ILCAuk ILCA 6 Masters Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

35 ILCA 6's and 33 ILCA 7's descended upon an eerily calm and flat Rutland. The forecast wind for the weekend suggested that we should have stayed in bed or at the very least hired bikes and cycled the perimeter of the reservoir instead; maybe next time.

The original forecast promised winds gusting into the 20's, but later into the week, this completely flipped to 2 knots gusting 4 forecast for the Saturday. With the Sunday not looking much better; leaving many hopeful that the forecasts were wrong.

ILCA Masters Inlands at Rutland - photo © Georgie Altham

Saturday's forecast proved to be precisely accurate. Many rigged, some even changed, but by 14:45 the decision was made to cancel racing for the day. We made our way to the bar, had dinner supplied by the club and were awarded prizes for merely turning up; what a great excuse to come ILCA Masters Sailing. ILCAUK's sponsors provided some fabulous prizes - Spars and sailing items from Ovington Boats and Sailingfast and Multi tools from Tideway Wealth. I didn't see much crawling to beds, but the extra hour in bed was welcome.

The best of Sunday's wind looked to be arriving at 3am, with the worst around the scheduled time of launching. Again, this proved to be correct. After a short postponement, we finally got sent out for 4 back-to-back races from 4 knots to 12 knots by race 3 and 4.

ILCA Masters Inlands at Rutland - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Race 1 got under way in 4 to 7 knots of wind. A two lap race, with many going right quickly, sticking to the shore. It was clear that consistency was going to win prizes at the end of the day. Jon Emmett managed to show us all how it was done, with Ian Gregory and Steve Cockerill in pursuit. Meanwhile, my experience being a little heavier for the ILCA 6, was one of going backwards in comparison with anyone that was even a few kilos lighter. Going in the alternative direction looking for a clear lane, in these conditions, didn't help.

Race 2, after a delay for the wind to fill in again, resembled conditions of race 1. A postponed start after the wind shifted and we were away after a delay. Jon Emmett leading the fleet again, with Max Hunt and Richard Major completing the podium. Once again, having not learnt from the first race of loosing some weight, meant I was struggling to get into the top half of the fleet.

ILCA Masters Inlands at Rutland - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

Race 3, the wind improved into the double figures; crucial to performance, I found, if your weight was over 75kg's. Suddenly I found myself in the top 10, rather than the bottom. Rather helpfully for me, those that were on the lighter side were now having to hike a little harder; the result being that they were struggling to stay flat in the gusts of 10-12 knots. This time, Ross Harvey took the win, followed by Ian jones and Steve Cockerill.

Race 4, small improvement in wind strength from race 3 and a quick turnaround to ensure we away before the fading light. Stand out moments for me was beating Jon Emmett and Steve Cockerill to the windward mark. I very nearly followed this up on lap 2, with Jon piping me to the windward mark and me sending Steve back around for another attempt at the windward mark approach; proof that anyone can make mistakes. Ian Jones took the win, followed by Ross Harvey and Jon Emmett.

ILCA Masters Inlands at Rutland - photo © Gordon Upton / www.guppypix.com

In the end, Jon Emmett took the ILCA 6 Inland Championships for the umpteenth time. This event concludes this year's events for the ILCA class.

Next year is a real treat for the ILCA class as we have the Masters Nationals in June, 7th-9th. The is followed by the Masters European's, 14th-20th June. Both held at Hayling Island Sailing Club. The next event is Parkstone SC in May - check out the ilca.uk website for details.

Hope to see you all there.

Our great sponsors give these events a bit of pizazz, they help create a sense of occasion - so with this in mind we say Thank you sponsors and we look forward to next season.

• Wildwind
• Sailingfast
• Ovington
• Noble Marine
• Southeast sailboats
• Fernhurst Books
• Rooster

Overall Results: