2024 RS400 Open at Notts County
NCSC RS400 open meeting 2024 – by John Tailby, photos Courtesy of Rebecca Odgen
A gentle force 2 north/north westerly greeted 7 travelling and 8 home boats to Notts County Sailing Club for the 2024 iteration of the annual open meeting as part of the RS400 Northern Tour. Race team Ogden led by Rebecca set a windward/leeward course that was most of the length of the lake long and the fleet was ready for the mid-day start. There are lots of shifts to be had with this wind direction and some interesting wind bends on the right hand side of the course due to the island, this allowed big gains and losses to be made throughout the day!
In race 1 the pin end of the line was slightly biased and the fleet got off cleanly on the first time of asking. It was the home boat of John Tailby and Cillian Dyne that led the fleet at the windward, but the chasing pack were in hot pursuit. It seemed to pay to straight set at the windward mark and head right down the run in the more stable breeze. John and Cillian managed to find some clean air from the rest of the fleet down the first run and were able to extend their lead – which they held to the finish. Ollie Groves and Ester Parkhurst were locked into a close battle with Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman for the remaining podium positions. The wind dropped for a 10 minute period or so on lap 2 and Ollie and Ester were able to find the breeze first up the beat – giving them enough of a gap to come home 2nd with Chris and Matt coming 3rd. After this the fleet headed in for lunch. Pauline – Notts County’s legendary long term caterer – had recently taken her well earned retirement, but John Sears and Odi stood in and provided sandwiches to keep the fleet fuelled!
Race 2 was arguably the closest racing of the day with 5 different boats leading at various points! Ollie and Ester nailed the start but were disappointed to see that the fleet was general recalled, U flag was enough to keep the fleet under control for the 2nd start – which got away cleanly. Apologies – I can’t remember who rounded in what order at the windward mark, but a special mention goes to Alan Elkington and Obehi O Atalor who rounded well in the top 5 (Obehi is one of our club juniors and has only been sailing a couple of years!) After the first lap there seemed to be an established top 4 of Ollie and Ester, Chris and Matt, John and Cillian and Garry Knott with Jake Willars, however seemingly out of nowhere Jonathan Lye and Amelia Latham hit the right hand side of the beat and rounded the windward mark in the top couple of boats. Down the run Garry and Jake gybed off left for clean air, with the other 4 boats of the lead pack continuing left, this paid and by the leeward gate they’d taken the lead, over the next couple of laps there was lots of position changing, but midway down the final run Ollie and Ester were leading, with Chris and Matt and Jonathon and Amelia just behind, then was John and Cillian followed by Garry and Jake. The lead pack all headed right down the run except for John and Cillian who gybed off mid-way down the run and sailed over to the left. Ollie and Ester, Chris and Matt then Jonathon and Amelia rounded the leeward gate in that order but all rounded the right gate mark. John and Cillian had headed left to set up for a rounding of the left gate and were 4th through the leeward gate. A combination of clean air and the committee boat being the favored end of the finish line allowed John and Cillian to sneak into the lead in the final few seconds of the race and took the win from Ollie and Ester by half a boat length. Chris and Matt came in a close 3rd followed by Jonathon and Amelia and then Jake and Garry. Next were Ross Ryan and Cathy Reynolds followed by Alan and Obehi who came a very respectable 7th.
Race 3 had very similar conditions to races 1 and 2 with a steady force 2 and a slight pin end biased start line. This time it was John and Cillian who nailed the start and headed out left. Ollie and Ester managed to make a miraculous come back from a sub-optimal start and made the most of the right side of the course to round the windward in first, followed by John and Cillian then Chris and Matt. Ollie and Ester were able to hold their lead all the way to the finish despite challenges from Chris and Matt and Cillian and John. There was several position changes between 2nd and 3rd but at the finish it was John and Cillian who came in 2nd with the ever consistent Chris and Matt and Jonathon and Amelia one again coming 3rd and 4th respectively. Ross and Cathy had another good race coming in 5th followed by Jon and Nicola Willars sailing the borrowed OAP of the fleet (442) in 6th – this was only Jons 2nd sail in an RS400, rumour has it they’ve since been on Apollo Duck…
The fleet then headed ashore, with all the crews glad of the chance to stretch their legs out! It was then time for the evening meal – a big thanks to Kathryn Ryan who took up the role of head chef and fed the fleet!
Despite some strong winds overnight the sun rose to a wet and windless Notts County on Sunday morning, with the 10am start looking optimistic race officer Rebecca put up a postponement. Despite picking up for 15 minutes or so and teasing us all there wasn’t and meaningful wind to speak off and what there was of it was coming from an array of different directions. After some discussion with the fleet everyone was in agreement and racing was abandoned at mid-day. This meant that the overnight results stood and the prize winners were as follows:
1st Overall – John Tailby and Cillian Dyne (also 1st junior) (Notts County SC)
2nd Overall – Ollie Groves and Ester Parkhurst (Beaver SC)
3rd Overall – Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman (Bassenthwaite SC)
1st Junior (not in top 3) – Obehi O Atalor (Notts County SC)
