News/Results Archive

Inland Championships 2009 race report

2009 Finn Inland Championships 2009

Grafham Sailing Club

The wind was oscillating through 30 degrees, fluctuating between 8 and 18 knots and the water significantly below sea temperature. Oh and there was also 4 races sailed back to back on a slightly chilly afternoon in what we call in England .... Spring!
Still ... 21 of the UKs finest Finn sailors arrived at Grafham to do battle for the 2009 Inland Championships and it was game on.

Last year’s champion John Tremlett would yet again do battle with Allen Burrell who ran him very close last time to be joined by a new name in Irish Finn sailing Ross Hamilton and travellers from Scotland, Liverpool and the usual South Coast contingent.

Peter Saxton was the race officer for his 3^rd Finn Inlands and he laid some excellent courses adjusting where appropriate in the conditions. The lines were square, the beats were true and to be innocuous is deemed to be effective in a competitive fleet like the Finns.

In 10 knots race one was underway and having secured the pin Grafham local boy Phil Laycock led up the left hand side of the course with Richard Hart and rounded the windward mark in the lead followed by Richard, Al Burrell and John Tremlett, the pack just behind. Sailing a windward leeward course Phil headed straight downwind in relatively flat water and had increased his lead by the bottom mark. Al squeezed past on the next beat and went on to take the bullet from Phil with John Tremlett and Ross Hamilton close behind and John Mackie and Richard Hart.

Race 2 was an old style Olympic course and despite an initial port bias a significant shift after 5 mins turned things on their head. John Tremlett and Al both got it right as did Ross and Dave Potter and the old Dutch master Sander Kooij (who unusually not only went to the right sailing club but also made it in time for race one) was also going very quickly.

The wind had increased to 15 knots and with the unlimited pumping flag flying the reaches were very fast with enough waves to allow overtaking. The leaders held their positions and there was plenty of position changing further down the fleet with Adrian Brunton coming through with some pace to secure 6^th pace. John Tremlett took the bullet from Al and Dave Potter with Ross again in 4^th.

The wind stayed up for race 3 and first to show was Russ Ward who had gear failure in races 2 and 3 and he had blistering upwind pace in Iain Percy’s Sydney Olympic boat. He led around the windward mark from Al and John T and John Heyes who was also having a good race. The beats remained very hard to read with massive shifts and significant gains to be had by hitting corners. The middle of the course was slow and with less wind and more extreme shifts was not the place to be. The left hand side paid consistently and if you could catch a starboard lift to get over there you were invariably rewarded with a header to lift you on port into the mark. Dave Potter managed to work his way up to 4^th just behind Mr 4^th place Ross H.

There were some tired legs for race 4 and a new course was laid to reflect a permanent 20 degree shift to the left. The left and side of the course again paid off and Dave Potter led around the windward mark from John, Al and Simon Percival. Dave and John worked free from the pack with Al not far behind. With clear wind it was becoming evident that to catch the leaders was very difficult and once clear they were difficult to catch. Keeping left again paid dividends with occasional right corner gains.

The chasing pack of 10 boats were having a real ‘ding dong’ and the congestion at the leeward mark made for an interesting short beat back to the gate / finish line where it was very difficult to gain significantly if you read it correctly.

John Tremlett took the final bullet of the day from Dave Potter, Al Burrell and Simon Percival.

This left John and Al on equal points overnight; it was every bit as tight as last year!

There were some stiff legs, backs and sore hands in the pub on sat night but with very little wind forecast for Sunday much deliberation took place over wine and lager as is customary in order to dull the pain! It had been a great day’s sailing but hard work so early in the season.

The sun rose early on Sunday ( unlike the majority of the Finn fleet) and there was not even a ripple on the water until after 10am. The wind filled in a little but it was very patchy and the race officer decided to start a 5^th race in 3-6 knots of breeze.

There was much activity at the pin end as the wind appeared to be filling in from the left and the pole was secured by Phil Laycock followed by John Tremlett. Sitting on the thwart was a different hiking position from the day before and subtlety and a good roll tack brought more of a reward. There was some significant shifts however left paid off and Phil led around the mark from John and Simon Percival. The wind died slowly on the run and John nudged ahead of Phil just before the leeward mark. The wind had died to next to nothing bar a few patches and the race was finished after one lap with John taking the honours and the championship.

With a rare smile on his face 'Ice man' John Tremlett,( left of shot, with Phil Laycock.) 2009 Inland Champion 2009

With very little chance of the wind filling in racing was abandoned for the day.

The top 5 overall were;

1^st John Tremlett
2^nd Allen Burrell
3^rd Dave Potter
4^th Ross Hamilton
5^th Phil Laycock

pdf Inlands 2009 report and positions 12.67 Kb

Inland Championships 2009 race report