2ndhanddinghies RS200 SW Ugly Tour at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

So the final event of the 2015 RS200 SW Ugly Tour, sponsored by www.2ndhanddinghies.com took place at Chew Valley Lake SC on Saturday 17th October. A light and ever so slightly chilly zephyr of wind greeted the 21 competitors, who had travelled from all across the SW along with a strong local fleet as well.

Bacon butties started the morning, which is always a good way to begin, and with the breeze appearing to build to approach 10kts on launching, the fleet were in for a close day of exciting racing.

Race one started with a recall, with the fleet rather too keen to reach the windward mark before the starting gun. Second time round the fleet started in a more orderly fashion in the light and shifty wind. Two boats pulled to the front of the fleet at the first mark, with Edd Whitehead/Claire Walsh leading the pack from Liz Teague/Fred Mainwaring and the fleet hot on their heels.

This is how the top stayed to the finish, with a tussle for third being won by locals John Spelman/Phil Brook holding off our sponsor and the tours namesake Pete 'Ugly' Vincent/Sarah Green who finished in fourth. Dave Oakey/Jeannie Oakey put in their result of the event with a 5th on home waters.

Race two looked to be a repeat of race one at the top, until Teague/Mainwaring threw caution to the shifty and light breeze by overtaking Whitehead/Walsh with their downwind pace. Battle ensued, and places were swapped again and again, until finally Whitehead/Walsh pulled through at the crucial moment to clinch the event and victory with a race to spare. Consistency pays, and the top three proved this, with once again Spelman/Brook taking the third from another Chew local David Sweet/Derian Scott in fourth.

Andy Brierley/Larissa Connabeer had their best result of the day taking a 6th in amongst the leading pack, staking a claim surely to get a promotion to Silver fleet for next season??

So into the final race, a change at the top was in order surely, but no Whitehad/Walsh and Teague/Mainwaring were having none of it, sailing away from the fleet again, cementing their overall positions. In the pack behind, there was lots of place changing with various boats sitting in third position at times, with big gains to be made in the shifts and windbends across the course.

Third position at the finish went to John Teague/Naomi Pound sneaking in front of Sweet/Scott and the girls from Exe having their best result of the day with a 5th for Victoria Upton/Jess Harding.

The prize giving was held in the bar, with eager eyes on the Welsh rugby at all times! The overall results pulled no suprises for the top two boats, with Edd Whitehead/Claire Walsh from Filey/Parkstone taking the win from Liz Teague/Fred Mainwaring from Exe.

Third position went to the local Chew Valley boat of John Spelman/Phil Brook. Silver fleet was won by another local David Sweet/Derian Scott, and Bronze fleet by Andy Brierley/Larissa Connabeer from Royal Torbay.

As this was the final event of the year, the SW Ugly Tour 2015 prizes were also presented, with our sponsor Pete Vincent from 2ndhanddinghies.com on hand to present a generous selection of copious amounts of wine, coaching sessions, boat overhauls and workshop courses to the fleet.

Overall tour victory went to John Teague/Naomi Pound from Bristol Corinthian YC, with last years winners Edd Whitehead/Many Crews taking second position. Third position and first place Silver fleet boat was Liz Teague/Many Crews also winning certain promotion to Gold fleet next season! Sailing a dominant season in Bronze fleet, to take the win and fourth place overall, was Andy Brierley/Larissa Connabeer who also will be starting next season on a promotion to Silver fleet!

Bronze fleet this year was fiercely competitive, with only one point separating the next four places, with Victoria Upton/Jess Harding having a brilliant first season in the boat to take second placed bronze boat.

With 58 individual boats competing on this years tour, 2016 is looking to be another great year, which the fleet are very much looking forwards to. The overall series results to come soon!

Overall open meeting results: