RS100s Harken RS Sprints Regatta at Rutland Sailing Club
by Darrell Sleep 30 Apr 10:23 UTC
26-27 April 2025
Light Westerly winds and sun welcomed the expected six competitors for the 2025 Harken RS100 Sprint Regatta, a two day event expertly hosted by Rutland Sailing Club, the first event in the RS100 Rooster National Tour.
The racing area was just West of the club house and despite the light winds the race management team managed to execute six races on the Saturday. The trick on the first day was to clairvoyantly envisage on which side of the beat the wind was going to be strongest. Dave Smart (Chew Valley Lake SC) didn't help his campaign by colliding with the committee boat on the start line of the first race. That said he and Clive Eplett (Frensham Pond SC) had this skill in abundance competing for first place to the first windward mark on day one, although Darrell Sleep (Burghfield SC) magically found it in one race spotting a stronger breeze on the right hand side when everyone else went left. Day one finished with Clive Eplett in 1st place with five bullets, David Smart in 2nd with one bullet and Darrell Sleep rounding off the top three.
Day two heralded a stronger South Westerly and so the race team moved the start area to the East just off Normanton Church. Ian Gregory arrived and was able to join in with the fun. The stronger winds brought some challenging wind shifts to the day's racing. Sometimes there was a lift along the left hand bank running up to Normanton Church but stick with it too long meant losing out to the first mark. Interestingly as the day progressed hugging that same shoreline brought rewards on the last downwind leg of the race course as Clive Eplett and Dave Smart discovered, although Clive threw away a win when a gust forced him to bear away on the run into the finish line and he collided with the finish boat.
However, it was Ian Gregory who showed his skills on day two with four bullets, with Clive Eplett taking the other two and David Smart rounding of the day two top three. After two days and twelve races, 1st place went to Clive Eplett (Frensham Pond SC), 2nd place went to David Smart (Chew Valley Lake SC) with Darrell Sleep (Burghfield SC) taking 3rd place. Ian Gregory (Frensham Pond and Stokes Bay SC) took 4th, Mostyn Evans (Mounts Bay SC) was our Fleet Hero and Martyn Catlow (Leigh and Lawton SC) took the Endeavour Prize.
Thank you very much to Harken for their generous event sponsorship. Thank you to Rutland Sailing Club for hosting strong racing in light and tricky conditions. Thank you to Rooster for their sponsorship of the RS100 Rooster National Tour. The next event on the tour is POSH 10-11 May.
You can find all the event information and online entry here
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 509 | Clive Everitt | Frensham Pond SC | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| 2nd | 523 | David Smart | Chew Valley Lake SC | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 3rd | 208 | Darrell Sleep | Burghfield SC | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 43 |
| 4th | 259 | Ian Gregory | Frensham Pond & Stokes Bay SC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| 5th | 503 | Martyn Catlow | Leigh & Lowton SC | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 55 |
| 6th | 526 | Mostyn Evans | Mounts Bay SC | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | RET | DNC | 65 |