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N18 Inland Championship, Sunday September 1st

Published 13:08 on 7 Sep 2024

Six National 18s of various generations descended on the club on Sunday 1^st September 2024 to take part in the annual Inlands Championship. The turnout included two Ultras, two Ultimates and two Penultimates, which included Ollie Houseman with 'Ace' and Trevor Chanter from Bough Beech SC with 'Eastern Promise'. The mix of different generations of 18s made for some exciting racing as different boats would battle it out throughout the races.

An innovation for 2024 was the introduction of the Peter Fayers Cup for the first Non-Ultra 18. It is hoped that this will encourage Non-Ultra 18s to compete.

The sailors were greeted with a board easterly wind and sunshine, a rare combination. The easterly wind which made launching a tricky affair. However, all boats managed to launch without any major incidents. Peter Mason, as OOD, set a dog-leg course with a downstream start towards Lensbury. The course remained unchanged throughout the day.

Race 1 saw most of the fleet caught out by the prompt start (a lesson to be learnt there!). As a result, Matt PJ in 'Optimus Prime' took the lead and kept it for the rest. Ollie Houseman in 'Ace' did his best to catch up and nearly did but unfortunately Matt PJ had a sufficient lead to take the bullet on the water. The rest of fleet were no less active with the Ultimates of Zephyr, Snow Goose mixing at various times with the Penultimates of Genevieve and Eastern Promise. The wind was such that a boat could sail into a dead patch before the boats behind caught up and overtake. Unfortunately, this was the case with Snow Goose.

Race 2 saw Ollie Houseman taking the lead and holding it for the remainder of the race. Matt PJ kept pace but unfortunately lost ground on Ollie before the finish, leaving Ollie to take the bullet. Charles Fox in 'Genevieve' kept pace with Ollie and Matt for the first couple of laps before the weight advantage of the Ultras paid off. Unfortunately for Charles, he was caught and overtaken by the rest of the fleet.

Race 3 and 4 saw a similar pattern to Race 1 and 2 with Ollie again taking both races on the water although the visiting Penultimate 'Eastern Promise' had its say when it came to the handicap results.

Many thanks to Peter Mason as OOD with Richard Mason in the box and Sean Roberts on the launch, who was ably assisted by his daughter. Thanks too to the catering team who kept the sailors watered and fed on what proved to be a very warm September day.

Maddison Cup - 1^st over the Line