Results / RS Fat Face Racing Circuit Yorkshire Dales SC - 18/06/2005

RS200 Fat Face Racing Circuit and MSDS Northern Tour at Yorkshire Dales � every cloud has a silver lining. 34 RS200�s made the first visit to Yorkshire Dales SC for a RS major event for the sixth stage of the Fat Face Racing Circuit and the fourth event of the Mike Saul Dinghy Services Northern Tour. High up in the Dales near Skipton the reservoir is in beautiful rural countryside; the scenery looked its best in the glorious sunshine for the majority of the weekend. The breeze may not have been the best; a variable force 1-3 from the southwest for five of the races but it was a major test of the patience, cool and inland skills of the sailors. Race 1 and Matt/Emma Jenkins led from the early stages, at times with a big lead, to win. Local favourites Keith Escritt/Anne Saul eventually claimed second from Staunton Harold�s Paul and Hazel Williamson. Race 2 and Sarah Allen/Rosie Brearley won by a huge margin. Patrick Altoft/Deb Greenland found a huge shift on the second beat to jump into second and Ian Pickard/Sarah Taylor won the tight tussle for third. Winning one race by a big margin is fine but winning two in a row by massive distances is just rude; this minor consideration did not stop Sarah and Rosie. Chris Pickles/Laura Westell rounded off a fine day with second whilst Steve Dunn/Noelle Vidal at last produced a performance to claim third. Saturday night in the village pub of the wonderfully named Appletreewick featured unicycles and watching the locals driving around the village sat on a sofa sticking out the back of a Peugeot 206; obviously a little known Yorkshire custom! Sunday morning really did not look promising with a flat calm over the lake at the time of the start of the first race. When the southerly breeze arrived PRO Mike Saul did an excellent job in getting racing started and fitting in three races. Race 4 and Andrew/Eve Hartley jumped into a good lead and survived some very nervous moments in light airs to win. Altoft/Greenland claimed second ahead of Josh Gebhard/Tom Jeffery. Race 5 and Escritt/Saul had a good early lead early on with the Penty�s in close company. They were by passed on a light beat with the Jenkins going on to win with Josh Gebhard/Tom Jeffery recovering to second with Martin and Barbara Smith third. There were still five possible winners going into the last race, although nobody at the time had probably got their head round the large scores involved. Conditions changed for the final race; with a nice westerly breeze Mike Saul was able to use the shape of the lake to good advantage to set a good length track. The pin end paid handsome dividends and it was Pickard/Taylor just ahead of the Williamson�s and Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls at mark 1, at least two of these crews shocked to hike for a whole beat. Vincent/Nicholls held a narrow lead for 2 laps but Escritt/Saul had better pace downwind to pass on the third run to win from Vincent, Pickard and Williamson. None of this mattered very much as the true overall fight was behind. Ashore and the building clouds absolutely emptied in a huge deluge. These clouds were to have a silver lining for Matt and Emma Jenkins who not only won the silver division but became the first every silver fleet winners of a Fat Face Circuit event. They were the only boat to score 5 top fives results, a 5th in the last race saw them beat all their possible rivals for overall victory. It was a red letter day for the silver fleet as they occupied 1.4.6.8.9 overall!! Martin/Barbara Smith won the bronze division just ahead of Wayne and Deb Fletcher. Many thanks to Mike Saul Dinghy Services for generous prizes. Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls lead the Fat Face circuit overall by 5 points from Steve Dunn/Noelle Vidal. The Jenkins now appear to have a strangle hold on the Silver division whilst Paul Goodwin/Anna Row consolidated their bronze division lead with a 24th overall at Yorkshire Dales.