Photos: David Eberlin

Notts County RS400 open 16/17th May


The Notts County Sailing Club RS open saw seventeen boats arrive from the North West, Norfolk, Chesire, Kent and of course Notts County itself. With a blustery and often very shifty north westerly blowing racing got under way at mid day on Saturday. With Michael Sims and Richard Brown from Carsington, kicking things off with a win in Race 1, closely followed by Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman from Delph S.C and Notts County’s own Jonathan Lye and Milly Hughes in third. Then followed a break for lunch and the gastronomic delights of Pauline’s salads, chips and lasagne and a time to reflect on the first races performance.

With renewed vigour all took to the water for race 2, with Michael and Richard who showed the rest of the pack the way round taking their second bullet for the day and Chris and Matt coming in second. This time though Steve Restall and Chris Stubbs from Downs S.C came in third, and the rest of the fleet filtered in behind them.

Racing was quickly turned around by Stuart Poole and team for the third race of the day to get underway and this time the black flag was out, with Bill Kenyon and Andy Dawson unfortunately falling foul of it. They returned to the shore for an early beer and a chance to watch the racing from the balcony. The final race for day one saw a bullet for Chris and Matt, second for Steve and Chris and a third for Jon and Milly.

Saturday evening saw Pauline’s infamous chicken curry and a few beers to help the days antics go down.

The overall standings going into Sunday were as follows; 1st Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman, second Michael Sims and Richard Brown, and third Steve Retsall and Chris Stubbs. With two back to back races on Sunday morning and a now slightly less blustery but still shifty westerly blowing through, it looked like it could be an interesting day.
Michael and Richard came out with their third first in four races with Steve and Chris in second and Chris and Matt in third. Then followed a quick turnaround for race 5 to get under way and another bullet for Michael and Richard, and a quick break for lunch and some swimming for one or two of the Notts County Boats.

The last race of the day saw the top three boats coming home with another bullet for Michael and Richard, then Chris and Matt and Steve and Chris.

Notts County would like to say a big thank you to everyone who travelled for the event and participated, thanks also to the race team for smooth races under some testing conditions, we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
 
Lots more photos at http://ncsc.org.uk/2015/05/16/rs-400-open-2/

David Eberlin