RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth Sailing Club

Budworth Sailing Club hosted the fourth event of the Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour Series. Six visitors joined nine home boats and the predicted forecast of WNW F4-5 proved pretty accurate, with only the second race being held in noticeably less wind.

Race 1 started in a full on F4-5. Dee Osmond & Tom Ellis rounded the mark first with Jon & Heather Ward in second. Alastair & Helen Norris soon pulled through on the first downwind to challenge for the lead. Once in the lead they extended with Alastair Hodgson & Ella Spain finishing second ahead of the first Budworth boat, Russell & Vicky Page, in third. Only six boats finished the race, which was a sign of things to come throughout the day.

RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth - photo © Faye Cleaver Photography

Race 2 started in a F4 that dropped to a F3 as the race progressed. The top three boats from the previous race all vied for the lead in the early stages before Alastair & Helen pulled away to take the win with Russell & Vicky in second and Alastair & Ella in third. This was the only race where all 13 starters managed to successfully complete the race.

After a break for lunch the wind increased for race 3, which was sailed in a consistent F4. Alastair & Helen took early control of the race and were never headed. Martin & Sian Joesbury had a better race to take second with Alastair & Ella with another consistent performance taking third.

RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth - photo © Faye Cleaver Photography

Alastair & Helen with three wins had already won the event, but decided to sail the final race nonetheless. After another indifferent first beat, they pulled through to take another win. Martin & Sian held second for most of the race, but Russell & Vicky managed to pass them on the final downwind to take second with Martin & Sian in third. Alastair & Ellen were the only other finisher, which proved what an attritional day of sailing it had been.

Alastair & Helen were the very worthy winners of the event having put on a masterful display of heavy wind sailing with phenomenal downwind speed and boat handling which enabled them to pull through to win all the races.

RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth - photo © Faye Cleaver Photography

A big thank you to Budworth SC for hosting the event and to Hugh Devereux and his team for running an excellent event. Special thanks to the RIB crews who were kept incredibly busy with numerous capsized boats to deal with.

Many thanks to Sailing Chandlery for their continued sponsorship of the RS200 Northern Tour series. As part of their sponsorship, a £15 voucher, a dry bag and a pair of sunglasses are raffled off at each event. The winners were Hugh Smallman & Deborah Love; Tony Wilcock & Marie Shaw and Martin & Barbara Smith respectively.

The next event on the Northern Tour is on Saturday, 18th July at Red Wharf Bay SC, the only sea event on the circuit this year.

Prize winners - RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth - photo © Faye Cleaver Photography

Overall Results:

RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Budworth - photo © Faye Cleaver Photography