Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour at Yorkshire Dales © Oliver Groves

The second two-day event of the series took place at Yorkshire Dales over the first weekend in June. We all expected a strong wind blowing over the damn wall on at least one of the days, but instead had to make do with one light and shifty and one reasonably windy but still shifts day of racing.

Four races were to be sailed on the Saturday with a further 3 taking place on the Sunday brining 2 discards into play. It soon became clear that keeping it consistent was much easier said than done with the erratic shifts and pressure differences on the course.

Race 1 saw Oliver and Ben take an early commanding lead over the fleet up the first beat and looked like they were going to sail away from the fleet, only to be caught out by one of the many drastic shifts of the weekend which allowed Ollie and Esther to squeeze through followed by Keith and Jo. Martin and Barbara putting their experience to good use managed to pull through to take third.

The second race was round 2 for the top 2 in the first race with Keith and Jo getting the jump on the final beat. Ollie and Esther managed to pick the pressure down the last run to get into second ahead of Oliver and Ben who were looking very quick at their first Northern Tour appearance.

All the sailors were hoping for a little more breeze for the afternoon races along with some warmer temperatures!

The first of the afternoon races saw things get mixed up a little. A bit more pressure, still shifty, with a relatively short beat meant we were fighting for every half boat length upwind. The fleet rounded the windward mark as one with Ollie and Esther just managing to get their bow ahead. The rest of the race looked like a game of snakes and ladders with some gaining a few positions picking the shifts and pressure perfectly and others just getting on the wrong side of one or two and dropping back. At the finish it was Ollie and Esther across first followed by fellow Beaver team mates Gemma and Tim with Martin and Sian getting ahead of the rest in third.

The final race of the day saw the lighter winds return. It had been a lottery as to which side paid on each beat with only the RS400s starting 5 minutes before as any real guide. Off the line there was a huge split, 3 boats heading off hard right after being spat out the back off the line or having to do penalty turns with the rest of the fleet going hard left into the shore. A tense few minutes as you wait to find out who got the luck of the draw with them. The right-hand side, thankfully, came in strong with the pressure filling in from that side along with nice right shift put the boats on the right clear ahead at the first mark. That left the rest of the fleet fighting for 4th. A repeat of the 3rd race saw Ollie and Esther take the win closely followed by Gemma and Tim with Oliver and Ben finishing the day strong with another 3rd.

The forecast for Sunday was wet and windy, more like typical Yorkshire Dales conditions, however it was one of the rare occasions where it didnt deliver. Instead we had another 3 races of soaking with the odd bit of hotting it up. Martin and Barbara kept Ollie and Esther honest in the first race with Jon and Heather holding off the rest of the fleet to come home third.

The penultimate race was greeted with a huge right-hand shift on the line which held for the whole beat putting the boats on the left on the back foot. Unfortunately for the rest of the fleet Ollie and Esther picked the right hand side and stayed ahead to the finish with Martin and Barbara having a much better day with another second, followed by Martin and Sian in third.

Everything was still all to play for in the final race with 4 boats able to clinch second. Martin and Sian were back to their usual form and took home the win followed by Gemma and Tim and Jon and Heather. Martin and Barbara managing to secure third by just keeping ahead of Keith and Jo.

In the end it was a Beaver Sailing Club 1,2 with Ollie and Esther taking the win and Gemma and Tim in second with a narrow gap back to Martin and Barbara in third.

Thank you to Yorkshire Dales for hosting the event and making the most of the tricky conditions and to Sailing Chandlery for their continued support.

The next event is on the 15th June at Pennine Sailing Club, hope to see you there!

Overall Results: