Rope4Boats RS200, RS400 and RS800 Inland Championships 2022, part of the Rooster National Tour

Grafham Water SC's photography partner, Paul Sanwell of OP Photography took some excellent action shots of the event.

RS200 report by Tom Alheid

RS400 report by Jamie wonder boy Calder

RS800 report by Hugh Shone

RS800 shorts vid by Tom Morris

RS200

40 keen RS 200 sailors were greeted by a warm welcome from Grafham sailing club as they arrived at the Rope4Boats 2022 Inland championships. A blustery forecast proved accurate for what was to be a testing but manageable first day.

Race 1: Straight out of the blocks were David Jessop and Sophie Mear who led for the first lap. However, a capsize on the 2nd run allowed Ben Whaley and Lorna Glen to slip past to take the bullet, followed closely by Steve and Sarah Cockerill whilst Paris Thomas and Marta Ribera took 3rd.

By now the wind had started to ease slightly. However, the gusts were still as punchy as ever: those with their head out of the boat could jump on the gusts and rocket down the course, sailing faster and lower than the others, making huge gains on the fleet! This made for tense racing; you were never safe until you crossed the finish line!

Race 2: Ben and Lorna made the most of the available gusts and shifts. David and Sophie kept their masts pointing the right way up in 2nd, followed by Tom and Tristan Ahlheid.

Race 3: Clouds loomed over the previously sunny reservoir for the final race of the day, littering the racecourse with more random gusts and up to 20 degree shifts! It was snakes and ladders both upwind and downwind, with David and Sophie edging out Tom and Tristan, whilst Chris and Nicki Webber took 3rd.

Despite the pessimistic forecasts, a moderate north-westerly 7-13 kt breeze showed up on Day 2- a welcome break to the sailors’ stiff, tired legs from the hard hiking of Day 1.

Race 4: A large right-hand shift during the start sequence caused a few too many boats to jump the gun, causing a general recall. This meant the RO went straight to the black flag! Luckily, the fleet got underway cleanly after that. The larger shifts and softer gusts than day 1 once again provided intense racing!  Chris and Nicki Webber took the bullet, with Ben and Lorna in 2nd. Matt Venables and Bethan Matthew  took 3rd.

Race 5: Matt and Bethan put themselves on the right side of the shifts and pressure to take the win, Chris and Nicki took 2nd. Jamie Harris and Ellen Main found some speed to finish 3rd.

Race 6: The final race of the weekend proved tricky as ever. A large left shift was followed by a large right shift, providing opportunities for boats on either side to work their way to the front. Chris and Nicki showed their prowess in the fluky wind to take another win! Tom and Tristan followed after a tight battle with Ben and Lorna down the last run, who finished third.

Overall, it was the consistent Lorna and Ben who were crowned 2022 Inland champions. Chris and Nicki’s impressive charge on day 2 pushed them into 2nd overall. Rounding out the podium were Tristan and Tom. Prize vouchers were generously provided by Rope4Boats - fresh rigging is always appreciated by boat and sailor!

Huge thanks to all the organisers and our sponsors Rope4Boats and Rooster who made the event so fantastic! Special mention goes to the RO Chris Clarke and those who cleared the mud off the slipway before the event due to the low water level, I’m sure that was a tough job (those hot summers have their consequences)! Thanks to everyone for coming, see you all at the Harken End of Seasons.

Tom Ahlheid

Prize Winners

Rope4Boats RS400 INLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022

The RS 400 Inland Championships kick started with sailors rocking up to the club to find glamour conditions awaiting them on the water. It looked like it was not only going to be a big day with strong winds, but the race officer hinted at running a fourth race in the fear of losing races on Sunday due to a light forecast.

The fleet of excited sailors hit the water, to find the conditions were as exciting as they looked. The first 2 races had some full-on gusts, hitting 25 knots according to the wind readings on the club house. A special mention has to be made to the fleet legends Stewart and Sarah Robertson who were first to the windward mark in the second race showing the younger sailors how it is done – full respect! The breeze seemed to be converging consistently off the shore on left hand side of the beat, with some shifts and opportunities to be made along the way. The downwind was a game of snacks and ladders. Connecting the pressure was a necessity to hop on the escalator accelerating you down to the gate. Another special mention has to go to Hamish Gledhill and Ross Southwell who were pushing it to the limits on their gybes downwind only to have a spectacular Wipeout in race two.

The breeze reduced very slightly for the third, and the race officer seized the opportunity of the champagne conditions and fired into the fourth race of the day. Fair to say there were some very tired sailors once we hit the shore.

As always, the best way to recover after a physical day on the water, in the RS400 class, was a cup of tea swiftly followed several pints. The Saturday evening involved catching up with old friends, joining in on the RS800s and RS200s games and finishing the night off at the mighty Wheatsheaf.

Sam Knight and Chris Bownes had the best day of the fleet scoring an impressive four race wins. In joint second was Oliver Groves with Esther Parkhurst and Jamie ‘Boy Wonder’ Calder and Keith ‘Silver fox’ Bedborourgh. Close behind were Stewart and Sarah Robertson.

Sunday Morning began with glorious sunshine, 18 degrees and 7-12knots of wind – more than forecast. It was as if summer had not yet finished, certainly from the Scottish perspective.  The conditions presented patchy breeze and shifty conditions for the racing, making it a head out the boat kind of day. It was still all to play for. Although Sam and Chris had made a comfortable lead on points, they were OCS in the first race of the day leaving the title still open in the final race. Groves and ParkhurSt battled it out with Boy wonder and silver fox throughout the 2 races. Although it was Ollie and Esther that took the race wins.

Close racing was had throughout the fleet over the two races. It looked like a close battle between Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Roberts with Christopher Eames and Rachel Tilley in the first race of the day. Race two appeared to have equally as tight racing with Howie Farbrother and Louise Hosken storming through the fleet taking a third followed closely by Gary Knott and Sam Grayton scoring fourth.

Although Groves and Parkhurst managed to achieve the two race wins, it was Knight and Bownes that managed to secure the 2022 Inland Championship title. A huge congratulations to the lads for the win and a massive thank you to Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting another great Inland Championship, to all the club volunteers and organisers for making the fleet feel so welcome and to our sponsors Rope4Boats and Rooster.

Final stop on the Rooster National Tour is the Harken End of Seasons, at Rutland 5/6 November.

See you all there, or next year – save the dates!

Report by Jamie wonder boy Calder

Rope4Boats RS800 INLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022

After news that the water level at Grafham was touch and go, I have never been so pleased to aquaplane my way North on a Friday night.  Thankfully the lake had enough in it to host all the fleets and although there was a bit of a squidgy, sloshy, oozey through toe mud situation in order to launch (which let’s face it you’d probably pay hundreds for at the local spa) we were on!

The forecast for Saturday was pretty fruity with up to 25kts and breezy it was!  It was the kind of wind that instantly highlighted how you’d cut your mainsheet too short.  With gusts pumping down the lake in anger it was no surprise to see the more experienced teams of Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore and Luke and Emma McEwen duelling with each other at the front.  Tom and Guy did take all three races from the McEwens in the end but it was definitely not plain sailing as Tom and Guy had to continually fend off the ominous black kite of the McEwenss.  Behind the front two who extended in each race it was a battle between Fred Lord and Louise Gale, Martin Orton and Ian Brooks, and Ralph Singleton and Nuala Sellwood.  All seasoned campaigners with enough experience to get themselves round in good order.  In that Saturday battle it went the way of Fred and Louise who posted three solid 3rd places in the very challenging conditions.  This got them an early mud drenched toe in the top three.  Further back there were a few promising moments from Fiona Hampshire and Hugh Shone who did show some speed on the first beats but a broken rudder stock in the first race and some regular baths put pay to Fiona’s pre--race capsize prediction. 

With everyone ashore the fleet was treated to a “Tom Morris Race Clinic” which will become a more regular fixture for open meetings.  This one saw a run through of how Tom and Guy have calibrated their set-up and pointers on the amount of tension required.  It must have been decent as despite the heavens opening midway through, the fleet listened on intently.  For those who were unable to make it to Grafham, the session was recorded and the plan is to release it in the near future on the class's new YouTube channel.

Right.  On to the organised fun.  Hugh and his glamorous assistant for the evening (Tom) treated a captivated and bemused audience t0 a series of bar game adventures.  It was feared that the heavy wind sailing might deplete the turnout but it turned out that people clearly hadn’t been trying hard enough on the water as eight highly competitive teams of four exuberantly skied, sucked, tossed and tied themselves with much gusto.  Mind you, the new “Social Conch Trophy” was there for the taking and boy did Peter and James Curtis absolutely smash it as ’The Professionals'.  First of all, their team selection was on point after pairing up with some handy looking 4000 sailors lurking in the shadows.  Secondly, they showed remarkable consistency over the three events to take a commanding victory.  Jealous that they have some seaside on a stick on their mantlepiece?  Well the Conch will be back in play at the Spring Champs next year…

Sunday morning and talk in the club centred on the wonderful 8-14 knot forecast and deliberations as to whether airbeds should come with a recommended beer consumption guide.  Yes they should.  On the water it was clear that the conditions were fabulous and the racing was going to be much closer.  The day was all about trying to stay in the bands of pressure that snaked their way down the course.  Race one saw Tom and Guy lead round the first mark with Martin and Ian hot on their heels.  Spotting a gust, Fiona and Hugh in 3rd gybed out to overhaul the front two and hold their lead throughout the race with Tom and Guy finishing 2nd and Martin and Ian doing enough to hold off the late charging McEwens.  Race two again saw an early battle develop at the front between Tom and Guy and Fiona and Hugh.  This time however the McEwens didn’t leave their charge so late and went through Fiona and Hugh like an old halyard through the clothes of four scantily clad bar gamers (had to be there I guess).  The McEwens pushed but Tom and Guy held onto the win whilst Fiona and Hugh took 3rd.  Whilst Tom and Guy had wrapped up the win (and headed in) and the McEwens were solidly 2nd, there was a lot to play for in the battle for 3rd going into the final race.  It looked to be a three horse race between Fred and Louise who held a slender advantage, Martin and Ian, and Fiona and Hugh. However, at the top mark it was Joshua Poat and Robbie Cherry who hooked into a decent band of pressure and led the fleet round with the McEwens hot on their heels.  Over the four laps the McEwens built a large lead only to almost lose it all on the final leg to a charging Fiona and Hugh.  The wind had got really streaky by this point leading to some extremely tense downwind legs. Martin and Ian took 3^rd, and Peter and James Curtis (conch heroes / apex humans) took a fantastic 4th with Fred and Louise popping up in 5th.  This meant that Fiona & Hugh squeezed into 3rd by the skin of their teeth, with Fred and Louise tied on points with Martin and Ian.  Bryan Ormond and Anna Prescott showed real resilience to scoop the Endeavour prize whilst Ralph and Nuala swooped to take the mid-fleet hero prize.

Many thanks go to our wonderful sponsors Rope4Boats and Rooster along with the club for running a fantastic weekend of racing for the fleet.  Next up we have the Harken RS End of Seasons Regatta at Rutland Water on the 5th & 6th November.  We are excited to say there will be more fun and games scheduled, more opportunities to learn with another Race Clinic and of course some fantastic racing!  Enter online and buy your Sat night meal ticket here

Report by Hugh Shone

RS800 photos thanks to RS800 Class Association

Up on Y&Y here

RS 200, 400 and 800 Inlands

Grafham Water Sailing Club

Results are provisional as of 13:46 on October 2, 2022

RS200 Class

RS400 Class

RS800 Class

R1 - RS200 Class

R2 - RS200 Class

R3 - RS200 Class

R4 - RS200 Class

R5 - RS200 Class

R6 - RS200 Class

R1 - RS400 Class

R2 - RS400 Class

R3 - RS400 Class

R4 - RS400 Class

R5 - RS400 Class

R6 - RS400 Class

R1 - RS800 Class

R2 - RS800 Class

R3 - RS800 Class

R4 - RS800 Class

R5 - RS800 Class

R6 - RS800 Clas

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RS400 Class