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Sea Sure 2025

Rope4Boats RS400 Northern Tour at Notts County Sailing Club

by David Eberlin 6 Sep 2021 05:19 PDT 4-5 September 2021

Early Saturday morning it didn't look promising; light to zero wind and overcast. Was there going to be any racing? Undeterred, the RS400 teams readied themselves and at around 12pm, the allotted start time, the wind appeared.

It wasn't from the direction expected, and kept swinging, but after a short delay the first race was on under the watchful eye of Ken Twemlow, the Race Officer. RS400s use a windward / leeward course started.

The first race in the final of the Rope4Boats series saw Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop from Leigh and Lowton play it safe up the middle of the course to win. The second race, after a black flag start and a few BFD's recorded, saw Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman take the win, and they went on to dominated the rest of the day with another two wins, ultimately giving them the Open. Richard Catchpole sailed a consistent set of races and was second overall after the first day.

A full open event social in the clubhouse, the first for many many months, included the traditional roast dinner and some party games to help the digestion with a late bar to try and blunt the skills of the visitors.

The Sunday racing saw more light wind which caused a 45 minute delay to the start of racing as the RO waited for it to settle. In the meantime the sunshine broke through making it feel like the late Summer's day it was. A big shift on the first race of the day mixed up the front runners, or was it the effects of the late bar? Youngsters Ollie Groves and Sam Walker from Beaver SC sailed a great race to take the first win, while further down the fleet the first Notts County boat was Jonathan Lye and Nicola Webster, closely followed in 7th by Ross Ryan and RS400 newbie from the resident Scorpion fleet John Tailby - apparently he learnt fairly quickly it was a gennaker not a spinnaker! Richard and Gary ended as they'd started to take the win in the final race.

At the prize-giving, the Ropes4Boats sponsorship provided the winners of the raffle, Chris Pickles and Ollie Groves, with a £20 voucher and a £10 voucher. With two discards in play, Chris, sailing with Matt, took the trophy as overall winners. Responding politely to the quip that he'd had a 'shocker' on day 2 he went on to thank the club, the race team and all the competitors for another great event, looking forward to the next event on the Northern tour - the GNAC at Bassenthwaite SC on 25 and 26 September.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1st1283Chris PicklesMatt SharmannBassenthwaite2111‑5‑45
2nd1508Richard CatchpoleGary CoopLeigh & Lowton SC12(BFD)3‑617
3rd1316Ollie GrovesSam WallerBeaver SC5‑7‑641313
4th1428Wayne FletcherMike SaulYorkshire Dales632‑12‑12516
5th932Jonathan LyeNicola WebsterNotts County S C‑114752‑918
6th1189Steve RestallChriss StubbsDowns S C483‑10‑10621
7th1363Ross RyanJohn TailbyNotts County10‑11‑1123722
8th1492Martin PentyGiles LukeBeaver SC36(BFD)67‑822
9th1518Ben WilliamsonCharlie TicehurstRipon S C8‑94‑99223
10th1362Thomas ParkhurstMatt ReynoldsBeaver SC‑125878‑1028
11th1396Mark DingsdaleNess EvansLLSC71058‑11‑1130
12th1325James LoganPhillippa LoganNotts County SC913‑14114‑1837
13th1009Tim HarrisonTor HarrisonNotts County S C‑17‑14914141350
14th1513Neil ParkhurstIan ParkhurstBeaver1512(BFD)‑17151254
15th1516John HobsonGOIZNotts County1316(BFD)1313‑1755
16th1048Martin HartMoira HartNotts County S C14‑171016‑171656
17th1355Paul ReynoldsCath reynoldsNotts County SC‑18151215‑161456
18th1121Mark EhlersAsher EhlersNotts County16(DNC)13(DNC)181562
19th1247Richard KelsallNeil KelsallDraycote Water(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNC80

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