Results / Northern Championships at Daffodil Regatta Ullswater YC - 27/04/2024

Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour heads to Ullswater YC for the Northern Champs, part of the Rooster National Tour

After a hotly contested weekend of sailing, the 2024 RS200 Northern Champs crown returns to Scotland as Brendan Lynch and Ellen Clarke reign victorious as the Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour kicked off with a bang!

You could sense the anticipation in the air as the finest 200 crews the north (and Scotland) has to offer lined up for a weekend’s racing in picturesque Ullswater in the Lake District. The question on everyone’s lips was who would reign victorious? Would the Scots once again come south of the border and take the title? Could the reigning Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour champs Chris and Evie Pickles take the title? Might RS200 Northern Rep Ben Teague and crew Miranda shake off the winter rust and produce a masterclass? (spoiler: they didn’t).

Race one got off to a slow start in light conditions. With very shifty breeze and a committee-biased line, the fleet jostled to hold position before getting underway after a clean start. The tone for the weekend was set early with Brendan and Ellen taking race one with Chris and Evie in second and the two Calum’s (Bell and Warnock) in third. Race two saw Chris and Evie come out firing to take the win from Brendan and Ellen in second with the two Calum’s in third.

The dropping breeze in race three had the potential to catch some boats and led to some snakes and ladders in a tightly compacted fleet. However, Brendan and Ellen were not caught out as they firmly laid down their marker taking another win. Matthew and Oliver Sharman sailed a strong race to finish second Martin and Barbera securing a fantastic third.

Day 2 brought a variety of challenges for both the race committee and sailors as they were presented with more shifty conditions and wind strength that varied from 5 to 15 knots throughout the day. After another game of snakes and ladders, Matthew and Oliver managed to catch the ladders and took race 4 followed by Gareth Williams and Martyn Catlow and the two Calum’s.

However, chaos reigned in race 5! Half way through the first start sequence, a wind shift resulted in a heavily biased pin end of the line with the majority of the fleet making it to the mark in one tack. Ben and Miranda got a great start and were second round the windward mark. With the wind building, they bore away ready to send it down wind under pressure from the fleet behind until disaster struck. After a simultaneous luff and windshift, Ben’s mast suddenly was not pointing the right way up! He had capsized! After some quick thinking to save the Mars bars and water bottles, Miranda was scoped back into the boat with the mast now pointing the right way. After realising they were now dead last, Ben was yet again left wondering, “why do I bugger it up every time I am in a good position at the windward mark?” Answers on a post card please…. However, the sailing gods were kind! With the wind shift persisting, the race was abandoned giving them a chance to reset and go again. But the chaos was not over yet…

A general recall sent the 200’s to the back of the start sequence. After some confusion, the majority of the fleet set off too early. 3 minutes too early to be precise. Those who had read the Sis and clever enough to realise quickly turned back and set off at the correct time. However, it was too little too late with the majority of the fleet OCS. Brendan and Ellen took the win.

Chris and Evie attempted to push some pressure on Brendan and Ellen in the final race, but it was to little too late. Chris and Evie won the final race with Brendan and Ellen in second and Matthew and Oliver in third. A special mention goes to the VX One fleet who nearly skewered both Ben Teague and Ben Dearden at the leeward mark whilst flying in on port. Hope they manage a trip to Specsavers and a read up of the rules before the fleet returns in future years…

Overall, Brendan and Ellen came out on top and took home a lovely set of Ullswater mugs in addition to a voucher from our sponsors Sailing Chandlery in addition to being able to call themselves the King and Queen of the North for the next year. Chris and Evie Pickles finished in second with Matthew and Oliver Sharman, who sailed consistently all weekend, finishing in third.

There were also a number of limited edition Rooster National Tour x RS Class Association caps up for grabs which were won by Gareth Williams and stand-in super crew Martyn Catlow, Matthew Somerville and Henry Bullen, and dad and son duo Phil and Rory Davenport. A special shout out goes to Rory who braved the cold and did a fantastic job in the front of the boat all weekend!

A big thank you goes to our sponsors, Sailing Chandlery for their continued support of the fleet for 2024. We thoroughly enjoyed working with them last year and are delighted to have them onboard again. Thanks also goes to Ullswater YC, especially their race team and volunteers, for their generous hospitality and great racing all weekend.

After a weekend break, the Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour return to Yorkshire Dales SC on Saturday 11^th May. Rumour has it that the YDSC fleet have been getting some serious training with some top coaches in over the winter. Competition will again be fierce!

Ben Teague

Prize Giving photos: Ben Teague

On the water photos: Tim Olin