British Keelboat League at Rutland Sailing Club

 

The British Keelboat League returned to Rutland Sailing Club for its sixth qualifier of the season with fantastic conditions and a packed schedule of racing.

Six teams battled for supremacy and a ticket to the grand BKL final with fast turnaround racing allowing each to complete 20 races over the weekend of 20-21 July 2024.

The Midlands leg of the BKL had mostly ideal winds of 8-15 knots. The Sunday started in around 20+ knots along with reefed mains and no spinnakers initially but as the breeze dropped over the morning, the racing soon reverted back to spinnakers and full mainsails.

With teams taking turns aboard the club’s four RS21 keelboats, race officer António Dionísio ran a total of 16 races on Saturday and 14 on Sunday, making a total of 30 which saw each team sailing across all boats and against all teams at various stages of the weekend.

Event coordinator David Wilkins, of Rutland Sailing Club, said: “With every team having 20 races each, they were all kept very busy on the water during the day. But this event is also about enjoyment and great social activity off the water too, and on Saturday night there was a three-course event dinner with plenty of chat and banter about the racing during the day.

“The racing was close throughout the weekend but there was a clear winner with the team representing Banbury SC claiming 18 race wins and two seconds. This was an amazing result by a strong team, especially as the wind became variable and patchy at times. Some of their finishes were very close calls.”

Winning skipper Patrick Croghan, sailing with Fraser Harris (main trim), Alice Bradford (jib/pit) and Toby Atherton (bow), said: “We really focussed on staying out of trouble at the start and keeping our options open for the first beat as it was very shifty for most of the weekend. After that we just concentrated on keeping our manoeuvres clean and sailing our own race.

“We had the benefit of racing together for a few match racing events in the past and felt quick right from the outset. We knew we had the speed to overtake people if we needed and never felt pressured to rush into any 1 to 1 situations. The results definitely look flattering but most races were a lot closer than they might seem. Luckily we were able to keep performing at a consistent level with only a handful of mistakes across the weekend.”

Banbury Sailing Club (Team Harris) and Rutland Sailing Club (Team Hooper) have qualified for a place in the national BKL final to be held at the Royal Southern Yacht Club, Hamble, 27-29 September 2024.

The final qualifier in this year’s British Keelboat League will be an additional event for the BKL 2024 calendar, the David Haw Memorial Trophy on the south coast.

This event will be raced in J70s at the Royal Southern YC, Hamble, 31 August–1 September, and jointly organised by the club with the University of Bristol SC and Royal Thames YC.

There are places for up to 12 entries and it is the last chance for teams to qualify for this year’s BKL final and be in with a shout to race in the European SAILING Champions League in 2025.

The event will include a formal dinner and charity fundraiser and for those who have already qualified for the BKL final, it will be an opportunity to get in some practise at the same venue.