Results : RS200 Open Northampton SC

A strong fleet of 43 RS200's arrived at Northampton Sailing Club in sun and a Force 2 ? 3 for the third round of the Gul RS Racing Circuit.  Sharing the lake with the RS300 and 600's in a 'them on, us off' fashion and a planned 6 races each over the weekend promised to provide some fast, furious action on the race course where the starts would be all important.



Race 1 saw Tom and Jo Hewitson put in a strong performance on the first run to level with Dave and Nicky Derby with a gap back to third.  However, a coming together at the leeward mark allowed Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudry to round inside Tom/ Jo with the Derby's doing turns.  Lee/ Anne held the lead the finish with the Hewitson's in second and the Derby's recovering to cross third from Rick and Sarah Perkins.  However, no gun for Lee due to an OCS handed the win to Tom and Jo.



Following a tight start and first beat (they all were), Race 2 saw a trio of Tom and Jo, Steve Dunn and Laurie Jameson and  Lee and Anne open a gap on the fleet by Round 2.  The positions changed a number of times in the following lap before Steve/ Laurie gained the advantage to cross the line ahead of Lee and Tom.  Again no gun for the leader, this time handing Lee the win and Tom a second place with Chris and Linda Woodard in their new boat coming in a strong third.  From a good start in Race 3, Chris and Rachael Jenkins picked up a good shift to lead around the windward mark.  Despite a strong attack with the wind filling in on each side down the last run, they held their cool to cross first and take the gun.  Lee/ Anne took second with the Derby's in third.



Saturday evening saw everyone travel to Daventry to join the other RS Fleets for the Annual RS Ball, sponsored by SailSail.com.  The contents of that should be kept for another report (and censored)!



 Light winds and rain early on Sunday morning soon developed into the Force 2-3 which had been seen the previous day.  The Derby's led for much of Race 4 to win from Steve / Laurie and the Perkins who put in a good run to pull through the fleet.



Race 5 saw another of the main contenders, this time the Derby's, fall to the OCS ruling on a black flag general recall.  The fleet got away on the third attempt, with Mike Chapman/Claire Bewley and Harry and Charles Roome (who had only arrived for the Sunday) putting in a good first lap.  However, Lee/ Anne managed to pass up the beat and, following a well fought battle, the Roomes defended the last beat to take second from Mike/Claire.



With the number of OCS's and varied results given the shorter race format, things were wide open going into the last race - Lee and Anne leading by 2 points from Tom and Jo but with an OCS.  Poor starts from both saw them split up the first beat, with both sides looking good at times before Lee and Anne gained the advantage on the left to round just inside the top ten.  Dave and Nicky pulled through the fleet quickly to take first place, with Lee and Anne gaining second only to lose it on the last run to Jon Watkins from Hunts SC who put in a good final result.  Overall, this was enough for Lee and Anne to take the victory from Tom and Jo and then the Derby's. In fourth place, with a remarkably consistent set of results was Guy and Jason Lonsdale from West Oxfordshire making their first big break through at a RS Circuit event.



Lee Sydenham/Pete Vincent.