RS Sailing RS200 Northern Tour at Filey Sailing Club

RS200s at Filey © FSC

RS200s at Filey © FSC

Young Guns take it!

The fourth event of the RS Sailing RS200 Northern Tour was hosted by Filey SC on the weekend of 16th / 17th July.

Following the trend of good turnouts for the earlier event in the series 15 boats entered the event, which was part of the Filey SC Regatta weekend.

Saturday was very windy with testing gusts on top. Keith Escritt & Andrea Clough won the first race from Oliver Groves & Esther Parkhurst and James & Martin Penty. Oliver & Esther won the second race from Keith & Andrea and James & Martin. James and Martin applied 'Penty Power' to take the third from Oliver & Esther with Eddie and Emma Grayson taking the final podium position of the day in third.

Unluckiest sailors of the day were Sam and Tim Waller, whose frequent challenges for the lead either came to a wet end or, in one race, by a navigation error at the finish. Top performance from youngsters and super lightweights Alistair & Charlotte Scott who battled round after many more experienced crews had gone home. And finally, best capsize of the day was by Bernard Clark who rather gracefully slipped off the back of the boat on the last leg leaving crew Ed Scott flying downwind until the inevitable splash.

Saturday evening was spent 'rehydrating' in the warm sunshine with superb food by Mandy Whitehead whilst enjoying the stunning backdrop of Filey, the Bay and white cliffs towards Flamborough.

RS200s at Filey - photo © FSC

Sunday started windy (but not silly windy (!!)) and dropped slowly to 'breezy' with holes to catch out the unwary.

Oliver / Esther came out fighting in the fourth race with a win from Richard Whitely & Lucy Wade and Keith & Andrea. The fifth race saw James & Martin take the win from Oliver & Esther and Keith & Andrea.

Oliver & Esther's first and a second put them in control leading into the final race, with James & Martin just having an advantage over Keith and Andrea for second overall.

A cheeky port tack start put Keith and Andrea in the lead of the final race with the James & Martin and Oliver & Esther chasing. At the finish line, the order remained the same.

So with race wins split evenly between top three, it was Oliver and Esther's greater consistency counting nothing but firsts and seconds that won them the event from Keith and Andrea whose last race win gave them second on count back from James and Martin.

All in all a great weekend with some spectacular sailing.

Next stop on the RS Sailing RS200 Northern Tour is Coniston on the 6th / 7th August.

Overall Results: