A keen fleet of 700 sailors arrived at Queen Mary for the 2009 running of the inland championships.  Numbers had been bolstered by the influx of newcomers to the fleet including strong contingents from a resurgent Queen Mary fleet and near neighbours King George.  However the prize for the most intrepid journey undertaken must go to the two members of the German fleet who had driven overnight to take part.

Tricky launching into a gusty wind meant race 1 started with some of the fleet still on the wall.  After a short but competitive race Rob Jones crossed the finish line first just as the RS 400 fleet started.  Unfortunately he had missed the briefing and the significance of the Z flag, and incurred a 20% points penalty.  Second was Richard Allen, and third, fresh from his overnight trip from Germany, was Simon Horsfield.

The second race provided some extremely close racing, with the fleet arriving together at the first leeward mark.  At the end of the second round Phil Dickenson was leading, closely followed by Jon Heissig and Tony Dencher.  James Ross found a good shift to passs them all at the finish, despite a slight detour as he was unable to count to three, followed by Heissig and Chris Aston.

The race officer was learning just how fast these boats are and Race 3 was a hefty 5 laps,.  The race quickly developed into a three boat race between Ross, Jones and Heissig.  Jones stepped off the side downwind, leaving two for the remaining 4 laps.  This continued until Ross capsized on the final gybe at the final mark, letting Heissig reach to the line first, Jones recovering to third.

Saturday night saw the fleet enjoying a supper in the club and involved the 2009 circuit prizegiving and a very late presentation for the European championship trophy which hadn’t made it to the event for a variety of reasons. 

Sunday morning dawned to beautifull sunshine and an even stronger brreze which was looking distinctly challenging.  Dencher lead at the first mark of Race 4  followed by Heissig, who gybed early into a large gust.  Dencher held on, gybed, and got pinned against the wall flat out with sails flogging, fortunately finding a lull to drop the kite just before the clubhouse.  Ross and Horsfield stayed upright the most to complete the top three.

Brendan Jenner found excellent speed to lead from the start of race 5, and when arriving at the windward mark for the second time wisely kept the spinnaker in the chute.  Heissig hoisted and blitzed past, but was flattened while trying to drop.  Dickenson moved into second, Ross getting another good result in third.

Jenner again lead at the first windward mark of race 6, closely followed by Heissig, Dickenson and Ross.  Unfortunately Heissig stepped off the back of the boat while bearing away, and was closely covered by Ross in a depleted fleet.  Dickenson sailed away to win the race, Ross ensured his overall win with a second place and Jenner was first of the silver fleet and an excellent third overall.  A big thank you to QMSC for hosting us once again and to Gul for their continued support.