IOM Scottish Travellers 2013 Event 1 – Aberdeen – 6th April 2013

Report by Ian Dundas

Score Sheet

The 2013 Scottish IOM Series got off to a great start at Inchgarth Reservoir in Aberdeen. Despite the recent poor weather there was a good turnout of 15 Skippers and all of the 7 radio sailing clubs from across Scotland were represented in the fleet.

For some skippers this was their first participation in a Travellers event, while for others it was a welcome return after taking a break in recent times. It was interesting that 5 of the boats were home built by the skippers themselves from recognised plans or from their own designs.

In line with the new 2013 sailing instructions, the event was run using a two heat format without starting advantages. After a short skippers briefing, racing started promptly at 10am.

A better than forecast westerly wind settled in allowing the first seeding races to be run on a windward – leeward course situated on the north shore of the reservoir. The first seeding race saw Ralph Knowles, Pat Johnson and David Stewart promoted to the A fleet while Richard Ennos, Richard Rowan and John Owens were promoted from the second seeding race.

Pat Johnson from Greenock won Race 2 with his home built Ska ahead of Ali Law sailing a Britpop and Richard Rowan who had only recently taken his trusty Italiko out of storage. In Race 3 the front places were reversed with Ali first and Pat second closely followed by the two new Britpops of Robert Brown and John Owens. The two heat system was working well giving good racing in each heat and allowing Race Observers to be available to assist the Race team. Only problem for some was that the top 4 boats from the B heat were promoted into the A heat and the bottom 4 boats in the A heat drop back into the B heat. This meant some skippers were yo-yoing up and down the fleets and sailing nearly every race.

In late morning the wind swung to the east which required a new course to be set up. On the new course Pat Johnson continued his good run of form with a win ahead of his club mate Richard Rowan, Ali Law and Richard Ennos. At this point the lunch break was called as another swing of the wind to the NW meant it would be better to sail on the south bank.

At lunchtime the leaderboard was very close with Pat Johnson just on top one point clear of Richard Rowan who in turn was one point clear of Ali Law.

Two races were run after Lunch on the south bank. A new winner emerged in Race 5 with Brian Summers sailing his home-built Goth design to a win ahead of Pat Johnston and John Owens. Brian went on to clinch second place in Race 7 behind Ali Law.

Yet another full course change was needed for the last two races to deal with the wind which had now swung Southerly. Aberdeen Club’s newly purchased electric outboard was being well tested by Boatman Steve Taylor to set fair courses. The new southerly wind was lighter and flukier. Brian Summers won a tense Race 7 and Richard Rowan won the last Race 8. Ali Law remained consistent with two second places, Richard Ennos had two thirds and Gordon Allison picked up two fourth places. Pat Johnson on the other hand had two discard scores of 8th and 9th place compared to the top 3 finishes he had in all other races.

In the end, Pat Johnston and Ali Law were tied with a corrected score of 11 points each with 2 wins, three 2nds and one 3rd place. Ali won the event on countback with his 6th place discard being better than Pat’s 8th place. Richard Rowan was 3rd overall with Brian Summers pulling through to 4th, Richard Ennos 5th and John Owens 6th. Close scores were also noted in the lower fleet where only 10 points separated 5 boats showing that close racing had occurred throughout the fleet. It was also pointed out that 3 of the top six boats were hand built.

Thanks were extended to the Aberdeen Race Team of I Dundas, S Taylor, K Ewen and M Hadfield.

Top placings were: