Musto Skiffs
at Rutland - 26/27 Mar 2011
Photos : Tania Samus
http://www.photoskiff.com/sailing/rutland11/
Blood, Sweat and Tears on Day
One
Windguru was wrong, the light winds forecast
for Saturday, had beefed up a bit. A testing and teasing,
cold and searching North Easterly F3-4 rolled across
the lake in cheeky little gusts, scattering the 28 skittish
skiffs before it.
First Blood
– went to Bruce Keen – his boat newly returned from
Australia was showing no signs of rustiness after a
long winter in a metal container.
Second Blood
– went to Tom Wright – also straight back from the Worlds
and looking every inch the contender who won the last
two events of last year.
More Blood
– Mike Palfreman had launched in a hurry and wasn’t
able to find his gloves – the results are clearly shown
in the accompanying photo (rated
15).
Sweat
- Four hard races were held and there was no lack of
effort. At times most sailors had their moment, Steve
Tylecote, the wily fox, was always in the hunt; Andy
Rice was on the pace; Dave Poston was displaying his
normal schizophrenic racing tactics – either in the
top 2 or in the last 2 but seldom seen in between.
Tears
– (pronounced to rhyme with theirs) Ed Wilkinson punched
through his mainsail and brought to an end the final
chapter in the life of this particular sail, which had
become a class legend (if
every scar could tell a story).
Day Two ‘In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb’
The weekend showed the two sides that
are meant to characterise March, and the conditions
were certainly ‘lamblike’ as the fleet readied themselves
on Sunday morning. As the prematurely roused sailors
(due to the clocks going forward) rigged their boats
for Day 2 it was clear that Bruce Keen was in a commanding
position and with a total of just six points from Saturday’s
four races, the regatta was his to lose. Then, blow
me down, that’s exactly what he did. An overlong lie-in
meant he was late for the ‘driftathon’ that was the
first race, and then a rarely attempted ‘kamikaze aborted
port tack flyer’ start put him firmly mid-fleet for
the final race and in a single bound Bruce had snatched
defeat from the jaws of victory.
Meanwhile at the sharp end, Matt Hollis
was winning the day with a 1,2; Mike Palfreman was proving
that a lack of hand skin couldn’t prevent him from winning
Race 2; and Tom Wright showed a bit of patience and
maturity to score 2,3 and win the regatta overall.
In summary a great open meeting,
with surprisingly good conditions and Rutland’s normal
impeccable organisation.
View
the full results >>>
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