RS200 Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
by Jon Ward 20 May 23:26 NZST
11 May 2024
The second event of the 2024 Sailing Chandlery sponsored RS200 Northern Tour took place on Saturday 11th May with a Force 2 South-Easterly wind greeting the 11 boats competing.
Brendan Lynch and Ellen Clark made the trip down from East Lothian and easily won the first race. Chris 'Pix' Pickles and daughter Evie held onto second for most of the race but Jon & Heather Ward who were over the line at the start managed to work out the quickest way downwind and pulled through to second with Pix & Evie taking third place.
In the second race, Brendan & Ellen and Pix & Evie dominated from the start. Brendan & Ellen took control of the race to win with Pix & Evie in second. Martin and Barbara Smith had a great race to take third.
In the third race, Brendan & Ellen and Jon & Heather had the best starts and for the first lap it was close however Brendan and Ellen pulled away on the second beat to take a clear win. Pix & Evie closed the gap to Jon & Heather at the final windward mark and passed on the spinnaker hoist. Things closed up on the final downwind leg, but Brendan & Ellen did enough to take the win with Pix & Evie taking second and Jon & Heather in third.
Brendan & Ellen had won the event with a race to spare, but still sailed the final race. They took an early lead with Martin & Barbara Smith sailing a great first beat to be second at the first mark. Pix & Evie pulled through to take second, but the race changed on its head on the second beat when Brendan & Ellen misread the shifts and dropped from first to fourth. Jon & Heather were the right side of a substantial wind bend to move from fourth to first with Pix & Evie in second. Jon & Heather held on to take first place from Pix & Evie. Brendan & Ellen managed to pull past Martin & Barbara to take third place
Brendan & Ellen took a deserved event win with Jon & Heather's last race result giving them second overall on countback from Pix & Evie.
Many thanks to Yorkshire Dales for hosting the event and to Stewart Walker and his race team for providing some excellent racing despite the somewhat shifty wind and to Sailing Chandlery for their sponsorship of the 2024 Northern Tour.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1211 | Brendan Lynch | Ellen Clark | East Lothian | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 3 |
| 2nd | 1560 | Jon Ward | Heather Ward | Budworth SC | 2 | ‑4 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | 494 | Chris Pickles | Evie Pickles | Bassenthwaite SC | ‑3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 4th | 1606 | Martin Smith | Barbara Smith | YDSC | 4 | 3 | ‑5 | 4 | 11 |
| 5th | 1713 | Paul Hill | Martin Walker | YDSC | 6 | ‑7 | 4 | 6 | 16 |
| 6th | 1520 | Alex Taylor | Martha Newstead Taylor | Budworth SC | 5 | 5 | 6 | (DNC) | 16 |
| 7th | 1666 | Ben Dearden | Alice Carter | YDSC | ‑8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 18 |
| 8th | 757 | Lee Carter | Joe Spencer | YDSC | 7 | 8 | ‑10 | 10 | 25 |
| 9th | 245 | Simon Byrne | Leah Byrne | YDSC | ‑10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 26 |
| 10th | 1068 | Tom Ellis | Anne Saul | Red Wharf Bay | ‑11 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 26 |
| 11th | 1538 | Matthew Luxton | Desmond Luxton | YDSC | 9 | ‑11 | 11 | 8 | 28 |