Storming Inlands at Grafham

Full reports and results for individual classes under results. The 2001 RS Inlands at Grafham Water SC on Oct 6/7 has to go down as one of the most spectacular events this year. One of the worst weather forecasts that could be imagined did not stop 254 boats across six classes entering the event with the Met Office words "expect severe structural damage due to very strong winds" ringing in their ears. Two years ago Grafham Water SC ran an RS Inlands and completed all six races with winds force 5-6 all weekend. This gave everyone the confidence that racing would be run and well organised and, oh boy, Grafham did not let us down. On Saturday the wind was force 4-6 with regular big lumps of force 7. There was plenty of rain but also long periods of sunshine. The classes were split over three courses, the 800/600s were on a trapezoid with the 800s on the inner loop and 600s on the outer loop. The 200/700s were also on a trapezoid whilst the 300/400s had their own course with the 400s doing straight windward/leeward with two leeward marks and the 300s on a triangle with their own leeward mark. The Race Management was out of the top draw with four races completed on all courses in four and a half hours with never a doubt that races were going to be held. The fleets were huge with 65 RS200s, 15 RS300s, 84 RS400s, 45 RS600s, 12 RS700s and 33 RS800s. The sight from the clubhouse was impressive as the whole lake was filled with the three race tracks with superb action and many spectacular capsizes to keep the spectators happy. It is testimony to both the sailors and the boats that well over 80% of the competitors finished at least three races on Saturday in extremely testing conditions. There were a vast number of capsizes but the rescue boats were never stretched with only one mast breakage and only a tiny handful of competitors needing help. Nick Champion had a field day, sunshine, real wind, fleets really going for it and some spectacular downwind sailing. Grafham then showed how good a club they are onshore by managing to serve well over 300 meals in under two hours, Anyone who thought the tired bodies from completing four windy races would produce a quiet night do not know the RS fleet. First part of the evening entertainment was the GUL RS Racing Circuit and RS Eurocup prizes giving. Compere Pete Vincent destroyed the reputations of many leading helms by introducing prize winners by projecting slides of their most embarrassing moments on to a large screen much to the delight of the large crowd. This was followed by a great band; at midnight as they were making their third attempt to finish you would not have believed that only a few hours earlier those demanding more could hardly stand from the sailing. Sunday saw slightly different race organisation with club racing using a course area the RS fleets were rotated on two courses. The day began with a force 4 wind, but it started to rise steadily during race 2, with race 3 seeing winds well over 30 knots. As the forecast was for a severe force 9 to arrive on Sunday afternoon the final 200/700 start was abandoned. The squall promptly eased, and the Race Officer went for another start. Although the wind was around a force 5-6, the remaining fleet raced extremely hard. An hour later the forecast force 9 arrived, producing large waves on the lake along with hard, driving rain. Good timing!