Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour at Parkstone Yacht Club

Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour at Parkstone Yacht Club © Yvonne Foster / PYC

A super forecast of a 10-20 knot South Westerly breezes and sunshine greeted the sailors for the combined RS400 Southern Tour sponsored by Sailing Chandlery and the South West Ugly Tour RS200 Open Meeting.

The one-day event was held in Poole Bay, with the fleet carefully avoiding the chain ferry at the entrance and then popping kites for the reach down to the start line.

With the race officer setting a windward/leeward gate course for 4 short races with each lasting about 30 minutes, the RS400's were away first followed by the RS200's on the same course.

Race 1 kicked off cleanly, in 10 knots of wind with relatively flat water and the last of the flood tide. Two laps were completed with a downwind finish. Sam Knight and Chris Bownes led from Christopher Eames and Rachel Tilley, with Martin Powell and Phil Jackson showing great boat speed in 3rd.

Race 2, the wind stayed fairly constant at 10 knots with a few significant wind shifts and gusts but not the large change to the south-west that had been predicted. Again, Sam and Chris led from Chris and Rachel, with local sailors Jon Gorringe and Kelly Aaron finishing 3rd.

For race 3, the left shifting breeze caused a short delay whilst re-setting the course, however, this was met with a rising breeze in line with the forecast. Conditions were now set for full-power upwind and fast off-wind blasting reaches. Sam and Chris picked up their 3rd bullet, with a strong performance from Howard Farbrother and Lou Hoskin gaining 2nd, from Martin Powell and Phil Jackson in 3rd from the ever-consistent Paul and Anna Smalley in 4th.

The wind was properly blowing for Race 4, with true champagne sailing conditions, consistent strong winds, and sunshine. Christopher Eames and Rachel Tilley held a consistent lead to win the race. At the finish it was very close with Sam and Chris in 2nd, Paul and Anna Smalley having sailed a good race sliding into 3rd, just ahead of Jon Goringe and Kelly Aaron with a boat length in hand from Martin and Phil. Even for some when they weren't inspecting their slot gaskets, a thoroughly enjoyable days' racing was had with excellent race management by the Race Officer team of Christina Moncur and Brian Drake.

Returning sailors were welcomed back with a free beer or cold drink on the slipway and the prize-giving on the Yacht Club terrace with cakes provided by the local sailors.

The RS Class association thank all at Parkstone YC for another fantastic event.

Next stop on the Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour is the Southern Championships at Warsash 21/22 June.

Overall Results: