Last year's howling winds were this weekend replaced by a forecast of extremely low wind and as other clubs and fleets took the decision to cancel early, the PRO, Don Munro, welcomed the fleet of 20 to this year's Squib Inland Championship at Rutland with a promise that he would do his best to get the fleet racing.
As Saturday dawned, the wind was there but very light and with an expectation that it would drop by the afternoon the fleet got out onto the water with fingers crossed that it wasn't to be a wasted journey. A 2 lap windward leeward course was set (avoiding the many fishing boats) and amazingly the fleet set off first go. Lady Penelope looked to have made a good start on port from the pin however a slight error in crossing the fleet required a penalty turn and pushed them down the fleet. Meanwhile What's the Story, Discord and Wildfire took the right hand side of the course. Up the middle of the course, and with a lovely lift on port tack, were Guy Fawkes and Spoof. By the first mark it was What's the Story (WTS) followed by Spoof. Downwind was painful as the rest of the fleet gathered speed and converged at the leeward mark. Whilst WTS rounded first they had a difficult decision as to who to cover - Spoof who had headed left after the mark or Croc who were looking favourable on the right. Ultimately it was the left hand side that paid and Spoof were able to reach the mark first and hold the lead to the finish. WTS held off a late challenge from Lady Penelope to take second. For the remainder of the fleet the wind slowly fizzled out and the PRO took the decision to whisky the final few to avoid being timed out.
Unfortunately the wind switched off after this first race and it was back to the club and all important awarding of the DOTD jacket (freshly recovered after a years rest in Lowestoft...) After being awarded it the Friday evening, Nick Milton took the opportunity to award it to Chris Jordan who had wrongly thought the leeward mark was the pin end of the line.
Sunday and, after a short postponement, a different location for racing as we headed left away from the moorings. The first race was tricky with the wind shifting to the left shortly after the start, however the decision was made to continue the race and get a regatta in. It was Chequemate who managed to get ahead and round the first mark but with the wind shifting they found the perfect hole just by the spreader mark and six boats were able to overtake. Spoof wiggled free and appeared to have a convincing lead heading to the final mark but typically found a similar lovely hole just before the mark to wait and hear everyone else catching up! Thankfully the wind reached them just in time to avoid being overtaken and they were able to take the win ahead of SQUIB and Croc.
After some deliberation and discussion, it was decided that with the wind flicking back to its original bearing there was sufficient breeze and time for a decent third race. The fleet got away cleanly once again (no general recalls at all!) and there was no one clear path to take resulting in boats arriving at the mark from various directions. Coming in from the right was Willpower whilst from the left came Chequemate, however it was Spoof once again getting round and popping their kite first. As the race progressed it was WTS who took second place ahead of Willpower and Chequemate.
And with the completion of the third race, the decision was made to head to the pontoon for recovery. With three bullets it was clearly Spoof (Micky Wright & Alex Porteous at the top of the table (for the first time at a Squib Inlands) however the rest of the podium positions were taken by What's The Story (Nic Tolhurst & Ross Corbett) and Chequemate (Ray Apthorp & Ian Simons) giving the Royal Corinthian fleet a full sweep. The prize-giving was held as boats were recovered and thanks given to the PRO, his team of volunteers and Rutland Sailing Club for their hard work over the weekend.
This concludes the UK travelling events for 2026 and with that the Travellers' Trophy was awarded to Guy Fawkes (Phil Aspinall & Dave Shepherd) for the sheer amount of travelling they have done this year (including a trip to Edinburgh for the northerns just a few weeks earlier). Next year we have a jam packed schedule with the Nationals at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in June and the new build squib to be unveiled at the RYA Dinghy Show in March. Lots to get involved in but now boats go back to continue their club racing and make their preparations for the year ahead.
Overall Results:
Pos Helm Crew Sail No Club R1 R2 R3 Pts
1 Micky Wright Alex Porteous 811 RCYC 1 1 1 3
2 Nic Tolhurst Ross Corbett 779 RCYC 2 5 2 9
3 Raymond Apthorp Ian Simons 157 Royal Corinthian YC 5 4 4 13
4 Malcolm Hutchings Andy carley 819 Burnham sc and rcyc 3 6 8 17
5 Chris Jordan Gillian Jordan 855 WOBYC 9 3 6 18
6 Phillip Aspinall Dave Sheppard 72 Royal Corinthian YC 6 9 5 20
7 Will Davies Kevan Gibb 832 Royal Forth Yacht Club 7 12 3 22
8 David Pinner Jono Baker 91 HPYC / FFSC 4 8 12 24
9 Chris Hill James Pritchard 104 Royal Dart YC 12 7 10 29
10 DICK BATT PETE RICHARDS 11 RVYC 11 2 DNC 34
11 Michael Airey K Noon 889 RSC 8 16 14 38
12 Andrew Moore Peter Hallinan 881 Felix Stowe Ferry 19 13 7 39
13 Derek Gibb Alistair Reid 888 Royal Forth Yacht Club 13 17 9 39
14 Gerard Dyson Richard Delves 800 RYYC/SYC/SCYC 17 11 11 39
15 Brad Hilton Guy Hilton 817 Rutland Sailing Club 15 10 15 40
16 Tudor Roberts Ieuan Williams 878 Holyhead sailing club 18 15 13 46
17 Christopher Wright Peter Ashworth 192 RSC 16 14 16 46
18 Gavin Kemp Nick Milton 815 RCYC 10 DNC DNC 52
19 Mike Hughes Garry Caterall 444 WKSC 14 DNC DNC 56
20 Richard Lindly Steve Rice 220 RSC 20 DNF 17 58
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