RS400 Trident UK Northern Tour at the Great Northern Asymmetric Challenge (Bassenthwaite Sailing Club), 21/22 September

20 RS400s gathered for the last leg of the 2024 Trident UK Northern Tour at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club over the weekend of 21/22 May.

The RS400s shared the lake as part of the fleet of 69 boats competing in the Great Northern Asymmetric Challenge, and whilst most of the country sat under cloudy damp skies the forecast for the weekend was for a gentle breeze and sunny skies.  The weather didn’t disappoint and with a stable north easterly force 3-4, the fleet set out for four back-to-back races.  The RS400s started in the first of two flights giving them the luxury of a relatively clear lake for the first beat, but after that the course was full, creating moments of high drama for most boats, especially at the leeward gate.

As expected in the RS400 fleet the racing was tight, with position changes on every leg the norm for everyone. Four races and the amount of position changes are too much for anyone to re-count the detail, but after 4 races everyone returned to the shore feeling they had worked hard, everyone with a tale of when that big gust, or up-wind lift took them past 4 boats, but also stories of what could have been.

Local boys Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman had the best of the day and were overnight leaders, recording two firsts, a second and a fifth, ahead of fellow Bassenthwaite sailors Alistair and Tom Coates, who had a consistent three seconds and a fourth, and just one point ahead of Richard and Heather Marsh from Hollingworth Lake SC.  Josh and Patrick Metcalfe (Port Dinorwic SC), were back on the Northern Tour after a break of several years, and were piecing things back together throughout the day culminating with a win in the last race.

After an evening of pie, beers and some toffee vodkas, the competitors awoke somewhat bleary eyed on Sunday morning to see less wind than forecast, and soon the OOD raised the AP.  The delay allowed some time to recover from the previous night’s party and to watch various gusts blow across the lake in opposite directions.  After an hour’s postponement the fleet were summoned to the water.  OOD, Robin Dawson led the fleet 1.5 miles up the lake where a breeze was building from a south easterly direction.  Just as the course was set, the wind turned off, and what was left swung to the northeast.  After making reference to what sounded like the committee boat’s rollocks, the OOD took the fleet back down the lake, setting a start line just off the club house for two more races.

The breeze had built again to a decent force 3-4 with more of the same from day one.  By now Josh and Patrick had clearly remembered how to make their RS400 work by taking two bullets.  Chris and Matt, along with Richard and Heather were both too eager in the first start with an OCS and Alistair and Tom completed the courteous approach by returning to shore to replace a broken boom.  Mark Somerville and Joe Roberts (Bassenthwaite SC) took second place ahead of Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Ainsworth (Tynemouth SC) in third.  In the last race Chris and Matt were well behaved at the start to take second place ahead of Mark and Joe in third.

Overall, the results were tight with Chris and Matt taking the win, just two points ahead of Josh and Patrick, who were just one point ahead of Alistair and Tom.

That wraps up the Trident UK Northern Tour for 2024, with Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman winning the overall tour, from Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (Beaver SC) and Dave Exley and Nigel Hall (Leigh and Lowton SC) in third.  The tour will resume in 2025 at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club on 29/30 March 2025.

Hamish Gledhill