Oh yes Exe – terrific conclusion to the2010 RS200 South West Ugly Tour. 

Sandwiched between the monsoons that stopped the Ryder Cup, the lake on one of the fairways was bigger than some sailing clubs water; Exe SC booked some glorious sailing conditions for the final round of the South West Ugly Tour (SWUT) on Oct 2^nd. 28 boats were treated to sunshine,  lovely 11-15 knots SW/S , waves , good race management, terrific competitive racing,  cakes, more cakes and even more cakes. Who won what on SWUT was totally open and many, many twists followed.

Arthur Henderson/Tom Brophy were off to a flyer but made an error as to which was the favoured leeward gate mark; Christian Humphrey/Noelle Vidal took full advantage to lead. James/Will Rusden worked their way from 4^th to take over the lead but Humphrey/Vidal fought back to win the race in last 50 yards into final leeward mark with Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls third.  The Vincent/Nicholls team stormed the first beat to lead but Sam Littlejohn/Marianthe Evangelidis powered through on the second beat, just holding off Vincent/Nicholls downwind to win. Charlotte Savage/Mike Wood won the battle with the Rusden’s for third.

The fleet were way too keen in a series of recalls in race 3 with black flag OCS’s taking its toll on some leading boats. Littlejohn/Evangelidis were again on fine form to win from the Rusden’s with Henderson/Brophy third. The open and Tour were wide open going into the final race which started in the best wind of the day which had firmed up from the South. All the leading boats were in the leading group at first mark and Henderson/Brophy, Vincent/Nicholls and Rusden’s went through the first leeward gate at the same time. The Rusden’s took the lead from Henderson/Brophy on final beat and looked to have overall victory in the bag. Littlejohn//Evangelidis overtook Vincent/Nicholls to move into third in last 200 yards and just held on in luffing match on reach to finish. This put Littlejohn//Evangelidis on equal points with Rusden’s winning on count back. Vincent/Nicholls now were tied with Henderson/Brophy who claimed third on discard. This also changed the overall winner of the South West Ugly Tour see separate report.

Chew’s Tony Freer and  9 year old son Zach just won the silver division from Ian Mills/Lucy Burn. Mounts Bay’s Pippa Baker/Mostyn Evans scored a good win the bronze division from Chew’s Oakey’s and Mike Riley/Mary Hill.

This was the very definition of a great one day open; well done Exe and all competitors. Now which was the best cake hmmmmm?

Pete Vincent