The second half of the season saw the final
two Scottish Travellers events take place at Paisley and Levenhall.
Reports on these follow below. It was generally agreed by those taking
part that the Travellers series this year had been excellent fun.
The top 5 places in the series was:
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1. Richard Rowan
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3 wins and 1 second |
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2. Alistair Law
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2 wins and 2 seconds |
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3. David Loomes
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3 thirds and 1 sixth |
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4. Boyd Baird
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1 third 1 fourth 1 sixth and RO |
5. Graham Campbell
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1 second 1 third 1 fourth
and 1 DNS |
The full results can be seen on the MYA web
page at
http://www.mya-uk.org.uk/scotland/Results/results.htm |
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The 2003 Windermre Plaque was held at Barshaw Park, Paisley on Sunday 21st September 2003.
A very poor turnout of five competitors, four from Paisley MYC and one from Greenock
MY&PBC, arrived hopefully at 10.30 am ready for
action with their R6M yachts. The wind started gently but then strengthened
somewhat.
David Loomes established an early lead over Robert Rooney with
three successive firsts but by lunchtime, after race 5, Robert was putting
together his own run of firsts.
After the lunch break the weather changed and determined
rain set in. All agreed that because of the conditions the 7th race should be
the last. Robert Rooney’s run of firsts ended with race 6 and David Loomes
won race 7.
Thus, after 7 races, David Loomes came out the winner just
ahead of Robert Rooney in second place. The other finishers were John
Mathieson and Hugh Shields close together in third and fourth while David
Smith, a newcomer to R6M sailing this summer, was fifth.
Results
1st - David Loomes (8 points)
2nd -
Robert Rooney (10 points)
3rd -
John Mathieson (19 points)
4th - Hugh Shields (22 points)
5th -
David Smith (30 points)
Review of the R6M situation
by David Smith
After the strong Scottish presence in the R6m Nationals the
turn out for the District Championships and the Windermere Plaque was
somewhat disappointing. However the outcome of the differing entries meant
that a number of different people gained honours. Richard Rowan was the
leading ‘Scot’ at the Nationals in second place with Gordon Price third and
David Loomes fourth. Gordon then won the R6M District Championship with David Loomes second and finally David won the Windermere plaque with Robert Rooney
second.
Paisley MYC is continuing to build its membership and a
number of new recruits are interested in R6M sailing so the prospects for
these events in the future is encouraging. The Club managed a full season
of sailing during 2003 unlike 2002 where the season was stopped in its tracks
in mid summer by weed in the pond.
Unfortunately, this year has seen the other R6M
stronghold of Greenock MY&PBC adversely affected by long drawn out
repairs to Murdieston Dam by the local council. A source of encouragement for 2004 is the news the
water level is now slowly returning.
District Councillor's Report
by Richard Rowan
Congratulations
to Alistair Law on his being elected Scottish District Chairman at the
District AGM on 25th October. Thanks to Neil Graham for looking after
the post over the last two years.
Perhaps the most important item that I would like to report on in respect of
the AGM was that the members attending voted strongly to retain the District.
Although in other parts of the UK, the concept of Districts is changing
and with no formal location of Districts in the MYA Chairman's new Council
Structure layout (see Acquaint Issue 3 2003), concern was expressed
about what this would mean for Scotland. So, the AGM voted in
modifications to the Scottish District Constitution to reflect changes in the
way that the MYA now operates.
This action by the Scottish District should not be seen as a bid for
"independence", it is more a reflection of the geographical isolation
of the Scottish clubs from the main body of the MYA. Scotland continues
to play its part in running major UK events, including providing ROs
and other members of the Race Committee at the 2002 RM Nationals and IOM
Europeans, running one of
the IOM National Ranking weekends in 2002, running the R6M Nationals this year
and now planning for the IOM event again next year.
It was also agreed at the AGM that the Scottish web site should be merged
into the main MYA site. That has now been done - this means that the
Scottish District Officers and clubs now have new mya-uk.org.uk email
addresses as follows:
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The new Aberdeen club has lead to a
resurgence of IOM activity in the North East, with regular meetings
between the Aberdeen, Peterhead and Brechin clubs.
IOM Travellers at Paisley 26th July
report by Graham Campbell
The Paisley heat of the IOM travellers' series
took place on Saturday 26th July. 13 skippers from Paisley Model Yacht
Club and Brechin Model Yacht Club took to the start line in glorious sunny
weather with a light south easterly breeze.
Although the entry was not high, the standard
of racing was but it was Mr. Consistent himself (Rowan) who sprang out to
an early lead sailing his questionable green Kite. Boyd Baird from Brechin
was showing some excellent boat speed in what was the first competitive
outing for his new Isis and he can be very pleased with this boat's early
potential.
A good start by Rowan had him well clear of the
chasing pack by lunchtime, but the interval seemed to relax him a
little too much and as the afternoon races progressed a spirited charge by
Graham Campbell sailing his Kite began eating into Rowan's lead. As race
number 18 of 20 started all of a sudden there was only a few points between
them and all to play for in the remaining races. David Loomes, also
sailing his Kite, had been staging a recovery of his own and results more
to his liking moved him up to 3rd and enabling Richard to sail the regatta
home, closely followed by Campbell. Loomes came home in 3rd, Boyd Baird in
the all singing, all dancing Isis 4th and John Matheson in his Italico 5th.
All in all a very good day's racing enjoyed by
all the skippers and their thanks go to Paisley Model Yacht Club for
running the event superbly well.
RESULTS
1st - Richard Rowan (31 points) - Kite
2nd - Graham Campbell (39 points) - Kite
3rd - David Loomes (61 points) - Kite
Footnote - the turnout was reduced because a
number of Aberdeen and Peterhead skippers were attending a funeral of a club
member on the day of the event.
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IOM Travellers at Levenhall 13th September
report by RO Richard Ennos, photos by Ioin
Robertson
Levenhall RYC was the host for the final
event in the IOM Scottish Travellers series of 2003. All five Scottish clubs
sailing 1 metres competitively were represented among the fleet of twelve
yachts. After a particularly quiet summer the winds on September 13th were
generally around force 3, but with intermittent, strong squalls.
Although top suits could be carried effectively for much of the time,
the strength of the gusts ensured that almost all racing was conducted in
second suits to ensure that control was retained at all times. The strength
of the wind and the lack of protests ensured that a total of 24 races were
successfully completed between 10:30 and 4:00 pm.
After some inconsistency in early races,
this year’s Scottish District Champion Alistair Law, sailing a custom
built Italico, put together an impressive string of wins. Alastair’s
closest challenger was Richard Rowan sailing his bright green Kite. Richard’s
best results came in the middle and latter part of the day as the wind
strength eased. These two did not have it all their own way however.
Boyd Baird and Ian Dundas achieved race wins, and David Loomes, whose Kite
was beset by problems all day, came through to take the winning gun in the
final two races. After three discards Alastair Law took the honours, closely
followed by Richard Rowan and Boyd Baird.
The result ensured that Richard Rowan was the overall winner of the IOM
Scottish Travellers series for 2003.
RESULTS
1st - Alistair Law (42 points) - Italiko
2nd - Richard Rowan (54 points) - Kite
3rd - Boyd Baird (75 points) - Isis
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