Gill Series 6: The Inlands @ Derwent Reservoir

A brief glimpse of the white water from the A68, about 2 miles away, whilst fighting to keep the car on the road in the gusts was enough to surmise that it was, indeed, rather windy - and that was looking at the sheltered end of the reservoir. Dogs were flying past, blown off their leads, shortly followed by their owners, so prospects for sailing were looking pretty grim. Still, experience said that they always race at Derwent, whatever the conditions, so optimism and excitement at the prospects of a good blast about prevailed amongst the hardier competitors - at least those who had dared to try putting their masts up.

Others chose to leave their boats safely tucked up on the road trailers, giving the likes of Nigel May and Nigel Goodhew their first ride in the front end of a Twelve for many years. Hence the crew weights of those taking to the water ranged from a rather brave flyweight 15 stone in Jimmy Whitehead and Tim Goodhew's boat to something that might have challenged the Tubs Trophy scales' weighing capacity.

With the anemometer generally hugging 30mph and gusting over 40mph, David and Barbara Darling, the PROs, wisely chose to set a course at the eastern end of the reservoir, getting some shelter from the lee of the hills. The racing on day one was around a figure of 8 course, avoiding the need for any such foolhardy behaviour as gybing.

The wind moderated slightly on the way out to the race area so confused and slightly nervous competitors were forced to reconsider their rig tuning strategy of pulling everything on block to block (if not harder) and leaving it there for the race.

First out of the blocks in race one were Graham Camm and Zoë Ballantyne in N3492 followed by Jon Ibbotson and Sarah Edwards in N3445 and Stevie Sallis and Tressa King in N3436. These three had some close racing down the first reach and pulled clear from the rest of the fleet. Disaster struck Sallis and King on the next beat as the rudder jumped off, bending the pintle. Hove to, "Ironman" Sallis levered his rudder back into position, although by then he had lost too many places to seriously challenge the leaders. This left Camm and Ibbotson in their own private match race with Graham and Zoë gaining enough downwind to hold off Jon and Sarah upwind. This continued until the final reach by which time Sallis had come back through the fleet and would be there to pick up the pieces if the match racing got out of control so wisdom prevailed and Camm won.

In the second race Ibbotson took an early lead from Sallis and, with Camm having to fight to get clear from the pack, a similar match race ensued, continuing until the finish with Ibbotson just prevailing over Sallis's fine all-round boatspeed, Camm taking 3rd.

Overnight the wind swung more to the west, vastly reducing the shelter from the hills, and continued to blow as hard as on Saturday. After a short postponement the fleet was sent out to face the prospect of a small triangular course. With laps taking less than 10 minutes, that meant a lot of gybes..... This time shrouds and control lines stayed pulled on hard, rarely to be freed.

Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall in N3488 were first at the windward mark, a lead they held to the finish. With Sallis capsizing on the final tack before the mark and Graham and Zoe again in the pack, this left Ibbotson and Edwards in second and N3472 Mark Simpson and Nigel Goodhew in third. The final lap proved to be one gybe too many for Ibbotson, who swam repeatedly at what was by now tombstone corner, so Graham and Zoe took second with Simpson third.

With Sallis having to change crews between races and Ibbotson having ripped the mainsail, Graham and Zoe looked to be in the driving seat for the Inland Championships. However, with a vicious squall coming through between races the short delay allowed time for these boats to get back in time for the start. Geoff and Amelia again took an early lead and held it to the finish through some seriously challenging sailing conditions, and if they hadn't suffered gear failure on the Saturday they could also have been contenders for the overall prize. Sallis again capsized, leaving Jon and Sarah and Graham and Zoë to fight out for the honours. Jon and Sarah were again second to the windward mark, followed closely by Graham and Zoë. After the gybe, Graham and Zoë made the best of a gust to overtake. However, Jon and Sarah regained second place on the next beat and held on to the finish to take the series.

With no major damage to boats or people and no serious rescue required, the Race Officers' decision to sail in fairly extreme conditions was vindicated. Competitors returned ashore wet, exhausted, happy (some might say manic) but most importantly safe, with Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club maintaining its reputation as a fine piece of water to sail on even in the remnants of Hurricane Frances. Those who had made the trip from the deep south were all very pleased to have done so.

Results

1st N3445 Jon Ibbotson and Sarah Edwards
2nd N3492 Graham Camm and Zoë Ballantyne
3rd N3436 Steve Sallis and Tressa King
4th N3488 Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall

1st Admiral's cup

N3217 Phil David & Nigel May