RS200 Winter Warmer at Itchenor Sailing Club

Itchenor RS200 Winter Warmer © George Yeoman

Itchenor RS200 Winter Warmer © Tom Morris

This weekend was the final days of the Itchenor SC RS200 Winter Warmer and we could not have had 2 more contrasting days. Saturday saw 11 boats turn out to the race course and they were greeted with 7 knots and glorious sunny weather. Sunday had 14 boats and a strong south-westerly 17-24 knots.

Four races were completed on Saturday with 20 minute windward-leeward races.

Race 1 saw Tim Saxton & Tim Goodhew lead at the windward mark and hung on the right hand side of the run to try and cheat the tide. George Yeoman & Sophie Ormsby gybed across early to the left with Rob Struckett & Isabel Elliman and found an eddy in the tide. This allowed them to take 1 & 2 which they held till the end of the race.

Race 2 and Tim & Tim won the start to lead at the top mark again this time they made no mistake and stayed left down the run and extended whilst Ben Palmer & Lucy Preston managed to over haul Neil Barrett & Sophie Jones at the last leeward make to take 2nd.

Race 3 and this time George & Sophie managed to get away off the pin and led at the windward mark, gybe setting off to the favoured left hand side with Imogen Stanley & Olly Spensly-Corfield. Ben & Lucy and Maria Stanley & Jon Pinner came across the tide on a nice gust and managed to squeeze through to 2nd & 3rd by the bottom mark. George & Sophie led to the finish, whilst a battle ensued behind between Ben & Lucy and Maria & Jon. Maria & Jon managed to squeeze through on the final downwind to take 2nd.

Race 4 saw Ben & Lucy lead around the first windward mark closely followed by Rob & Isabel, George & Sophie and Maria & Jon. Rob & Isabel decided to break right down the run after the windward mark had drifted upwind and this looked very good until the final 3rd of the run where George & Sophie and Maria & Jon over took. Up the next beat the mark had been moved back downwind again, but unfortunately Ben & Lucy missed how far it had been moved and this let George & Sophie through to take the gun.

On Sunday there was a question on whether the wind would pick up to the expected 30 knots, but luckily some Itchenor members agreed to help with extra rescue cover and this allowed the 14 boats to complete 3 races.

Race 5 and Tim & Tim once again won the pin end and led by a good distance at the windward mark. Behind a group of boats fought over the remaining places with Tom Morris & Emma Porteous leading from Ben & Lucy. Up the 2nd beat George & Sophie managed to close the gap to Tom & Emma overhauling Ben & Lucy, and then managing to squeak through to 2nd down the run. Ben & Lucy managed to take 3rd at the expenses of Tom & Emma who had a slight horizontal incident at the leeward mark, resulting in a swim.

Race 6 and the wind had increased slightly and the top mark saw a close rounding with Tim & Tim leading from George & Sophie, Maria & Jon and James & Will Rusden. On the first run a change of places saw Maria & Jon overtake the group with James & Will coming in 2nd. Up the next beat George & Sophie and Tim & Tim split left while Maria & Jon and James & Will carried on right and at the next cross they had 1st and 2nd. George & Sophie then extended down the next run to win the race with Tim & Tim 2nd with Maria & Jon 3rd.

In race 7 the tide had turned making some very choppy conditions which made downwind quite frisky. Tom & Emma led with Maria & Jon, Ben Ainsworth & Imogen Stanley, Ben & Lucy and George & Sophie all close behind until George & Sophie capsized on the leeward mark making mark rounding difficult for the following boats. Tim & Tim made the most of their extra weight up the next beat to pull up to 4th and right behind the leading group, and then sneak past on the final downwind. Ben & Lucy took 2nd with Tom & Emma 3rd.

This was the final weekend of the inaugural Itchenor RS200 Winter Warmer and with 14 boats racing on the last day it had to be said it was a great success. Many many thanks must go to the PRO Roger Yeoman who ran all the racing often from a RIB on his own and it would not have been possible to have such great racing.

Overall Results: