RS200 South West Ugly Tour Open at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

The RS200 fleet came to Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club for the traditional ending to the South West Ugly Tour on the final Saturday in October. A bright sunny day with a chilly breeze greeted 15 teams from across the west country joining the 7 local boats. The event attracted the usual tour regulars with a strong contingent from Cornwall and Devon, along with some top teams from the south coast.

The tides at Chew work on 12 month periods, and like many other inland clubs we're on the bottom of some huge springs. I'm told this is the lowest levels have been since the mid 90s and while there's still space, there are some wind directions where course lengths are quite restricted and there are some distinctive islands carving up this space. Fortunately, in the NW breeze we got on the day, ROs Bill Chard and Josh Preater managed to find a lovely lane between the shallows of (now, not so) 'Little Denny' and two new islands that have appeared at the southern end of the lake, giving plenty of time to get legs burning upwind and to heat things up hard downwind. The breeze has been up at almost all SW RS200 events this year and Chew was no different, with mid-teens and some punchy gusts all day and the occasional softer spot towards the end of the 4 cracking races.

RS200 Open at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards

As ever, the fleet were overly keen on the first start, with the inevitable general recall off the boat biased line. Bill brandished the U-flag for every start afterwards to tame the fleet's enthusiasm. Miraculously, the fleet behaved for the rest of the day.

From the restarted race many in the fleet took delight in seeing Kyle Brown and Madeline Strugnell coming out of the left to lead the first lap of race 1, Kyle having probably done more for youth 200 sailing in the South West in recent years than anyone else through his huge efforts at Restronguet Sailing Club. Their Restronguet club mates Henry & Rose Hallam ground them down for the win ahead of Ian Martin & Chris Catt.

RS200 Open at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards

Mark and Jess Oakey nailed the pin in race 2 outside some of the other top teams. With some substantial shifts towards the top of the course, the leading boats rolled the dice to come in off the port lay line. The breeze was building and the runs starting to get fruity. Henry & Rose played their usual trick of hiking really hard upwind and pushing the stick even harder downwind to take their second win, once again ahead of Ian / Chris and Hywel & Ben Roberts.

The demanding conditions were beginning to take their toll with a few teams testing the water temperature of the lake and opting for an early shower. There were also accounts of some boats testing the depth of the lake and finding the shallows. The top 3 were reversed for race three, with Hywel and his son Ben taking the win ahead of Ian / Chris and Henry / Rose.

RS200 Open at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards

A reduced fleet lined up for the last race of the day. Soon after the start the wind clocked right, further to the north, making for a relatively one-sided race track. Ian / Chris built up an impressive lead on the fleet. Henry/Rose secured a second to win the event overall.

Throughout the say we saw a variety of conditions, with plenty of breeze, then soaking conditions, monster gusts, hiking off your toenails downwind, wind shifts, wipe outs and groundings. Some learning from afloat:

• Winning the start certainly wasn't the most important factor of the day. In most races a good number of boats tacked out from a second row start to look pretty healthy 2/3 of the way up the first beat.
• The breeze seemed to be at its strongest on one side of the course or the other. Less of a concern upwind, but you could lose a lot of places dithering in the middle going downwind.
• With the biggest breeze in the corners, plenty were caught out on the gybes, especially as legs got weary and movements a bit lethargic.

The top 3 boats never finished outside the top 4. Henry / Rose winning the event ahead of Ian / Chris and Hywel / Ben. Alastair Hodgson & Ella Spain wrapped up the silver fleet in 6th ahead of Chris Hawley & George Bender winning the bronze fleet in 7th.

RS200 Open at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Errol Edwards

If you have ever taken part in a 'proper' west country regatta you will know that the post sailing 'tea' is a proud and long-standing tradition in the region. Throughout this year's Ugly tour, the fleet has been treated to a friendly welcome and a generous spread of home-made cakes, particularly at Restronguet and Exmouth. The Chew members were keen to return the favour and keep up the standards, with a great spread of cakes and bakes.

Henry & Rose also took the prize for overall winner of the West Country Boat Repairs Ugly series. Henry thanked the race team for slick race management and a quick turnaround between each race. He thanked club volunteers, West Country Boat Repairs as sponsors, his crew Rose and all the crews in the fleet. A special shout out to one of those young crews: Ffion Hawley sailing with her dad, Steve who completed all 4 races in testing conditions.

We look forward to seeing you on the SW Ugly tour in 2026. Watch this space for tour dates.

Some more photos from the day can be found on Flickr.

Overall Results: