Whitwell 6th & 7th June 2009

153 sailors turned out to race last weekend 6th & 7th June for Round Two of The UKWA Inland National Championships & The Rya National Junior Championships 2009 and the Rutland Marathon at Whitwell, Rutland Water.

With all eyes on a less than promising weather forecast the competitors made themselves at home at one of the most popular venues used by the UKWA and RYA. The forecast was giving a maximum of 10 knots for the weekend rain and more rain.

Saturday greeted competitors with overcast skies and a light chilly breeze, however as the time to race approached the wind began to fill in and all fleets went afloat. On the main course the race officer ran 2 rounds of racing for all fleets in the morning session. After lunch as the wind built a further two rounds of extremely exciting course racing for all fleets (techno one) with the wind building to 23 knots made the forecast look a little foolish.

On the junior course race officer Mike Roberts had 48 juniors racing to become 3.5, 4.5 & 5.5 National Champions for 2009. Mike ran two races before lunch and a further 2 races in the afternoon session. The juniors raced is a more sheltered area of the lake but still experienced challenging conditions, it was to the credit of their ability that so many finished the course still smiling and enjoying their racing.

At approximately 4.30pm the 2009 Rutland marathon began with all fleets including the junior sailors starting together. It was decided to sail the course clockwise so competitors began by racing towards the dam wall. With the wind gusting between 10 and 20 knots several competitors retired but the vast majority battled around the course in good time, with the winner finishing in 44 minutes.

1^st Keith Atkinson (formula)

2^nd Tim Gibson (formula)

3^rd George Bowles (RS:X)

On Saturday night there was the Marathon Prize giving hosted by Debbie Smith from action for children who gave a moving speech, about the charity and how the money raised by competitors would be spent. Debbie will be moving areas soon and expressed her gratitude to the UKWA for all the support given to the Charity over the years she has been associated with the Rutland Marathon and hoped that we would continue to support them in the future. Following the prize giving the ever-popular Rutland Raffle was held with many prizes given by the trade supporters.

Sunday morning saw some of the heaviest rain to fall at an event for many years. Whilst the sailors were reluctant to get wet the more serious issue was the thunder and lightning, with flashes above the lake racing was suspended on safety grounds. It took the best part of three hours to clear the weather front but after lunch the race officers managed to hold two rounds of racing on both courses. The wind was light and extremely cold for June but it had been worth persevering for all fleets except formula.

Thanks to Rutland Water Sports Centre for making us so welcome, the rescue crews, the race officers and their teams, the admin staff, the scorer and all those volunteers who helped set up break down the site after the event.

Thanks to Boardwise, course race sponsors and to Overboard (a new sponsor for the UKWA) for all the product prizes at this event

Thanks to Boardwise, Oxendon Trailers, Nik Baker, Noble Marine Insurance, Holmfields, Windsurf Magazine, Charlie Money, 3s Concepts, Tushingham Sails, Rutland Water Sports, Demon Sails, Dave Nobles, The MWA, Trevor Steels Trailers, Rednemesisdog, Mex Homes Limited, Riks Windsurfing, Neil Pryde, Scottish Newcastle and Overboard for supporting the Rutland Marathon Action For Children T Shirt 2009.

13 Techno 3.5

1st Issac Bradley-Baker

2nd Guy Carney

3rd Ross Warren

16 Techno 4.5

1st Harry Davis

2nd Sarah Labourne

3rd Daniel Wilson

19 Techno 5.5

1st Robert Griffiths

2nd Fynn Page

3rd Jack Hawkins

19 Raceboards

1st Mark Kay

2nd Robert Kent

3rd Chris Gibson

18 RS:X

1st Ali Masters

2nd George Bowles

3rd Tom Eskdale

54 Techno

1st 6.8 Kieran Martin

2nd 6.8 Adam Purcell

3rd 6.8 Saskia Sills

1st 7.8 Sam Sills

2nd 7.8 Matt Brown

3rd 7.8 Joe Bennett

13 Formula

1st Keith Atkinson

2nd Liam Round

3rd Tim Gibson

1 Freerace

1st Lee Hayes

For all the results go to ukwindsurfing.com or www.results.eskdale.org.

Full report to follow.

Rutland inland 2 - Raceboard Report - an event of 2 halves

By Paul Robinson

It was not looking a promising weather forecast for the event with marginal light winds on Saturday and nothing on the Sunday. Well how wrong can you be?

Saturday dawned a bit drizzly and dismal after overnight rain and the joys of rigging in rain was not enjoyed by all the 19 raceboard entries, as some had rigged the night before - clever clogs!

By the time the briefing had finished there was a constant 10 to 12 knots and big sails were the order of the day - demons versus the new Tusingham RX 9.5, whilst the new starboard phantoms were abundant and the question there was which fin worked best? Was it the newly introduced 48cmor was 44ish the ideal?

The raceboard fleet welcome some familiar faces including the OSC boys from Farmoor and the indomitable Daniel Hufton previously from the formula fleet - Dan we hope you enjoyed your racing with us, your gybing looked good!

The race officer set a 2 lap P course with a interesting twist - a downwind slalom style finish to cross the line in front of the beach. Oh the joy to rediscover the fun of carving a raceboard under pressure !

Race one found the current raceboard champion Rob Kent (starboard/tushingham) a little off his usual immaculate start procedure; was he still dreaming that he was on hols sailing short boards in Vassiliki or was it the very early start to arrive that morning? The preparation and set up training the previous day by Mark Kay (starboard / demon) seemed to pay dividends as he stormed away to nail race one with Tom Naylor in hot pursuit.

As the finish was close to the beach the fleet took the opportunity to land and refuel which meant with the back to back flag flying the fleet was almost caught out as Mr Demsey our Race Officer cracked on with the starts; changing the starting sequence, with the RSX taking the prime starting position from the technos and raceboard going second, giving vital few minutes to get to the start. The wind was increasing and there were some Tush lightings and smaller sized sails around although the front guys seemed very comfortable on their "light wind" sails and going very fast. Tom Naylor scored the prime position closely followed by Dave Richards and Chris Gibson.This was going to be a very tight event for the front of the fleet and even the results throughout the rest of the fleet was very competitive and variable.

After a short lunch break the wind increased even further for Race 3 and 4 with recorded guests of 23 knots- so much for a light wind forecast!

Race 3 had the storming Mark Kay back in front still on that new 9.5 Demon and Tom Naylor second and Dave Richards back in third Race 4 and Mark made it bullet no. 3 Dave second and with his best result of the day Andy Mexome on change down Demon third It was reassuring how well the phantoms powered through the wind blown chop showing devastating speed downwind

After a very tiring 4 races it was now time for the marathon. With the wind direction this was to be in a clockwise direction with all fleets including juniors on the same start line . The wind seemed to drop and some unlimiteds went "BIG". It was only a lull and the wind came back with a force and with a shift that encouraged the vast majority of the fleet, apart from formulas, to start on port- it was a bit chaotic! The strong winds caused some to retire early but Mark kept his early lead throughout but Robert was closing all the time. Great result for Jon White in third on his 7.5

Sunday dawned breezy and a rigging of smaller sails was seriously considered until the rain came and boy did it come and so much ! - heavy squalls, hail and thunder which all caused a long delay to the racing - The ducks loved it and a pair had a lovely swim in the accumulated rain /pond in the demon sail of Brian Tilbury!

Finally the weather settled down a bit and 2 light wind races were held in some 6 knots or so and the lightweights got their revenge from the previous day with Robert Kent scoring the 2 bullets and Dave Richards two seconds.

This was enough to let Robert sneak in front of Dave overall but no one could match the flying Mark Kay for his excellent overall win. No doubt the lightweights will get their revenge later in the series

A great event superbly organised by the midlands region well done to all racers.

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