RS200 2ndhanddinghies.com SW Ugly Tour 2014 Round-Up

RS200 South West Ugly Tour © Dave Hawkins

A new year is now upon us, and a very Happy New Year to you all, but before we look ahead to the 2015 2ndhanddinghies.com SW Ugly Tour, let's have a quick reminder of what a great year 2014 was.

We kicked off at Bristol Corinthian YC for the Winter Championships, with results from day 1 counting towards the SW Ugly Tour. We had wind, lots of it, shifts galore and a hail storm to boot. James Rusden/Will Rusden took the day, followed closely by Matt Mee/Emma Norris (our 2013 Ugly tour winners).

April saw us heading over the Mendip Hills to Chew Valley Lake SC, with yet more wind on tap, and then some. By the third race this had built from blowing Dogs of Chains in race 1 and 2, to something rivalling The Perfect Storm. Three boats started, only two and a half came home... Edd Whitehead/Alice Kingsnorth showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet, storming the first two races taking the win from John Teague/Liz Teague in second.

Summer finally arrived in June, with a great turnout at the 200 stronghold of Parkstone YC. A very respectable 14 visitors joined a huge fleet of 21 home boats to deliver some close fought racing. Ian Martin/Ally Martin, counting an impressive three bullets, took the win, from Richard Edwards/Paru Edwards in second. Parkstone's strength and depth really showed, with home boats Andy Hadfield/Sam Norton, and Owain Hughes/Francesca Pottinger winning Silver and Bronze fleets respectively.

A small but high quality fleet enjoyed a trip to Exe SC, a firm favourite venue for the 200 fleet. The racing was close and tactical in the shifty F2-4 winds, with Mee/Norris mastering the conditions to take the win from Richard Edwards/Paru Edwards. To cap the day off, the famous Exe cake mountain had to be conquered, which is always a pleasure.

And so to the finale, to sunny Starcross YC in early October on the Exe estuary. The series finished as it started, with wind in abundance. The bank of white horses in the estuary looked inviting when stood in the shelter of the dinghy park, however it quickly took its toll on the fleet, with many returning to the shelter of the club by the second race. A final run showdown saw line honours for the win go to John Teague/Naomi Pound from Edd Whitehead/Iain Mairs.

So the big question was who had pulled through and taken the 2014 2ndhanddinghies.com SW Ugly tour victory?? Edd Whitehead and Alice Kingsnorth/Iain Mairs had to be favourites surely? All was revealed at the prize giving held during the Inland Championships at Chew Valley where Matt Mee/Emma Norris were crowned champions. Conspiracy was rife, a fix it surely was! Edd and Alice had been robbed! It transpired that there had indeed been some unintentionally creative scoring, to the benefit of Matt and Emma! So a results re-shuffle gives a very worthy first SW Ugly Tour series victory to Edd Whitehead and Alice Kingsnorth (Parkstone), with John Teague and Naomi Pound (Bristol Corinthian) in second, and Matt Mee and Emma Norris (Red Wharf Bay) in third. Fourth place and first Bronze fleet sailor, also beating all silver fleet sailors was Martyn Stubbs and Yvonne Smith (Chew Valley).

Onwards and upwards to 2015, and we firstly have to say a huge thanks to Pete 'Ugly' Vincent for doing such a superb job, of not only kick starting the series way back in 2009, but for organising and promoting the series ever since. Pete has decided to take a step back from organisational duties in 2015 and we will look forwards to seeing him making a guest appearance, although not in his 400! Not only that, Pete as 2ndhanddinghies.com has generously sponsored the series from the beginning, and we are very pleased to announce his continued sponsorship of the series.

We kick off the 2015 season in March, and once again will travel to some of the best venues in the SW. The first event is at Bristol Corinthian on 28th March 2015, further details coming soon! Check out the events page on the RS200 class association website (uk.rs200sailing.org) for event dates, and join our 'RS200 SW Ugly Tour 2015' Facebook group to keep up to date with all things SW!