As a new venue to the class the fleet was greeted with a very warm welcome by the club. The sun was shining on the picturesque Peak District scenery as the two fleets launched in a gentle South Westerly, fortunately slightly stronger than forecast at 8-10 knots. The Pro fleet were the first fleet to start and Zoe Lomas-Clarke from Frensham Pond SC built a strong lead on the first lap. The shifty conditions were set to catch out lots of the sailors all weekend and Luke Rowlands (Rutland SC) came back to overhaul Zoe and take a commanding lead himself to win from Zoe and Mark Soars also from Frensham Pond SC. In the Sport fleet, the front pack was closer, led by Rafe Bradley, Cass Day and Hannah Yates, all from Gurnard SC. After the silence at the finish gun for some of the leaders, light wind specialist Ullswater YC’s Aggie Priestley took the win, followed by sister Laia and Gurnard’s Cass Day.

The wind was predicted to slowly veer during the day and it started to shift after the start of the second race. Zoe took the win in the Pro fleet followed by Luke and Zach Williamson from Ripon SC. Rafe and Cass had a very close tussle in the Sport fleet with Rafe taking the win, Cass second and Max Edwards (Frensham Pond SC) in third. There was a pause in proceedings while Race Officer Matt Rowley waited for the wind to settle to its new Westerly direction and re-set the course for the third race. For the remaining races of the day Luke Rowlands, Mark Soars and Bassenthwaite SC’s James Reekie traded top three places, leaving Luke in the overnight lead, followed by Mark and Zoe. In the Sport fleet consistency was hard to come by. Aggie clocked up another podium, Rafe took a win but Cass was the most consistent over the day to lead the fleet overnight.

Sunday arrived with less wind than forecast and a permanent shift to the North West. With large holes in the wind, less pressure than expected and big wind shifts it was another tough day for consistency. In a couple of the races, the leading group got away, only for the mid-fleet to become becalmed as they approached the windward mark. Mark Soars dominated the first two Pro races to win from Luke Rowlands with Zoe Lomas-Clarke and James Reekie trading third places. In the Sport fleet the line honours were more spread throughout the fleet. Molly Wilson from Filey SC won the first race of the day from Cass Day and she followed that result with a second in the next race, only beaten by her brother Harry.

In the penultimate race, the top three boats overall shared the top three places, leaving Cass and Rafe tied on 11 points going into the last race. Thomes Hill from Royal Lymington won the race with Hannah Yates in second and Rafe Bradley’s third place was enough for him to take the 2024 RS Tera Sport Inlands title. The Pro fleet was equally close with the overall result also being decided in the last race between Mark and Luke, with Mark comfortably taking the race win. An impressive series from both sailors had Luke discarding a second place but one more first awarded Mark the 2024 RS Tera Pro Inland Champion title, but only beating Luke on countback.

While the Sport and Pro fleets raced on the main course, the Regatta fleet enjoyed superb conditions for their train and race sessions lead by Finlay Lomas-Clarke, from the RS Tera Class coaching team aided by Loz Shell. Smiles, adventures around the island and capsize practice is the ideal recipe for building confidence before progressing to the main fleet. The Regatta fleet is the future of our class and with such strong support, the future of the Class is very bright and very (Tera) orange.

The UK RS Tera Class and all the sailors would like to thank Tim Bird, Steve Barnett, Phil Holland (gatekeeper, mark layer and barman!) at Carsington Sailing Club, all their volunteers and the race team and PRO Matt Rowley, escaping his usual environ at Draycote, for a superb event with fantastic conditions. Thanks also to the galley team for keeping us fed and watered over the weekend.
Once again, huge thanks to our long-running Class sponsor Rooster for their generous prizes for the event, you guys are awesome!

It took us a long time to discover Carsington, but I’m sure it won’t be many years before we return!

Photos courtesy Meg Kelly and Tim Bird