Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour at Budworth Sailing Club

Budworth RS200 Open Prize Winners © Jon Ward

The final event of the Sailing Chandlery sponsored RS200 Northern Tour took place at Budworth SC on Saturday, 20th October with five visitors joining the eight home boats.

The competitors were greeted by very little wind and for a while it looked as though the event may not have been sailable. After a short postponement a force 1-2 southerly allowed racing to start.

In the first race, Jon Chapman & Wendy Martin starting from the pin end of the line took an early lead. With the wind going through a cycle of dropping and filling back in there were lots of place changes throughout with Martin & Sian Joesbury, looking somewhat bleary after an overnight flight, pulling through to win. Jon & Wendy finished second and Tony Taylor & Debbie Sutcliffe just pipped Jon & Heather Ward on the final approach to the line to take third place.

The second race was sailed back to back and Jon & Wendy again pulled off the best start at the pin end of the line. However, this time they were never headed and took a well-deserved win. Louise McKeand & Kathy Partington finished second with Martin & Sian in third.

Following a break for lunch, the third and fourth races were sailed back to back. The wind had swung round to become a much more consistent F2 south-westerly.

Jon & Wendy again pulled off the best start at the pin end of the line and sailed consistently throughout to take another win. Martin & Sian finished second and Russell & Vicky Page finishing third.

Jon & Wendy were in a strong position to take the open meeting win, but Martin & Sian could still win if they won the last race.

In the end the start decided the event, Jon & Wendy again won the start at the pin end and Martin & Sian had started poorly and were never able to recover eventually retiring. During the race, the lead changed several times before Tony & Debbie pulled through to take the win. Jon & Wendy finished second with third place being taken by Russell & Vicky.

Jon & Wendy won the event having shown the fleet how to start in all four races and sailed consistently throughout. Second overall was taken by Martin & Sian, with Tony & Debbie taking third. Russell & Vicky took fourth to complete a Budworth 1-2-3-4. Home advantage does count for something!

The raffle for the two £20 Sailing Chandlery vouchers was won by Alastair Hodgson & Joanna Worrall and Robin & Erin Dawson.

Many thanks to Budworth Sailing Club for hosting the event and especially to the PRO Mark Antonelli and his team for managing to get four races in on what had been a less than promising day.

Finally, a big thank you to Sailing Chandlery for their sponsorship of the 2018 RS200 Northern Tour.

Overall Results: