Results / Gul Scottish Grand Slam East Lothian YC - 04/05/2002

The five event GUL RS GRAND SLAM Circuit which includes Torbay, Stokes Bay/Lee on Solent, the Nationals and the Inlands kicked off in some style at East Lothian Y.C, North Berwick on May 4/5th. For the second year in a row the weather gods really liked the idea of an RS event in North Berwick on a Bank Holiday and supplied glorious sunshine, almost total clear blue skies and decent winds. In such weather the sailing area of North Berwick has to be one of the most scenic in the country with sandy beach, Bass Rock, hills, gannets and puffins. On top of all this East Lothian YC are so friendly and keen to lay on a good event which included top race management from Race Officers Ted Hill and Jim Sinclair. After having had three quality races on Saturday in a good force 3-4 in bright sunshine with rapid turn arounds and the club gives every competitor an ice cream as you pull the boat up the slip you know you have arrived on planet happy. Watersports photographer Nick Kirk also had a very happy event; with his waterproof digital camera he took some fantastic shots which he displayed on a big screen in the evening. He then kept the fleet entertained with his unusual antics including wearing a survival suit on Sunday and swimming around the leeward mark to get the best action shots from different angles as the 400 fleet descended on mass!! A man dedicated indeed. Hopefully he got the shot of Nick Craig getting his pole stuck in the netting over the leeward mark and having to send his crew onto the foredeck to break free, entertainment of the highest order. With no English boats attending it was down the two Scottish RS700s to fight it out in the first 700 event in Scotland. North Berwick is just on the North Sea and provided idyllic weather of sun and a steady F3 on the Saturday with 3 races and 2 races on the Sunday in lighter but just as sunny conditions. In the end it was a white wash with recent fleet convert, Richard Cumming winning every race. He demonstrated that with a solid sailing background of International 14 and RS600 it is a straightforward move to a 700. But which boat delivers the most fun? Ask Richard. After the finish on Saturday he could not remove the grin off his face from the fantastic off wind reaches with the kite up. The other 700 sailor, Alan Mackie had to resign himself to second. Although a top batten coming through the mainsail didn't help matters, Mackie was well out-sailed upwind and downwind.