Challenger open meeting at Rutland © Liz Newton

Usually the Challengers hold their UK championship at Rutland SC but this year we went to Weymouth. Instead there was a Challenger open meeting at Rutland over the weekend 8-9 August and the 2.4s were invited along as well.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, with light (no more than 10kt) southerly winds forecast. There were eleven Challengers and seven 2.4s. As usual, when the two fleets sail together, there is a single committee boat with the Challengers sailing a trapezoid course to its left and the 2.4s sailing a windward-leeward course to the right.

After a brief briefing the boats were launched on the long journey down towards the tower in the main pond for three back to back races - all of which turned out to be three laps. Throughout the day there were substantial wind shifts which were a nightmare for the race officer, mark layer and sailors!

At the start of Race 1 there was a major wind shift which meant that Val Millward (312) and Caz Jerromes (313) at the pin end were unable to cross the line, whereas Richard Triffitt (Triff) (281) did a port tack flier.

There was a kerfuffle at the windward mark as the wind was anyhow but Triff managed to round it first, followed by Steve Lee (297) then Graham Hall (270).

On the third beat, Steve hit the left hand corner, going beyond the lay line before tacking and steaming into the mark to round it ahead of Triff. Graham rounded (with some difficulty) in third. These positions held to the finish. Caz led the silver fleet with an excellent fourth place.

Challenger open meeting at Rutland - photo © Liz Newton

Steve led Race 2 until the final beat to the line. He rounded the leeward mark and came high not noticing that the wind had come round and that he was running parallel to the line. Triff rounded next and tacked as soon as he could make the line and stole the win. Graham rounded third but made the same mistake as Steve, whereas Nick followed Triff to take third. The silver fleet was led by Alan Bradley (290).

In Race 3 Graham led from start to finish although Steve was close behind, particularly on the last beat. Steve tried to overtake Graham to windward, but Graham came up and squeezed him out and he had to go below. Nick got past Steve at this point and these positions were maintained until the finish.

In the silver fleet Diana Faulks (288) played the shifts and got closer to, but not past, Alan. Caz got confused and thought she'd finished after two laps and got halfway back to the slip before realising her mistake and turned back to continue round the course. But every cloud has a silver lining as this was Lynn Steward's (238) best race in ninth.

The fleet returned to shore and once the boats were put to bed there was only a short wait before the evening meal was served at the club. Caz used that time, with help from Triff, to replace her rudder downhaul which was found to be badly frayed.

Looking at the results, Steve had a clear (two point!) lead over Triff and Graham who were on equal points and separated on countback in that order. The silver fleet was led by Alan, who had gone for consistency (three sevenths) with Caz just ahead of Diana.

Over the evening meal it transpired that:

• Quite a number of sailors, including Caz and Nick Bett (261) (who spent far too long at the windward mark in Race 1) and Rory McKinna (298) (who had halyard problems, also in Race 1), hoped they had sailed their discard.
• Chris Keats-Hannan (292) had an awful Race 1 (she wasn't the only one). She then made cracking starts to Races 2 and 3 but was unable to maintain her position. She commented that racing was tight in the silver fleet and that she was having a private battle with Lynn.
• Rory said that returning to the Challenger after almost twelve months away reminded him of how different it was to other boats (not everyone would agree!). He had spent the last seven days sailing a Sonar at Cowes week, where his responsibilities were limited to helming and it was a major shock to be back in a singlehanded boat and having to do everything himself!
• Val had had a dilemma with her mainsheet. She had rigged it with a single fall and could trim it easily to make gains on the reaches and downwind legs but was struggling to pull it in on the beats and lost the ground she had gained.

Challenger open meeting at Rutland - photo © Liz Newton

On Sunday morning the wind had swung to be more west southwest and was forecast to be lighter, though in the event it was not much lighter. It was still very shifty. The course remained out towards the tower.

Once the fleet was launched and the shore crew about to go off for their tea or coffee break, the VHF reported 313 returning with a rudder problem. Caz's new rudder downhaul wasn't quite right but could easily be sorted by retying a line she couldn't quite reach. She was soon heading back to the race area but it was uncertain if she would make the start. Fortunately a RIB gave her a tow.

Race 4 was just two laps as the wind dropped as the race went on. Steve had a nightmare first beat when the wind came round and stopped him dead and he dropped out of contention.

Going into the final leeward mark Graham led Triff by 6-8 boat lengths. Triff tacked first so Graham tacked to cover. Triff got a lucky gust which took him into the lead. Nick rounded the leeward mark in third and went further than Graham and Triff before tacking he also got a lucky gust to take him into second, Graham didn't get either gust and came in a not lucky third!

Caz had a great race to lead the silver fleet with another fourth. Before Race 5 the course was moved to the right and reduced in size, allowing the last two races to be run over three laps.

Graham led Race 5 from start to finish but was chased by Rory who took second. Triff had a disastrous race eventually limping home to discard an eighth. In the silver fleet it was Di's turn to shine as she came in sixth.

After finishing Chris decided to come in as she had a long journey home and a party to go to!

Going into the last race the top four were separated by just three points. For Graham and Triff a race win would be sufficient to give them the event. For Nick and Steve a win was not enough and other cards had to fall into place.

Val made the best start to Race 6 and remained in contention until the windward mark where there was a lot of congestion. Graham and Nick approached the mark on port, Graham was able to tack round the mark in front of Rory. Nick crossed ahead of Rory before tacking for the mark. Steve, Val and Diana were all in the mix.

Graham led until the final beat when Nick went right for longer and used a lift to round the windward mark ahead of Graham. Triff went left up the beat and lost out substantially. Nick and Graham were close together on the reach. Graham got a lucky gust, which Nick didn't get, he was away and gone, holding the lead to the finish. Nick followed in second and Triff third.

When all the numbers were crunched, Graham came out on top but his three point winning margin belied the tightness of the racing. Triff and Nick could only be separated on countback with Triff having the upper hand thanks to his race wins. Unfortunately, Steve was unable to capitalise on his success of the first day and was fourth.

In the silver fleet Caz was able to discard her disastrous Race 3 result to take the win. Alan was second just one point ahead of Diana. Lynn and Chris had battled it out together and could only be separated, in Lynn's favour, on countback.

The prize-giving was hosted by Caz, who presented Graham with the Rutland Sailability Millar Challenger Trophy and prizes to the fleet winners.

Thanks to race officer Eric Joyce and his team of Steve Hubbard and, David and Liz Newton, plus mark layer, Bruce Bonar and Doug Robertson on safety. Thanks also to the volunteers from Rutland Sailability, the visiting helpers and Kirsty in the office who did the results and much more besides.

Finally, thanks to our event sponsors, Lands' End (Oakham) and Tesco (Oakham) for their generous prizes.

Challenger open meeting at Rutland - photo © Liz Newton

Overall Results:

Challenger open meeting at Rutland - photo © Liz Newton