2ndhanddinghies RS200 SW Ugly Tour at Exe Sailing Club

2ndhanddinghies RS200 SW Ugly Tour at Exe © Rosey Davies

2ndhanddinghies RS200 SW Ugly Tour at Exe © Rosey Davies

The second round of the 2ndhanddinghies.com sponsored RS200 SW Ugly Tour took place on a sunny Saturday on May 23rd. It was the traditional Exmouth sunshine and bacon rolls which greeted the 18 boat strong fleet in Exe on Saturday, however it was with scepticism the fleet looked at the glassy water, the only query in the briefing "do we get a refund if we don't go sailing?!". A big change from the last event at Bristol Corinthian where too much wind was expected!

The sceptics were proven wrong as the fleet were released on time; although the breeze was light the tide was such that it was an easy sail out of the estuary and into the bay where a gentle 5knots were blowing from the north.

The first race saw Andy Brierley/Larissa Connabeer take the lead at the first mark, with the chasing pack close behind. With a swinging wind direction, John Teague/Naomi Pound pulled through to take the win, from the chasing pack of Dan/Georgie Vickers and Andy Hadfield/Karen Baker in 2nd and 3rd.

The second race started as the first began, until when rounding the leeward mark (after some confusion as to the direction of the rounding...) the leeward mark became the windward mark and kites were hoisted again by the crews. Race officer Les sensibly abandoned the race to restart when the wind settled down, 180 degrees round, now blowing from the South. Sometimes the weather forecast is very accurate!

So the second race was re-started, with a three way race at the top lead initially by Edd Whitehead/Kate Allam chased hard by Bex Partridge/Jen Miller and John Teague/Naomi Pound. The final beat saw the order re-shuffled as the fleet picked its way through the shifts and Superovas, with John Teague/Naomi Pound taking the win from Bex Partridge/Jen Miller and Edd Whitehead/Kate Allam in third place. The chasing pack was led by the series namesake and sponsor Pete 'Ugly' Vincent/Harriet Melborne.

Onto the third race, with the wind still keeping the race team on their toes with a constantly swinging breeze, this was a race for team Parkstone, with all three visiting boats battling hard for victory. After plenty of place changing, the final positions saw Andy Hadfield/Karen Baker take line honours, from Dan/Georgie Vickers and Edd Whitehead/Kate Allam in third. First of the non Parkstone race and fourth place, was again taken by Pete Vincent/Harriet Melborne and Jen Miller/Bex Partridge taking fifth.

So onto the deciding fourth and final race, with several boats in contention to take the event. The initiative was taken by Dan/Georgie Vickers, who pulled through to take the win for the race and the event sailing a very consistent series, with Liz Teague/Caz Hand (Liz's second stand in crew for the day) taking second place having fought off Edd Whitehead/Kate Allam down the final run who finished fourth from Matt/Andrea Bromley finishing the event with their best race in fifth.

After four light but closely fought races the win went to Dan/Georgie Vickers from Parkstone, with John Teague/Naomi Pound from Bristol Corinthian YC in second and Andy Hadfield/Karen Baker from Parkstone in third. The battle for silver fleet was won on paper, with both the all girl teams from Exe ending on 15 points each, the win going to Jen Miller/Bex Partridge in 5th overall and second place to Liz Teague/Zoe Kuyken/Carolyn Hand in 6th overall. Andy Brierley/Larissa Connabeer from Torquay won the bronze fleet in 9th position overall (two wins out of two events so far for this pair – a promotion to silver will be looming on the horizon). Local team of Charlie King/Josh Geare from Exe took second in bronze fleet in 11th place overall.

The sea may have been flat but the cake mountain was not – and thoroughly enjoyed by all. I'm sure the fleet will join me in thanking the wonderful Gillie Newcombe without whom none of this could have been enjoyed.

The next event sees us further up the river Exe at Starcross Yacht Club on 27 July 2015 – you won't want to miss it.

Overall Results: