Pickard by a point

RS200 South West Ugly Tour set sail at the weekend

The RS200 South West Ugly Tour for 2010 got off to the best imaginable start when 41 boats took part in classic conditions at Bristol CYC on 27 March. The sun came out and the forecast 12 knots built to a puffy 18 knots giving superb downwind conditions. Sponsored by West Country Boat Repairs and Dinghy Sailing Magazine the SW Ugly Tour takes in five of the best and most scenic venues in the UK. 41 boats showed again how strong the RS200 is becoming in the West Country and how popular BCYC is as a venue.

Pete Vincent/HRH Nicholls led race 1 for over three laps but could not shake off the close attentions of Christian Humphrey/Karen Baker and James Stewart/Eluned Jones. In an action packed final run Humphrey/Baker gained the lead only to see Stewart/Jones sail round the outside in a ball of spray to win.

Ian Pickard/Loopy Lucy Matthews had not sailed since the Inlands and showed this by capsizing in race 1. Well done to Heather Davies of Fotoboat for capturing the sequence which are now on Facebook; it is worth a view! Having washed away the cobwebs they then seemed to have race 2 in control but Humphrey/Baker found the elusive gust from heaven to win the race with Ian Sharps/Ellie Martin third. Having practiced being in the lead Pickard/Matthews made no mistake in race 3 to win from Humphrey/Baker with John Teague/Louisa Fisher third.

With Pickard/Matthews carrying a 15th from the first race it was still very open going into the final race; that was until about a third of the way down the first run. First though everyone had to overcome the shock of Wes Kangurs; with the righting power of Chris Magic Bishop now in the front; leading round the first mark. Pickard/Matthews had enough of this mucking around and grabbed the lead to disappear to win overall. Humphrey/Baker pulled through to second with Joshua Flack/Tom Brophy third.

Ashore while tucking into much needed refreshments and reflecting on an exhilarating day it dawned on everyone that the 'dream team' race officers, Arky Wainwright (WGRO, bah humbug), Ken Falcon and star guest Keith Harris had failed to catch anyone OCS under four black flag starts. Standards are slipping! A big thank you to the Laser/Solo fleet at BCYC for doing such a good job of helping run the event.

Katherine Lovering/Chris Martin scored a top 10th overall to win the silver division from Toby/Rachel Ashton and Steve Woodward/Liz Teague. A superb performance from Julian/Lynn Sawyer gave them 13th overall and a clear win of the bronze division from David Sweet/Ollie Singleton and Ian Priest//Lucy Lingard.

A very happy but very broken group of RS200 sailors left hoping that the first GUL Grand Prix event at Datchet on 10/11 April and the next SW Ugly Tour at Chew Valley LSC on 2 May can be as good.

Results: