Trident UK RS400 Northern Tour 2022 - Summary

RS400 Northern Tour prizewinners © RS Class Association

That's it, another year of The RS400 Northern Tour Sponsored by Trident UK is over in the blink of an eye, with an impressive 81 boats taking part in the eight events throughout the year.

Congratulations to Ollie Groves, with his crews Sam Waller, Esther Parkhurst and Martin Penty from Beaver SC, who were the overall winners of the Northern Tour with an impressive four wins in only his second year of RS400 sailing. Their overall dominance was emphasised by the fact they had the luxury of a second place to discard.

It's also worth noting that once Sam got hold of the tiller, he was equally fast winning the last event of the year at Bassenthwaite SC.

Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman (Bassenthwaite SC) showed their usual consistency counting a first and three second places to finish second. Hamish Gledhill and Ross Southwell (West Riding/ Leigh and Lowton SC) finished tied with Barrie Thornton and Nick Hunt (Scaling Dam SC), but Hamish and Ross took the third place on the tie break. Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Roberts (Tynemouth SC) finished fifth.

Other event winners included Phil Murray and Neil Schofield, who won their home event at Tynemouth SC in one of the windiest events in recent years. They finished sixth overall on the Northern Tour.

The first event of the year at Leigh and Lowton was won by Sam Knight and Chris Bowes (Bartley SC). That was their only appearance on the Northern Tour this year, but they clearly had greater aspirations as they became National Champions at North Berwick. Congratulations on that guys.

The final event of the year, the Great Northern Asymmetric Challenge at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club, had the largest turnout with an impressive entry of 30 boats. The first event of the year at Leigh and Lowton SC had the second highest turnout with 22 boats and the Lord Birkett Trophy at Ullswater YC had 21 entries.

Whilst looking at facts and figures, its worth noting that Leigh and Lowton SC had the greatest number of boats competing in the northern tour with 12 boats, just one ahead of Tynemouth SC that had 11 boats sailing in at least one event. Yorkshire Dales SC had 9 boats competing, Notts County SC had 8 boats, with Beaver SC and Carsington SC contributing 5 each.

So, after a few concerns in the early part of the season that numbers were down, the season finished with a bang, with the overall numbers competing in the tour (81) being up on last year's 74 boats.

Ollie Groves and Martin Penty (and other crews) win the RS400 Northern Tour - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

We hope as many of you can support the tour next year. If you have any suggestions or ideas for improving the tour, please contact the RS Association.

Finally, special thanks must go to Trident UK, who generously supported the Tour this year by providing overall prizes for the Tour winners and vouchers presented at each event from a raffle. Please remember that you had to be present at the prize-giving to be eligible for the raffle prizes.

Looking forward to next year I can confirm that Trident UK have agreed again to be the Sponsors of the Northern Tour, and we thank them for their continued support. Next years calendar is coming together and should be published in the next few weeks to allow you to get the events on the calendar and plan your holidays around them. If your club would like to host an event in 2024, please contact the RS Class Association so we have plenty of time to include your event within the calendar.

We look forward to seeing you on the water next year. The first event has already been confirmed as Leigh and Lowton SC on 25th and 26th March.

Overall Series Results: (DNS scores 83)