Results / Open Fisherrow YC - 06/04/2013

JP Watersports RS200 Scottish Circuit

Royal Forth Yacht Club hosted a good 1 day event on 6 July 2013.

10 RS sailors turned out for the day, the same number as the solo's. The sun gods were out to play and wind carried from 8 - 18 knots during the day from the south west.

Conditions were shifty and challenging for the fleet with lots of places changing hands throughout the 4 races. The eventual winners somehow shook of the baby brains to win the event from Martin Faulkner and Ashley Martin. 3rd overall was Chris Perry and Kirsty Lytton.

Full results:

The weekend of 20^th/21^st July then saw Royal Findhorn Yacht Club welcome 4 visiting boats and 5 local RS200s to their annual regatta weekend. With high hopes of great weather, in line with the current UK conditions, 18 bleary-eyed sailors crawled into their boats early on Saturday morning ready for the long sail out into the Moray Firth and a 0930 start gun. Unfortunately, a 7 knot tide, lack of wind and the haar were against us and most of the fleet had to be towed out to the race course.

The race officer made the best of the poor conditions, managing to get in the 2 scheduled races. However, the conditions were tricky at best with everybody trying to take advantage of the tiny puffs of wind that appeared sporadically across the race course. Stuart and Ruaridh were rewarded for their patience when a Minkie whale appeared at the windward mark, providing them with something else to think about for a few minutes! Allan and Amy Lennox got a great start and sailed away from the rest of the fleet to take 1^st place in the first race followed by newcomers to the fleet Neil Manderson and Alice Meaden. Thankfully, the second race had a more steady breeze and this time it was Chris Perry and Kirsty Lytton who overhauled the Lennoxes to take the line. Needless to say, everybody made a beeline for the bay in order to get back in safely against the outgoing tide.

For all the anti-social nature of early morning starts, this meant that racing was finished by midday and the whole afternoon free for the sailors to enjoy the delights of Findhorn. Typically, no sooner had we landed back on the beach than the haar lifted and the breeze started to fill in! The visiting sailors made for the beach and filled the afternoon with Frisbee, kite flying and an impromptu game of rounders in an attempt to ignore the now perfect sailing conditions out at sea. Continuing his form on the water, Allan won the rounders with a score of 10 points – not bad for a bit of driftwood, some beer cans and an old tennis ball!

Sunday morning dawned with the haar in thicker than the previous day and the decision was made not to sail out at sea. After a short postponement, the haar lifted enough for all fleets to set off into Findhorn Bay crossing their fingers and toes for the wind to fill in (again!). The start of race 3 was one of those that will be talked about for a long time to come, with the strength of the tide exceeding the strength of the wind meaning that it took some crews 15 minutes to cross the line and start the race! Shortly afterwards, however, the wind built to a pleasant F2 and the sun came out – hooray! Chris and Kirsty, ever grateful for their knowledge of the notorious Findhorn tidal flows, took another two wins, followed by local sailor Bev Ellis who had a great day and banked two seconds. Sailing was followed by drinks in the sunshine on the lawn outside the clubhouse. Perfect.

Thanks must go to Royal Findhorn and all its’ volunteers for hosting the event and management of the difficult conditions. We look forward to coming back soon!

With another 2 Largs based boats joining the circuit promises to be a bumper turnout for the next event of the series, the Largs 1 day event on 24 August. The option to race round Cumbrae on Sunday will be a fun and different break from the usual round the cans racing.

Look forwards to seeing you all there, where nanny options may have to be discussed for 3 of the fleet!