Sailing Chandlery RS200 EaSEA Tour for the E and SE at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham
by Petru Balau 26 Sep 18:29 BST
21-22 September 2024
Eight boats competed in the inaugural edition of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club RS200 open, part of the EaSEA Tour for the E and SE, and sponsored by Sailing Chandlery, over the weekend of 21st and 22nd of September 2024, with Ben Harden, crewed by Lucy Ellery taking the win, with three first place finishes and a discard.
The event was set up with a training day on Saturday, coached by Flynn Davies, known as the coach for 5 World, 1 European, 8 National and 6 other major championship winners, followed by four races on Sunday, with a committee boat start, gracefully provided by Edwin Buckley and his Team Phoebe.
The training day was well received by the competitors, with Charlie Matthews and Corinthian Otter Nathan Flynn having to learn the first step in tuning an RS200 (not forgetting the bung) after their boat started experiencing some submarine tendencies at the start of the training day.
The sailing day ended with a comprehensive review of day events, both from the coaching boat and drone videos.
The Saturday evening started with a delicious dinner at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, followed by disco provided by DJ Tera - Marcus Collingbourne, well known at the RS Sailing events, while some of the younger sailors paid a visit to the carnival visiting the town.
The racing day was won by Ben and Lucy, with Arwen Fflur and Matthew Rayner coming in second place, with three second places and a discard and Joseph Warwicker and Lynne Ratcliffe in third place, with a win, a third and a fourth.
After the wet incident, Charlie and Nathan finished on an honourable fifth place, losing to coach Flynn, crewed by Lucy Prior, on countback.
Special mention needs to be made about Nick Peel, crewed by Keith Gilmore, who despite helming for the first time an RS200, made significant strides over the weekend.
The top three boats are expected to take part in the Endeavour Trophy - Best of the Best, to be hosted by Royal Corinthian Yacht Club between 11th and 13th of October 2024, with Ben Harden representing the Blaze Class Association, Arwen Fflur and Matthew Rayner representing the 420 and Joseph Warwicker representing the Snipe.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 740b | Ben Harden | Lucy Ellery | BSC | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 1333 | Arwen Fflur | Matthew Rayner | Pwllheli SC / Yorks Dales SC | ‑3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 1721 | Joseph Warwicker | Lynne Ratcliffe | | ‑5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | 740 | Flynn Davies | Lucy Prior | BSC/RCYC | 2 | 4 | ‑5 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | 879 | Charlie Matthews | Nathan Flynn | RCYC | 4 | ‑5 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 6 | 1173 | Emily Davis | Alice Davis | | 6 | ‑7 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 7 | 1152 | Jo Tribe | Marcus Collingbourne | BSC | ‑7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
| 8 | 1040 | Nick Peel | Keith Gilmore | RCYC | ‑8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| 9 | 1358 | Charlie Whitaker | Lucy Gates | | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 30 |