What an event! The first Hurricane Inland Championships was sailed in fantastic weather, great company and the closest sailing seen this year. It was clear from the off that the competition was wide open.
The racing was always going to be a war of attrition with the phrase “ keep your head out of the boat” more applicable than possibility at any other venue…….. and Rutland was true to its word with massive wind shifts and wind shears testing the most experienced of crews.
By the end of Saturday’s racing the lead team was John Ready and Angus Roberts (Mersea) posting two 1st’s and a 7th. Pushing them was John Tuckwell and Chelsea Furber (Bala) with two 4th‘s and a 1st, Geoff and Jack Tindale (Stone) with a 2nd, 3rd 5th and the two dark horses from Starcross of Doug Smith / Jamie King and John Donovan / Eamon Tyrell making up the chasing pack. By the end of racing on the Saturday there was 1 point separating the top 5 places! It was great to see Adam and Paul Charlesworth back on the scene, having last sailed at the Nationals at Weymouth last year and some great upwind and downwind sailing by Alex Burling and Colin Ebdon.
Sunday dawned and it was Tuckwell/Furber straight out of the blocks posting a 1st with Nick Moore and Maxine Oliver in third having really found their groove. Race five was taken by Ready/Roberts with Moore/Oliver 2nd and Tuckwell/Furber 3rd. The home boat of James Martin and Bridget Vergette (Rutland) had a brilliant start with good upwind pace showing they too could do battle with the best on the front row, racing in their first Nationals.
The last race and it was still anyone’s event. Tuckwell/Furber blew a mainsheet just after the start which they repaired and clawed their way back from last to 6th. The Tindale’s went on to win the race followed by Doug Smith / Jamie King 2nd and John Donovan / Eamon Tyrell 3rd.
Special mention to Nico Sarolli who had previously only ever sailed as crew on a Dart 18, making his first outing, competition and Nationals in a Hurricane under the watchful eye of Andy Bedford. It was great to welcome him to the class and see his steady improvement throughout the event.
With the final results calculated it was John Ready and Angus Roberts who won the event with 9 points with John Tuckwell and Chelsea Furber second on 13points and Geoff and Jack Tindale taking 3rd only on count back from Doug Smith and Jamie King as both had finished on 15 points. 
All agreed that this had been some of the closest racing for some time and big smiles were had on the faces of all competitors due to the quality of the racing and the stunning weather. The event has set a good indication of what can be expected at the Nationals in August in Harwich, the home of the Hurricane where it is expected hotshots from other catamaran classes are expected to attend.
As always thanks goes to Rutland sailing Club for a fantastic and well organised event and the class sponsors of Typhoon who supplied the prizes, Andark and Insurance4dinghies by Towergate.
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