RS400 Northern Tour Round 3 Sponsored by Trident UK at Filey Sailing Club

by Barrie Thornton 27 May 01:54 PDT 21-22 May 2022

RS400s at Filey © FSC

Filey Sailing Club hosted the third leg of the RS400 Northern Tour over the weekend of 21-22 May 2022 as part of the sailing club's annual regatta.

The competitors were blessed with sunshine and a force 3 - 4 south westerly breeze on arrival, some excellent organisation and race management over the weekend meant that the 3 race back-to-back format worked well, with prompt starts and little wait time between races.

The starboard bias start line in the first race and the eagerness of several sailors attempting to get on pin, led to boats being forced upwind of the committee boat and for those that got across the line, several had to take their penalty turns. Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst kept clear of the pandemonium and had a comfortable lead at the first mark which they extended over the remainder of the race. Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Roberts showed good pace to head the rest of the fleet taking second place from Neil and Ian Parkhurst who finished in third.

The second race saw the fleet get off to a clean start with Thornton/Hunt rounding ahead of Groves/Parkhurst, Groves/Parkhurst took the lead down wind and were chased by Thornton/Hunt for the remainder of the race, Gledhill/Exley taking third.

It was the Gledhill/Exley partnership's turn to chase Groves/Parkhurst in race 3 but there was no let up from Groves/Parkurst who again built up a good lead to win, followed by Gledhill/Exley with Thornton/Hunt in third.

Sunday's racing got under way in a southerly force 3, which gradually eased as it turned to south/south easterly throughout the day. Race 4 was oh so familiar, Groves/Parkhurst leading from start to finish. Race 5 saw an uncharacteristic mistake at the start by the Groves/Parkhurst partnership meaning that they did not feature in the leading pack at the windward mark. Gledhill/Exley and Fletcher/Cooper battled it out for the lead with the lead changing several times. Gledhill/Exley broke free and had a good lead going into the last downwind leg over Fletcher/Cooper and Groves/Parkhurst who had worked their way back in to contention. Gledhill/Exley gybed off early but unfortunately for them the wind failed them, meanwhile Groves/Parkhurst superior downwind speed allowed them to overhaul Fletcher/Cooper to take their 5th straight win and an early exit.

Clearly Gary Knott was recovering from his 1500-mile charity cycle ride in the week as he and crew Joel Wakefield showed good pace in race 6 to lead at the windward mark, closely followed by Thornton/Hunt and Gledhill/Exley. It was Thornton/Hunt that took the win followed by Gledhill/Exley with Knott/Wakefield third.

In the draw for tokens from the Northern Tour Sponsor, Trident UK, Wayne Fletcher was the winner of a £20 voucher and Neil Parkhurst was the winner of a £15 voucher.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	1316	Ollie Groves	Esther Parkhurst	Beaver SC	1	1	1	1	1	NC)	5
2	1456	Barrie Thornton	Nick Hunt	Scaling Dam SC	‑5	2	3	2	4	1	12
3	1511	Hamish Gledhill	Charlie Exley	West Riding SC	‑7	3	2	5	3	2	15
4	1410	Jacob Ainsworth	Kayleigh Roberts	Tynemouth SC	2	4	5	4	‑8	5	20
5	1492	Martin Penty		Beaver SC	4	6	6	8	5	6	27
6	1455	Gary Knott	Joel Wakefield	Ogston SC	6	‑8	7	6	6	3	28
7	1428	Wayne Fletcher	Martin Cooper	Scaling Dam SC	9	7	4	7	2	NC)	29
8	1518	Ben Williamson		Ripon SC	8	5	ET)	3	9	4	29
9	1513	Neil Parkhurst	Ian Parkhurst	Beaver SC	3	9	8	ET)	7	7	34
10	1133	Lester Mulligan	Jez Ince	Yorkshire Dales SC	‑12	12	10	9	10	8	49
11	1283	Richard Wharram	Hannah Wharram	Welton SC	11	10	9	NC)	NC)	NC)	60
12	1123	Carl Whitehead	Carol Milner	Filey SC	10	11	11	NC)	NC)	NC)	62
13	1366	Ellie Clark	Tom Parkhurst	Beaver SC	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	75
13	1516	John Hobson	Rebecca Ogdon	Notts County SC	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	NC)	75