Saturday morning was wet and blustery, then as the rain cleared the wind dropped so that by the first race there was a force 2 westerly, but it was by no means steady.
Although the fleets are small, there is a high calibre of sailors ensuring competitive racing leading to some close overall positions, and little margin for error in the 200s, although most suffered from a bad move/gust at some point.
In the Vareos, the addition of Rory Yardley for Sunday’s racing will mean there are three sailors in the fleet from the top 10 in this year’s Nationals.
Vicki Flemming was unfortunate enough to break a fitting on the start line of the first race, and caused her to miss the 2nd race too, by which time the sun was out, and the gusts started coming through giving bursts of great planing conditions, and various capsizes. Vicki was unlucky enough to get her mast stuck in the mud, or finish neither race 3 or 4. Scumper (Mark Somerville), bodged a repair over lunch, and went on to win all 4 of Saturday’s races, while Toggle (Mike Cowan) tried to focus his mind after suffering a minor car crash on the way to the club! Both Toggle and Phil Davenport brought out new gennakers for the event.
Sunday turned out to be a glorious day with plenty of wind from the SW resulting the races being held in the southern end of lake from Scarness.
Racing was again very close in the 200s with the bulk of the fleet rounding the windward mark tightly bunched, but Chris Pickles moved up a gear in the stronger conditions winning all four of Sunday’s races, and the RS200 series trophy. Mike Saul came 2nd overall having sailed well taking two 2nds and two 3rds after close competition with Neil Barrett and Matt Bramley.
Robin/Ethan found the heavier conditions hard going but sailed very well and managed to beat Phil/Naomi Smith in the 2nd race before retiring from sailing for the day.
In the Vareos, after various problems on Saturday, Vicki successfully, and gleefully, finished the first race of the day in her first open. Scumper secured another two wins and the series trophy. With Toggle in a safe 2nd overall, and little to split Ullswater’s Andrew Cutting from Phil Davenport, the Vareos called it a day with no further racing after lunch.
All in all, a challenging weekends racing in mixed and exciting conditions for many similarly talented sailors.
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RS200 Winners |
RS Vareo Winner |
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Photos Mik Chappell |
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Photos © Roy Blackburn