Results / Gul Scottish Championships Chanonry SC - 02/08/2003

A contented bunch of sailors from as far afield as the Isle of White completed a weekend of exhilarating and very competitive sailing in the waters of the Inner Moray Firth at Fortrose during Chanonry SC Annual Dinghy Regatta. The regatta incorporated the Gul Scottish Championship for RS200, RS300 & RS400; this being the first time that Gul has supported the event. Other fleets were Scottish Fireball Travelers and a fast handicap fleet. Saturday dawned with strong south westerly winds blowing all day at around Force 6 and building unusually big waves for this venue. Wind strength tantalizingly abated and then strengthened making for very difficult decisions for the race committee lead by David Gibb who had signaled a postponement before the first start was due. Eventually very late in the day the wind abated sufficiently for the race control team to decide to try a race. Boats were launched; however the wind had the last say as it once again strengthened and forced abandonment of the race, resulting in no racing on the day. Sunday was kinder with a force 4 or 5 and the Race Officer called for 4 races to be sailed back to back but with the slow handicap fleet of 5 Toppers left onshore. Conditions continued to change throughout racing causing resetting of courses prior to each race, the odd squally shower and finally wind strengths dropping to force 2 as the fleet left the water. Competition was very close with race places changing throughout each race in all fleets. For the RS200's several overall places had to be decided by breaking ties and the overall championship depended on the outcome of a protest relating to the first race when James Stewart from Stokes Bay, the lead boat at the time, failed to sail the "sausage" required in the final lap. Commodore Ewen Smith acknowledged the valuable sponsorship of the event by Gul and the local chandlery, Caley Marina. He also thanked the Lairg Sailing Club, Inverness Sea Cadets and Caley Marina for provided a safety boat each to augment the club's own boats. Special thanks to David Gibb, Race Officer, and his team on the water and to the tireless galley crew who provided food and drinks endlessly throughout the event.