RS 200s at Northampton

Final Fat Face circuit event and crews and helm swap reports Pete Vincent

Dire forecasts of very strong winds and rain put many people off travelling to Northampton SC for the final RS200 Fat Face Circuit event of the year. Thirty boats did make the trip and they were treated to some very variable weather, plenty of wind, some top race management, very good value catering and some very fine competitive sailing. Even though the top three places overall on the Fat Face Circuit had already been decided 15 of the top thirty at the Nationals were competing along with top RS400 helm Craig Burlton.

British weather lived up to its reputation of total unpredictability. Race 1 started in a patchy force 2-3 and then really heavy rain arrived killing the wind so the race finished in 5 knots with everyone wishing they had not rigged with heavy wind settings. Craig Burlton and Claire Upton-Brown sniggled their way up the first beat into a good lead and never looked back. The fleet was sent ashore and we all questioned weather man’s parentage as we looked out on a very wet and windless Pitsford Reservoir. After a short wait the fleet went back out into a rapidly increasing breeze to hold a good race in a force 4 won by National Champions Lee Sydenham/Anne Vaudrey. Then the forecast wind did arrive, weathermen do have parents after all, and race 3 was held in a very gusty force 5-7, downwind was very exciting and very wet for the majority. Geoff Carveth, with new crew Loopy Lucy Matthews stormed the race.

Sunday and there was a de-mob feel to the start of the day. It was a mild day and there was a nice gentle force 2-3 so Anne Vaudrey and Jo Hewitson took over helming. The inevitable happened and Anne was second for most of the race despite Lee paying no attention to the crewing talk the previous evening from Jo Hewitson. James Stewart with new crew Lucy Matthews, she is the non-loopy one for those confused, won with Craig Burlton second and Anne ninth.

With the wind now picking up to 16-18 knots as the sun came out the season finished with two really great races where places changed so rapidly and the committee boat was treated to some awesome leeward mark action. Fun over, Jo gave the helm back to Tom and they flew in on the port lay line to lead, then found the patch of wind from heaven to blast off into the distance on the first run to win by a margin. Marshall and Heather King, at last a stable helm/crew combination, looked to have the final race in control but there were big variations in wind over the run that meant some boats could flat out plane the whole length of the lake. The pack caught them and in an action packed final run, Lee (now helming) won with Geoff Carveth and Loopy Lucy second.

With this final result Geoff Carveth/Loopy Lucy had secured a comfortable overall victory by 9 points.

	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Geoff Carneth	Lucy Matthews	3	2	1	3	7	2	11
2	Lee Sydenham	Anne Vaudry	7	1	16	9	2	1	20
3	James Stewart	Lucy Matthwes	6	5	4	1	4	11	20
4	jonathan lewis	lynne ratcliffe	5	4	10	8	3	5	25
5	Tom Hewitson	Jo Hewitson	DNS	3	2	19	1	3	28
6	Steve Dun	Jane William	9	9	5	4	5	9	32
7	Marshall King	Heather King	8	8	7	5	9	6	34
8	Sarah Allian	Sam Littlejohn	4	DNF	6	6	12	19	47
9	Trudie Danbury	Graeme Ryder	10	7	12	12	11	7	47
10	Craig Borlton	Claire Upton-Brown	1	6	DNF	2	10	DNS	50
11	Peter Vincent	Elined Jones	12	12	19	11	6	10	51
12	Ian Pickard	Sarah Taylor	17	11	8	16	8	8	51
13	Sue Antonelli	Jo Lloyd	2	13	DNF	14	13	14	56
14	Cozin Staite	Jane Sutor	13	15	9	10	20	15	62
15	Alexander Taylor	Emma Clarke	18	10	3	23	21	12	64
16	ben alexander	elizabeth alexander	11	20	22	7	14	17	69
17	Andrew Peters	Jeraldine Peters	14	14	20	OCS	19	4	71
18	Martin English	liz Evans	20	17	11	18	16	13	75
19	Micky Wright	Howie	15	16	14	15	15	18	75
20	Andi Riley	Julie Marspen	16	18	17	17	18	16	84
21	Mike Chapam	Sheridan Killwick	19	19	18	13	17	20	86
22	Joanne Wotton	Nigel Harnimaiv	21	22	13	21	23	21	98
23	paul goodwin	anne ron	23	21	15	22	DNF	DNF	112
24	Douglas Maxwell	Emma Harniman	22	24	23	26	26	22	117
25	John Wayling	Emma Rhodes	29	25	21	20	28	25	119
26	Stephen Seargeant	Camilla Oakley	28	23	25	24	27	23	122
27	Simon Howell	Richard Murpley	26	26	DNF	25	24	24	125
28	Dave Baker	Sophie Baker	27	27	24	28	22	26	126
29	Lawrevce Hayward	Sarah Webb	24	DNF	DNS	27	25	27	134
30	debbie cooper	laissa baker	25	DNF	DNS	DNS	29	DNF	147