2010 RS200 South West Ugly Tour

Christian Humphrey and Noelle Vidal (together with 'His Uglyness' Pete Vincent) win a new spinnaker after winning the RS200 South West Ugly Tour © SWUT

Never has a cliché been truer than when the RS200 South West Ugly Tour overall winner went right down to the wire with the overall winner of the Tour changing in the last 200 yards of the final leg of the final race of the final event. But more of that later.

In its second year the South West Ugly Tour (SWUT), sponsored by West Country Boat Repairs, really built on the huge success of the first year. The 5 events attracted 82 different boats with an average turnout of 27 boats at each event. There were also 5 different winners of the 5 events showing how open the racing was. Blessed yet again by visiting 5 of the most scenic and top sailing locations in the country 3 of the events, Bristol CYC, Chew Valley LSC and Exe SC were blessed by truly memorable sailing conditions. Mounts Bay hid some of its glory hidden in mizzle but the generally light winds were true for good racing. Starcross saw the most variable conditions giving Russ Gibbs as PRO a very hard day but was still a very good event.

Competitors arrived at the final event at Exe SC with 5 boats having a real prospect of winning overall whilst 3 boats were separated by 4 points in the bronze division. Going into the last race Christian Humphrey/Noelle Vidal and Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls were doing very well overall at the event to be in prime position for overall circuit victory but both had an OCS and needed a top last race result to do so. Starting the final leg Pete/Tessa were in second heading for a 3rd place at the open but a determined Sam Littlejohn/Marianthe Evangelidis won a very close last mark tussle to gain 2nd and overall win of the open on count back. This dropped Pete/Tessa to 4th overall; as it transpired 3rd would have seen them tie with Christian/Noelle and win the Tour on count back.

As it was Christian and Noelle’s 5th overall at Exe proved decisive to go along with ballistic early season form with 2nd at BCYC and 5th Chew Valley. The top five overall won a days coaching with National Champion Dave Hivey.

Tony and Zach Freer from Chew Valley won the silver division by a street, not bad for a 9 year old crew! Chew’s Dave and Jeannie Oakey had been leading the bronze division all season and confirmed overall victory at Exe just ahead of club mates Mike Riley/Mary Hill and Dittisham’s Trevor Black/Anna Stillman. These four boats won a day’s coaching with Pete Vincent.

Everyone who competed in 3 events went into a draw for a brand new kite; Christian/Noelle completed a memorable day by winning the draw as well! Look out for announcement of the SWUT dates for 2011 before the end of the year.

Overall Results: