The latest race in the UKWA inland series was hosted at Rutland water, with a great weekend of racing and Ross Williams’ marathon record smashed!
Full report by Louis Morris:
The second event of the UKWA Inland Regional Series was hosted by the Midlands region at Whitwell on Rutland water. At times, the forecast was looking pretty awful, but in the end, we got some nice wind on both days, a lot of rain on Saturday, some sun on Sunday, and a new record for the marathon.
Gallery by John Liddy, check out more images here.
Saturday morning was a bit cold and wet (I chose the wrong wetsuit), but the wind was ok, easterly 7-10 knots so marginal for most. Unfortunately a big black cloud turned up so we got sent in for an early lunch in case of thunder. After a lot of rain and wind shift, 3 further races were completed in a very gusty and shifty SSE wind for Techno, Raceboard and RSX. The Formula fleet were out training most afternoon, but it was too gusty for them to race.
The tactical conditions suited Guy Spreckly who spent plenty of time in front of the usual top 3 raceboards, I certainly got my tactics wrong a few times. After his first UKWA podium at Christchurch, young Lewis Barnes was also looking dangerous, especially upwind.
On Sunday, it was windier, sunnier, and generally fun! Still very gusty and shifty though, with a “P” course (upwind with a downwind slalom) giving some exciting action at the gybe marks.
In the RS:X fleet, Cameron Coghill and Lewis May had been giving the 9.5’s (Matt Barton and Rob York) a hard time on Saturday, but Rob took control on Sunday to win the RS:X fleet.
The Techno fleet was very closely fought, with mixed results for many, as it was a struggle to be consistent in both the light winds on Saturday and the strong winds on Sunday. In the end, Andy Brown just snatched the win from Matthew Carey, whilst Josh Carey convincingly won the 6.8’s and Alice Read was first girl.
Chris Bond dominated the Formula fleet, winning 3 of the 4 full power races completed on Sunday. I can’t find any photos though, sorry!
Mark Kay beat me in both the windy races, I almost held on to him upwind, but on the reaches, he just found another gear, a smaller fin helped me win the last race. Never mind, I won the event anyway. Annette Kent was first Lady, and Robin McAllister used his impressive upwind speed in the strong winds to take first youth ahead of Aidan Liddy and Emily Kent.
The Marathon was great fun, and was a charity race for “Action for Children”. The wind was a little light in places, but the direction meant that most of it was planing and reaching, which lead to Ross Williams 48 min record being smashed by Chris Bond in 43 minutes, with Lee Marrs taking 2nd on Slalom gear, and myself a couple of minutes behind in 3rd. Interesting to see the three different board types coming out almost even in the end!
The next event of the Inland series is at Farmoor (Oxford) on June 7th-8th, and the next event of the National Championship series is at Bridlington on 21st-22nd June. Keep an eye out for news, and hopefully see you there!
Event results summary:
Juniors:
1st 4.5: Zoe Basset
1st 5.8 Junior: James Bulson
1st 5.8: Maya Wylie
Techno:
1st Andy Brown
2nd Matt Carey
3rd Zed Spencer-Milnes
1st 7.8 girl Alice Read (6th overall)
1st 6.8 boy Josh Carey (7th overall)
1st 6.8 girl Mollie Densley-Robins (20th overall)
RS:X:
1st Robert York
2nd Cameron Coghill (first youth)
3rd Lewis May
Formula:
1st Chris Bond (Point-7 sails/Gaastra board)
Raceboard:
1st Louis Morris (Tushingham/Starboard)
2nd Mark Kay (first heavyweight, first master) (Demon/Starboard)
3rd Robert Kent (Tushingham/Starboard)
1st Veteran, Guy Spreckley (4th overall) (Demon/Starboard)
1st Super veteran, John Pete (7th overall) (Demon/Starboard)
1st Lady, Annette Kent (8th overall) (Tushingham/Starboard)
1st Youth, Robin McAllister (10th overall) (Tushingham/Starboard)
Marathon results summary:
1st Chris Bond
2nd Lee Marrs
3rd Louis Morris
Check out all of the results from the event here.
