West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour at St. Mawes Sailing Club

18 RS200s were blessed to race at St Mawes over the weekend. Six boats from outside of Cornwall including travellers from South Wales, Parkstone and Exe joined the twelve boats from the growing keen fleets in West Cornwall.

Due to be a two day open the Saturday proved to be a totally glorious day sandwiched between a number of days of truly gruesome weather. With 30-40 knots of wind and a monsoon forecast for Sunday an early decision was taken to fit in as many races as possible on Saturday.

Of course, part of the fun of the SW Ugly Tour is that we actually go to some of the most scenic venues in the country and boy is St Mawes/Carrick Roads a beautiful location to go sailing in. Chuck in that the fleet raced all Saturday afternoon in glorious sunshine in 15-19 knots of wind and it was almost the most perfect conditions you could imagine.

Boats launched from St Mawes Quay and headed for the racecourse in the middle of the Carrick Roads, tucked between two castles, where they were met by a flotilla of competitors being led from Restronguet Sailing Club by Kyle Brown and Madeleine Strugnell.

West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour at St. Mawes - photo © Graham Pinkney

Once the race team persuaded the pin end buoy that it did want to go on a scenic tour of Carrick Roads and to do its job then PRO Nigel Sharp really laid on a storming day. Five races each three laps long taking 25-30 minutes for the leading boat. It was Fast and Furious as the boats and competitors revelled in the conditions to produce some great close racing where no one seemed to stay in the same position on any leg.

By the time we got to Fast and Furious 5 half the fleet had had a turn in the lead, but overall victory was down to a fight between two boats. Charlie Ellse and Beano had been pulling off great starts and was a bullet upwind to lead two races. This time they won the pin, tacked as the gun went to cross the fleet, but dropped the mainsheet to capsize to windward causing mayhem.

Pete Vincent/Matty Hill came out of the chaos well to lead, only to see Fred and Liz Mainwaring burn through downwind. But by the final lap Henry Hallam/Ashley Hill and Duncan/Lorna Glen were through to 1,2 and both had two race victories each, so it came down to the final run. After a number of gybes and rapid changes of mode then Henry/Ashley secured the race win to leave the two boats tied on points, but Henry/Ashley gained overall victory.

West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour at St. Mawes - photo © Graham Pinkney

Special mention to the new 200 sailors from Restronguet: ex-Feva sailors (a little light for the condition) who finished all the races and smiled their way through several capsizes.

A genuinely great day was rounded off by the fleet being allowed into a clubhouse for an excellent meal laid on by St Mawes YC and an open bar so we could talk proper rubbish with fellow competitors over a civilised beer - Hallelujah! Lasagne and Rattler all round.

Thanks to Graham Pinkney for the photos. For those on Facebook there is a great video with drone footage.

Overall Results:

West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour at St. Mawes - photo © Graham Pinkney