Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour 2024 – Leigh and Lowton

The Sailing Chandlery RS200 Northern Tour headed to Leigh and Lowton SC on Saturday 26th October for it tour finale. Heading into the final event, there the top four in the overall standings were separated by a mere four points so it was all to play for!

Unfortunately, the long range forecast did not look hopeful for the event, as despite the best efforts of RS200 Northern Rep Ben Teague who was performing nightly wind dances to the wind gods in the run up to the event, his efforts were in vain as the fleet rocked up to a millpond. After a couple hours postponement, a few ripples of wind were seen coming down the flash and the fleet were told to finish off their lunchtime pies, get rigged and get on the water. 

Snakes and ladders was the game of the day with the fleet either being on the right or wrong side of the course when what little breeze we had filled in. It was Alistair and Helen Norris, sailing on home waters, who found the pressure winning the first race, with stand-in chefs Gareth and Jen Williams taking second with Chris Pickles and Anna Walsh taking third. The second race got away in just about enough breeze to keep moving with Alistair and Helen again taking the win from Chris and Anna in second and Russell and Vicky Page in third. 

After a short break on shore, the fleet headed back out to a nice steady 5-7 knots in the northern sunshine. The race committee stuck to their trusted plan going for short 20-25 minute races in the fluky breeze with Alistair and Helen yet again showed everyone their transom not only winning race three, but the tour overall! 

Heading into the final race of the year, the fleet decided that one start was not enough resulting in a rare general recall – and with it out came the dreaded black flag (which looked suspiciously like an old pair of shorts…). After some justling for positions, the fleet behaved themselves and got off to a clean start with youngsters Henry Bullen and Matthew Somerville taking an early lead. With Alistair and Helen in hot pursuit, they knew that one bad tack or getting out of sync with the shifts could cost them. However, they sailed brilliantly to take a fantastic bullet in the final race of the year!

Overall, Alistair and Helen finished in first with Chris and Anna second and Vicky and Russell third. Big thanks go to Leigh and Lowton SC for their hospitality with special mentions to Gareth and Jen Williams for standing in as last minute caterers, and the race team for getting four great races in despite difficult conditions! Thanks also go to Sailing Chandlery for their prizes!