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Rutland - 2006 |
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Rutland 1st - 2nd April
2006 The
first National Ranker of the season brought winds of 30 knots plus
for the travellers to Rutland SC. Richard Eagleton came out on top of the fleet of eight
Europes. Saturday 1st April A clear start for the 6 starters in blustery F4-5 conditions saw Feargal Finlay take an early lead, followed closely by newcomer to the class, Brian Cobb. A very tough first beat saw Feargal first to the windward mark, followed by Richard Eagleton, Natalie Campbell and Brian Cobb, with Claire Smith and another new member to the class, Arthur Philips battling the tough conditions just behind. After two laps of the trapezoid inner loop, the positions were still the same until a capsize from Feargal on the last beat let Richard into the lead, and with difficulty righting the boat Feargal found himself getting to the final windward mark in 4th place. Richard held out the squally run to take 1st with Brian 2nd, Natalie 3rd, and Feargal coming in 4th place, with Claire and Arthur finding the conditions a bit too difficult. Race 2 Started on the back end of the 30kt+ squall, with the conditions producing 3-4ft short chop. 4 boats started in the second race and the early lead taken by Richard closely followed by Feargal all the way up the first beat, and Natalie and Brian exchanging 3rd and 4th place up the beat. A capsize with lightning quick righting from Richard meant Feargal snapped up the 1st place opportunity and wouldn't let it go for the next two beats covering Richard with some good tactics upwind. After some capsizes from Natalie and Brian the gap between 2nd and 3rd increased. The last run saw a lack of faith in gibing abilities with all competitors taking the sensible option of wearing round, to make sure their places counted. Feargal came in first with a 5-boat length gap between him and Richard. Natalie and Brian finished some minutes later in 3rd and 4th places respectively. Race 3 Six boats made it to the start line with the fleet being joined by Katie Mapplebeck and Stacy Vials. With the wind still pushing 30 knots, and the water state increasing to a 4ft short chop, it was all too much for Stacy, and a nasty capsize for both Natalie Campbell and Tony Mapplebeck who was on the safety boat meant that only 5 boats made it to the start line in conditions at the top end of the Europe sailing spectrum. A slow start because of the testing conditions for the Race Officer as well as the sailors, saw Katie take the most windward position but soon having to tack off to give room to Richard and Feargal. The wind had now increased to 35kts + and saw Richard capsize early on up the first beat, finding himself having to swim after his rogue boat! This signalled the end of the overall leader's race, leaving Feargal and Katie to battle the conditions to the first mark with Brian capsizing and ending his day too. After the first run, with many nosedives but thankfully no capsizes Feargal carried on up the second beat half a leg in front of Katie who later took the option to sail home in the most tiring racing. Feargal persevered to finish the rest of the race taking him another hour due to two capsizes on the last run, but afterwards explained " I knew there was no-one else still racing but there was no way I was giving up 1st place!". Feargal went on to win the last race of the day before a well-deserved tow home from the safety boat. Sunday 2nd April Race 4 With 29 knots forecast on the second day of racing, 7 boats left the shore in a steady F4. 5 boats started the race as Katie and Stacy went home early as the wind slowly picked up to 30 knots. Feargal took the early lead, and exchanged 1st place up the first beat with Richard, but with a quick capsize at the top mark Feargal took the advantage of the head start on the first run, with Brian taking 2nd place before Richard righted his boat. Arthur retired early after conditions turning somewhat the same as Saturday; Natalie soon joined him after some spectacular capsizes downwind. After completing the two inner loops Richard had regained the lead due to some incredible upwind sailing, with Feargal shocked by Richard sailing in 2nd and Brian close behind in 3rd. The last mark saw Feargal do a huge capsize when wearing round, ending his race after making the fatal error of leaving his elastic gybe strop tight on! Letting Brian through to finish in 2nd place behind a well deserved win from Richard. This was the only race of the day, as another squall hitting 35 knots set in to take control of the water, leaving only the windsurfers to have the whole lake to themselves. Feargal Finlay GBR387 (A short report on the Friday training session with Andrea Brewster will appear in the Class Newsletter) Results - Sailed: 4 Discards: 1
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