RS200 Rooster National Tour & Sailing Chandlery Northern Tour at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

RS200 Rooster National Tour at Yorkshire Dales © Ian Caswell

An almost perfect weekend at Yorkshire Dales provided some brilliant racing for the 17 boats from all ends of the country. If only we'd have some wind on the Sunday it would have been perfect. It was great to see some of the Southerner's making the trip up and some people making the trip down from Scotland!

Saturday saw 4 races due to the lack of wind in the forecast for Sunday. A very changeable light to medium wind made for some very interesting racing as the results show! The first race saw Josh fast out of the blocks to take the first race win with Will & Brynster and Innes & Justine chasing them down.

RS200 Rooster National Tour at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Ian Caswell

The second race was one where you didn't' want to be in the lead until the last mark, with different sides of the legs paying it was very much a game of snakes and ladders seeing countless people take the lead throughout the race only to lose it again just as quickly as they took it. Will & Brynster come from 4th down the final run to take the win from Martin & Barbara who looked like they'd all but got it wrapped halfway down the final run.

The afternoon saw the leaders get away from the fleet in both races leaving the rest of the fleet to battle it out in the pack. Isaac & Fresh regrouped over lunch and were unbeatable after struggling in the morning races, managing to keep Will & Brynster at bay in the 1st race and Ollie & Esther at bay in the 2nd.

RS200 Rooster National Tour at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Ian Caswell

Will & Brynster managed to keep it the most consistent to take the overnight lead with Isaac & Fresh and Ollie & Esther keeping things close enough to make it all to play for on Sunday.

Sunday morning looked promising with more wind than forecast however it was short lived. The race committee managed to get one race in which saw everything reversed down the final run. The left-hand side of the first paid hugely but with most of the fleet going right it looked like the Innes & Justine had got the wrapped up. Ollie & Esther looked to be in with a shout for the overall win with Will & Brynster and Isaac & Fresh being well down the fleet. The first downwind saw the leaders get round leeward mark just before the wind died for the rest of the fleet. The wind finally filling in from behind bunched the fleet back together again and another gust from behind down the final run saw the whole fleet land on the final leeward mark together. A lot of shouting, gybing and jostling later Isaac & Fresh came out ahead after being out the back on the first lap, Alistair & Jamie pulled off something similar to claim second just ahead of Matt & Lynne.

Isaac & Freshs win in the final race saw them jump Will & Brynster by a single point for the overall win with Ollie & Esther maintaining 3rd.

RS200 Rooster National Tour at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Ian Caswell

Congratulations to Isaac & Fresh for taking the win. Thank you to Yorkshire Dales for hosting a great event and to the race committee for making the most of the challenging conditions and to the sponsors of the tours Rooster and Sailing Chandlery.

Ana Paterson and Elana St George were the lucky winners of the Sailing Chandlery raffle.

Overall Results: