Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour at Parkstone Yacht Club

Sailing Chandlery RS400 Southern Tour at Parkstone © Paul Hilliar

A competitive fleet of 18 RS400s were warmly welcomed by Parkstone Yacht Club for the second round of the RS400 Southern Tour sponsored by Sailing Chandlery.

The two-day event held over the 18th and 19th of July was shared with the RS200s who were counting the 19th as their one-day Ugly tour and the Saturday as a warm-up. With a schedule of two races in the harbour on Saturday and a planned four in the bay on the Sunday the stage was set to be action packed.

Race 1 got under way in the harbour as planned using the yacht club's starting platform just off the marina with the wind blowing 6 knots from the Southeast with a light flooding tide. Locals Edd Whitehead and Karen Oldale used their harbour knowledge well to lead at the first mark only to be passed by Ian and Chris Martin down the first run.

The pack was very tight as they rounded the gate on to the next lap. Many place changes were to come; the tide was saying go right but all the pressure was on the left. Working the left, Edd and Karen were able to regain the lead and take the win closely followed by the chasing teams of Tom Halhead and Paul Hilliar (Llandegfedd) 2nd, and Sam Knight and Chris Bones (Lyme Regis) 3rd.

Before race 2 got under way the fleet had a relatively long wait whilst the eager-starting 200s managed three general recalls pushing the schedule back into the club's afternoon racing starts. The wind not quite sure if it wanted to be a gradient or a sea breeze with a large ship movement further extending the delay. The delay, if not long, was full of sunshine and boats moving around and it was not a bad place to be floating around in Europe's largest natural harbour.

As the wind settled back with the gradient, the race team got racing under way again. There were a lot of boats on the water and inevitably some did get in the way of X boats, Flying 15s, Darts and ILCAs using the same bit of water. The fleet got a clean start with Tom and Paul taking an early lead. The pressure again seemed to be on the left but this time large holes appeared where you could park up and have a rest.

Front runners Ian and Chris Martin opted for a rest at the starboard gate so they could watch the fleet go by using the port rounding. Paul and Tom kept working the left to keep 1st place from Edd and Karen 2nd and a recovering beat from Ian and Chris (Burghfield) to take 3rd.

Sunday brought wall to wall sunshine and a day described by many as wacky, crazy and unbelievable. Having looked at the forecast, it was decided to stay in the harbour rather than go out in the bay. Racing in what is locally called 'The top triangle' gave an opportunity to negate the stronger tides and pleasure boat movements. However, what this provided was one of the most interesting and challenging days of sailing.

Race 3 got under way in a North Easterly breeze of 7 knots with another clean start. Taking the charge were Sam and Chris from the ever-consistent Tom and Paul, followed closely by Ian and Chris.

What was to transpire was a day of 40-degree wind shifts ranging from 3 to 15 knots with boats planing past stationary boats and boats on the same angles on completely different tacks.

Race 4 was won by Edd and Karen who took a sneaky left shift to lead at the top and finish from Chris and Rachel Eames (Chew Valley) 2nd and Sam and Chris 3rd.

Race 5 was won by Tom and Paul followed by Sam and Chris 2nd and Chris and Rachel 3rd.

Race 6 saw a new race leader in local boat Martin Powell and James Murray (Parkstone), Tom and Paul 2nd and Edd and Karen 3rd.

A huge thank you must go to the Race officer and all the support teams at Parkstone Yacht Club who made all the right calls on what was a very difficult and challenging day. Thanks also the event sponsors Sailing Chandlery and West Country Boat Repairs.

Overall Results: