The 2024 Squib UK Inland Championships.
22 squibs made the annual pilgrimage to Rutland Water for the 2024 Squib Inland Championships last weekend. As ever the shore team did a great job in launching the fleet in the glorious Friday sunshine however there was a slight delay in proceedings as many stopped to watch Team Ineos Britannia win the race to the Americas Cup finals. As to who to would be the winner of the inlands it was anyone’s guess – current and previous National champions were in attendance along with many stalwarts of the fleet. It was also great to see Dan and Hattie Henderson
back racing after a 2 year break in their very shiney new boat – Penny Benjamin.
Saturday morning brought with it a mist straight out of a Dickensian novel but this soon dispersed as the fleet sailed out onto the race course. The Race officer set a windward leeward course of 3 rounds and after a short delay the fleet got off to a (surprisingly) clean start. Despite not having a great start, it was current National Champions, Micky Wright and Alex Porteous in Spoof who made the right decision as to what side of the course to go and took the win from Penny Benjamin (Hattie Henderson showing she hadn’t lost any of her skills in her break from the class) whilst Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Carley took 3rd in Lady Penelope.
The second race saw the only general recall of the whole weekend and an immediate move by the Race Officer to go to flag U. The deterrent worked and the fleet were this time sent out to go round 4 times. Conditions were tricky and it was important to keep a clean race and get the right side of some vicious shifts. What’s the Story (Nic Tolhurst and Ross Corbett) rounded the top mark first however were unable to stop the charge of Nigel Grogan and 
Ben Mcgraine in Helmut Shoing, Spoof managed to navigate into second place whilst Whats the Story held off the rest of the fleet to take third.
Race 3 was a game of snakes and ladders with multiple position changes throughout the race as the fleet saw multiple wind shifts. This time it was Squib stalwarts Malcolm Blackburn and Dave Sheils in Moonstone who headed to the right of the course and took the initial lead however Helmut Shoing were getting into the grove and working their way up the fleet with a fantastic first run which took them from mid fleet to front row. Unfortunately Malcom was unable to hold them off and Nigel and Ben took their second win of the day. Malcolm and Andy in Lady Penelope took third. With racing going like clockwork (a fantastic job by the race team) and the fleet behaving themselves, race 4 was soon underway and again it felt like Groundhog Day for Nigel and Ben – another great win. However for the rest of us a real battle was being played out. With 9 of the fleet coming from the RCYC at times it felt like club racing on the Crouch as Burnham boat crossed Burnham boat. Ray Apthorp and Ian Simons in Chequemate showed that their recent skill during Burnham week was not a fluke and took second ahead of Lady Penelope.
At the end of day 1 it was unsurprising that Nigel and Ben were topping the leader board with Micky and Alex knowing that 3 bullets on day 2 was the only way to topple them and they started well in this aim with a 1st in the first race of the day. Again showing great speed and consistency it was Dan and Hattie in 2nd whilst Guy Fawkes (Phil Aspinall and Dave Shepherd) completed the podium. Unfortunately the second race didn’t quite go to plan for Team Spoof and they watched Helmut Shoing escape to another convincing win while they got stuck in the middle of the fleet. A special mention should go to Tye Witchard and Keith Gilmore in Zoom, taking part in their first squib inlands who took second place with both fantastic speed and tactics ahead of Penny Benjamin.
It was the turn of Dan and Hattie to show a clean pair of heels in the last race and stomp away with the win. Second place went to Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan in Ric’O’Shea holding off Spoof right to the end.
The only consolation for Spoof was winning the sail back to the pontoon and getting ahead in the queue for the trailers!
Helmut Shoing took first place, showing pace and consistency throughout the weekend. Second, and also super speedy, were Dan and Hattie in Penny Benjamin. Just one point behind in third place were Micky and Alex in Spoof. The team trophy went to the Burnham trio of Helmut Shoing, Spoof and Chequemate whilst the “ye olde sea dogs” trophy was awarded to Dick Batt and Pete Richards in Squib.
The most important trophy though went to Tony “Salty” Saltonstall who after many years of sailing squibs and being the ultimate squib guru has decided to call time. Many thanks go to him for all his work in the squib fleet and we hope we can persuade him out of retirement every once in a while!