RS200 Open at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

RS200s at Leigh & Lowton © Tim Yeates

RS200s at Leigh & Lowton © Tim Yeates

RS200s at Leigh & Lowton © Tim Yeates

14 visitors joined 4 home boats for the RS200 Open meeting at Leigh and Lowton on Sat 24th September, the seventh event of the RS sailing sponsored RS200 Northern Tour Series. Race Officer Mike Baldwin had a tough job to set a Windward Leeward course across the width of the Flash in a shifty F3. The first attempt was unsurprisingly a General Recall as a heavily port bias shift came through the start area. The second and every subsequent start from then on was much more well behaved under black flags.

In the first race Ollie Groves and Esther Pankhurst from Beaver SC threw down the gauntlet, mastering the difficult "Rio" like conditions with a win, closely followed by Alistair and Henry Scott from Ripon SC with Russell and Victoria Page from Budworth SC in third.

In the second race, sailed back to back with the first, experience triumphed over youth in the challenging conditions. Mike Saul with new crew Annabelle Page kept a cool head to take the win whilst all around them place changes were a plenty, Martin and Sian Joesbury from Budworth showed their mastery of the shifts with a second and then Russell and Victoria posting another consistent third.

Lunch, provided by the legendary Leigh galley, came as a welcome relief after the 2 race work out.

In the third race Dave Exley crewed by young son Charlie from Leigh and Lowton found the shortest path to the windward mark, but we're soon overhauled by the more experienced teams in the freshening breeze. Once again, Ollie and Esther took the win followed by Martin and Tom Penty from Beaver SC with home favourites Louise Mckeand and Cathy Partington in third.

RS200s at Leigh & Lowton - photo © Tim Yeates

With no fewer than 7 different teams posting podium positions in 3 races, it was all to play for in the final race, and now the breeze was coming to play as well with strong gusts creating full on planning downwind with the occasional obstacle of an upturned hull (mentioning no names). Proving that 21 year old boats can be just as competitive as the latest boats, Alistair Coates with young son Tom from the home club stormed off the starboard end of the line to lead the final race at the first mark. They held on to their lead despite their light weight and strengthening wind for 2 laps, eventually succumbing to the downwind speed of Edward and Emma Grayson from Beaver SC who showed excellent boat handling skills to take the win followed by Ollie and Esther in second with Martin and Sian Joesbury in third.

So Ollie Groves and Esther Pankhurst won the Leigh and Lowton 200 Open from a consistent Mike Saul and Annabelle Page in second, with Martin and Sian in third.

Ollie and Esther thanked Leigh and Lowton for the well run event and especially the PRO Mike Baldwin who managed to set fair Windward Leeward courses in very shifty conditions.

The winners of the Ropes4boats raffle voucher were Louise McKeand/Cathy Partington (£40) and Tony Taylor/Debbie Sutcliffe (£10)

The Northern Tour would like to thank RS Sailing for their series support and Ropes4boats for their raffle prizes.

The Northern 200 circuit moves on to its final leg at Budworth SC on the 8th October.

Overall Results: