Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

The third leg of the RS200 Northern Tour was hosted at Staunton Harold. Eight boats turned out to put their light wind speed to the test.

With the wind blowing straight down the lake we all thought we'd be in for a day of consistent breeze and moderate shifts... how wrong we were. The first beat showed that you couldn't relax until you were round the mark, no matter how far ahead you were with drastic pressure differences leaving some people drifting and others hiking along with 30+ degree wind shifts. Martin and Barbara managed to pick their way through the lulls and shifts to be first round the windward mark and then leaving the fleet behind as they sailed away over the coming laps. Jon and Heather managed to hold onto second from Gemma and Tim who charged through the fleet after being buried at the first mark.

The second race was much the same, however the wind completely dying and then filling in again 40 degrees further left made the last run rather interesting. Ollie and Esther managed to keep the lead down to the final leeward mark and to the finish with Martin and Barbara hot on their heels. Locals Nigel and Di keeping it consistent with a fourth in the first race were close behind in third.

After dinner it wasn't looking very promising for any more racing and it looked as though Martin and Barbara had got the job done. A downpour brought with it a fresh breeze which lasted long enough to get another two races in. Four boats on all 7 points after the first two races meant it was all to play for and no room for error.

Martin and Barbara started where they left off by taking the win in the third race and looked like they'd got it in the bag, however Ollie and Esther managed to get into second up the short upwind to the finish meaning it was all down to the last race. The ever-consistent Nigel and Di came home in third. At four races the discard kicked in meaning second to sixth was still wide open.

Ollie and Esther managed to get into the pressure first to take the lead ahead of Nigel and Di. To the relief of Ollie and Esther it was a short race with the wind dying again and they managed to hold onto the lead to take the win from Martin an Barbara in the final race, giving them the overall win on countback with Martin and Barbara back in 6th in the final race, giving them the exact reverse score line. Nigel and Di being by far the most consistent of the day held onto second in the final race securing them third overall.

Thank you to Staunton Harold for hosting the event and making the most of very tricky conditions.

Congratulations to Russ and Lucy on winning the raffle for the Sailing Chandlery voucher.

Thank you to Sailing Chandlery for their continued support.

We hope to see you all at the next event at Yorkshire Dales on the 1st-2nd June.

Overall Results:

Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour at Staunton Harold - photo © Simon Forbes