West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour at St. Mawes Sailing Club
by Penni Vincent 25 Oct 2020 21:35 UTC
17 October 2020
Four weeks ago there was not an event in the racing schedule; however with a great get up and go attitude, St Mawes decided that they could run an event themselves.
And so on October the 17th the club hosted a West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour event with great style. Visitors from Chew Valley, Llandegfedd, Hauling and Plymouth joined 8 West Cornwall boats for a warm welcome and typical Cornish mizzle.
Racing was held in Carrick Road with race 1 held in a puffy and exciting 16-21 knots from the SE. Race officer Nigel Sharp assisted by Arky Wainwright and Bob Hindmarsh set a windward/leeward course from Falmouth Harbour towards St Anthony Head.
Old Enterprise helms Bob Warren (with crew Millie Cunliffe from St Mawes) and Pete Vincent (with Victoria Upton from Llandegfedd) were 1st & 2nd at the windward mark; with young guns Henry Jameson/Lucy Hewitson (HISC) and Henry Hallam/Ashley Hill (St Mawes) chasing hard. It is worth noting that both the veteran helms are double the combined age of the young sailors in each boat. Bob was also racing the oldest boat in the fleet built before either of the Henry's were born!
After some full on downwind action youth prevailed with Henry/Lucy having a clear win and Henry/Ashley just pipping Pete/Hoover at final leeward gate.
Race 2 felt like a carbon copy of race 1 but this time Bob/Millie still led at the first leeward gate and as the wind suddenly swing further South and eased they had a comfortable victory over Henry/Lucy.
In a game of two halves the tide turned, the wind went due South and then eased down to 8-10 knots. Wise old owl Bob knew all about this and headed for the Falmouth shore to lead from the start to win by a margin with local Restronguet sailor Kyle Brown second for most of the race.
Everyone got the message for the final race as the wind got softer and the whole fleet played chicken with the rocky foreshore to get out of the tide. Bob/Millie were early pace setters but Henry/Lucy judged the windward approach better and took the lead to take the win comfortably from Bob/Millie. This left the top two with the same score line, 1.1.2 with Henry/Lucy claiming overall victory on the last race tie break.
A huge thanks to St Mawes for hosting such an entertaining day - and particularly to Roger Boyle for being the driving force to make it all happen.
It was great to see so many keen 200 sailors in West Cornwall. We look forward to coming back next year!