RS Vareo National Tour at the South Cerney Sailing Club Asymmetric Open

RS Vareo concentrating © South Cerney SC

RS Vareo drift bunch © South Cerney SC

The South Cerney Sailing Club (SCSC) holds an annual Asymmetric Open Meeting which doubles up as one of the RS Vareo Rooster National Tours. There are a huge number of RS Vareos located at SCSC but sadly few are seen on the water.

This year's event was sailing in very disappointing winds, at ten o'clock there was no wind and a long delay was on the cards. The winds filled in a small amount to allow two races in the morning and two in the afternoon but the whole day was a frustrating set of trips to the windy part of the course only to find the expected wind gone and some filling in from the other side of the course sent others from last to first.

The fleet consisted of four travelling RS Vareos and three from SCSC, plus an RS200 from SCSC. The RS200 lead out the fleet in all the races but never got far enough to win any races, just picking up seconds and thirds, at least this left the RS Vareos to their own class racing for most of the day.

The first race saw local sailor Kevin Whitehead lead out the fleet, only to choose the wrong side so take himself and Nick Crickmore to the back of the fleet – so much for local knowledge. Nick fought back to second RS Vareo behind Luke which looked like the recipe for the day.

The second race saw local sailor Andrew Appleton take an inspired course up the right-hand side of the upwind leg and leap to the front of the fleet in lap two. Kevin spotted this and repeated the action in laps three and four to get to the front of the fleet and take a first place after Luke was kind in not covering Kevin as aggressively as he could have done. Cheryl Wood was very pleased to finish ahead of Nick Crickmore and Luke Fisher at the line.

RS Vareo light - photo © South Cerney SC

A tasty lunch of chilli-beef wraps was laid on by the Cadet parents who had a Cadet training which kept well clear of the asymmetric action.

After lunch the wind filled in and it looked for a while if we were going to have a real charge around the lake with spinnakers flying and some real high-speed competition. The race officer Dave Whittle had quite some problems setting a start line as the wind completely changed directions several times causing the committee boat to have to relocate twice. By the time a line was set and we just had to start regardless of the wind, which had gone back to patchy with frequent changes of direction.

Race three saw Nick Crickmore and Luke Fisher dominate from the start and leave the rest of us standing. Kevin sailed clear of the chasing pack to take third.

Race four was another frustrating drift about with various people taking gambles which didn't pay off as chasers sailed right round them by following the wind. As in all races the order changed many times with Kevin managing to stay in touch with the RS200 and leave the remaining fleet a leg down. As the wind filled in from behind, there was much panicking from Kevin, whose wind indicator was spinning in circles and spinnaker would not settle on either side, let Andrew Appleton close up to to touching distance before reaching the final mark. Kevin hung on to get his second bullet of the day.

Prize Winners (from left to right): Luke Fisher, Nick Crickmore, Andrew Appleton, Kevin Weatherhead, Alistair Sim and Matt Sim - photo © South Cerney SC

The irony of the day is that Kevin sold his RS Vareo 547 in February in favour of a Hadron H2 and was only persuaded to sail by Nick Crickmore who has had many close battles with Kevin in the past. This will now be an annual duel in the racing calendar, roll on 2019 at SCSC!

Your next event is RS Vareo Rooster National Tour event number three at Alton Water SC 26-27 May.

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