IOM Racing at Levenhall DEWAR HANDICAP TROPHY AND SCRATCH CUP Saturday 13th May 2006

report by Richard Ennos Ten skippers from Levenhall RYC took part in a fine day’s racing for the Dewar Handicap Trophy and the Scratch cup on the afternoon of Saturday 13th May 2006.  With half of Edinburgh at Hampden Park supporting the Jambos,  Levenhall Links and the boating pond were virtually deserted,  though a few spectators drifted by later in the day to see what all the fuss was about. The weather was beautifully sunny, with a light but slightly chilly breeze from the north, ideal conditions for number 1 suit on a 1 metre.  A triangle and sausage course was set with a control area on the bank with the bushes – not ideal, but dictated by the wind direction. Ten races were sailed with no discards and two trophies were awarded – the Scratch cup, based on total points scored, and the Dewar trophy, based on scratch score plus individual skipper handicaps determined by past performance in club racing. Numerous and often very substantial wind shifts occurred throughout the day, making for interesting, and occasionally frustrating racing.  Positions changed frequently on the windward legs and concentration was needed throughout.  Local Levenhall members knew that they would be up against it when they heard that Alistair Law, sailing his Topico, would be down from darkest Peterhead to defend the Scratch cup - and so it proved. However Alistair didn’t have it all his own way. Tom Milne and Dane Ashby sailing TS2s and Richard Ennos with his own Lagom design, all had race wins, but none were consistent enough to stay with Alistair. The handicap trophy was also very closely contested with five points covering the first four places. The winner, by a point, was Alex Chalmers sailing his Jazz, sail number 90. The full results were: Scratch Cup Pos Skipper Hull Design Points Alistair Law (in shades) receives the Scratch cup from a reluctant Dane Ashby 1 Alastair Law Topico 20 2 Richard Ennos Lagom 30 3 Tom Milne TS2 34 4 Dane Ashby TS2 40 5 Sandy McLaren Italiko (modified) 46 6 John Wylie Tinto 62 7 Alex Chalmers Jazz 71 8= Jim Nicolson TS2 76 8= Ian Marr Ikon 76 10 John Dewar Metric Magic 98 Dewar Handicap Trophy Pos Skipper Hull Design Points Tom Milne (left) hands over the Dewar Handicap Trophies to a victorious Alex Chalmers 1 Alex Chalmers Jazz 96 2 Dane Ashby TS2 97 3 Alastair Law Topico 98 4 Richard Ennos Lagom 100 5 Tom Milne TS2 104 6 John Wylie Tinto 105 7 Sandy McLaren Italiko (modified) 113 8 Ian Marr Ikon 115 9= Jim Nicolson TS2 119 9= John Dewar Metric Magic 119

The stern view of Alistair Law’s Topico – all that most of us saw of his yacht all day Ian Marr (right) and Dane Ashby ponder on why the Ikon didn’t go faster Dane Ashby's TS2 rounds the leeward mark Alex Chalmers Jazz waits for the next race