25 Nov West Country Boat Repairs RS200 South West Ugly Tour 2021
After a fantastic Tour of 7 very varied events the West Country Boat Repairs sponsored RS200 Ugly Tour came down to the closest possible finish at Chew Valley LSC on Oct 23rd which drew an amazing fleet of 36 boats. Starting the final lap of the final race of the final event there were still 3 possible winners of the West Country Boat Repairs RS200 SW Ugly Tour. Henry Hallam/Ashley Hill and Jon Teague/ Naomi Pound were in top 5 in the race and both knew gain places on the final lap and they could overtake Tour leader Edd Whitehead. Henry/Ashley went round the final windward in 2nd place which would produce a 3-way tie for the Tour overall. Loose a place and they would slip to 3rd overall on the Tour. Of course, this was not a problem for the St Mawes young guns who passed Chris Catt/Emma Norris on the final run to win the Chew Valley open by a point and with it the Ugly Tour by a point. (Edd you can blame Chris Catt).
Congratulations to West Country Boat Repairs SW Ugly Tour Winners Henry Hallam and Ashley Hill, St.Mawes Sailing Club!
The series included events in all parts of the West Country, featuring clubs that have strong or developing fleets of RS200s – South Cerney, St.Mawes, Bristol Corinthian, Llandegfedd, Parkstone, Exe and Chew Valley.
West Country Boat repairs are proud to support the grass roots of dinghy sailing; a staggering 85 pairs from over 30 clubs took part in the tour, many new to the boat this year and ranging from juniors to grand masters.
Chatting with Henry/Ashley afterwards we reflected that as 15-year-olds their first RS200 open had been at a breezy Chew in 2018 when they had spent a fair amount of time swimming round their capsized boat. Nonstop practice, learning quickly from supportive competitors on the Tour, going to as many events as a possible and a lot of talent has seen them steadily rise to the front.
Before the prize giving, Pete Vincent reflected on two very important features of this year’s Ugly Tour.
- The very high numbers of new junior/youth sailors racing with a really good number sailing a boat together and producing really decent results.
- The other was the emergence of a very keen group of RS200 sailors in West Cornwall.
In recognition of this he presented Kyle Brown from Restronguet the richly deserved special merit prize for the person who has done the most to promote the Tour and RS200 sailing. Kyle is so keen and he does so much to get youngsters racing and getting them travelling to events. He also came up with the brilliant brain wave of turning the RS200 fleet racing as part of the Restronguet Asymmetric Open into the RS200 Cornish Nationals.
Just to emphasis these points the overall winners in the Silver and Bronze Divisions were
Bronze
1st Sarah and David Green Llandegfedd SC
2nd Rose Hallam (age 16) Benjy Marsden (age 15) St Mawes SC
3rd Freya Brown (age 15) Grace O Halloran (age 15) Restronguet SC
Silver
1st John Harvey Sarah Maddison Thornbury SC
2nd Kyle Brown (ancient) Madeleine Strugnell (not ancient) Restronguet SC
3rd Amy Boyles (age 18) Rosin O Halloran (age 19) St Mawes SC
Proving yet again if the 420 and 29er are not the right route for good junior sailors then the RS200 is their natural home!
The 2022 tour is already planned – we look forward to seeing everyone again and welcoming even more new sailors to the fleet.
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