IOM Scottish Travellers Event 2 – Paisley – 3rd May 2014

Report by David Smith      Score Sheet

When the Race Team from Paisley MYC (comprised of RO and Scorer David Smith assisted by John Mason, Bill Lees and Rae McManus) arrived at Barshaw Park to prepare for a keen day’s racing they were presented with a problem – there was no wind. By the time of the briefing from Race Officer David Smith at 0945 a light breeze appeared fitfully from the East and a course was laid out with the first beat across the south end of the pond followed by a short reach northwards and a longer, diagonal reach back to the start area. The course continued with a further beat across the pond, a run back and a final beat to the finish. Fourteen skippers representing six clubs from Buchanness to Irvine were present to subject themselves to the vagaries of the conditions in search of success.

Richard Rowan established a clear lead to win the first, very slow, race with Gordon Allison second and Robert Rooney third. Richard also won the second race, also very slow, from Pat Johnston and Brian Summers. By the third race the wind had become a light South Easterly which made the start very difficult. Ali Law had begun to get his BritPop! in trim and won this one from Robert Rooney and Pat Johnston. A revised start line was set for the fourth race which Ali Law won from Robert Rooney with Richard Rowan third.

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The wind now shifted to the South and gained strength so the entire course was re-oriented. The first beat was now directly southwards down the centre of the pond with a short reach to the east followed by a longer reach roughly northwards. The course concluded with a further beat to the south and a run back north to the finish. Pat Johnston won race five from Brian Summers while race six was won by Robert Rooney from Gordon Rae (his best finish of the day). Lunch was called at 1230 and pie and beans were gratefully consumed in and around the Clubhouse.

The wind remained generally consistent in strength during the afternoon (good first suit conditions) but it varied quite significantly in direction both during and between races causing some stress in the Race Team trying to set a fair start line.

During the afternoon races the usual suspects of Ali Law, Robert Rooney and Richard Rowan continued to share the lead with occasional incursions into the leading positions from Gordon Allison, Brian Summers and Drew Taylor. Hugh Shields must have benefited from the lunch break to tune his McShee because he had a good run in four or five races, winning race nine. As the races mounted up four skippers retired from combat due in some cases to radio failure and in others to physical stress from all the walking around the pond that the course required!

Robert Rooney had a good run with wins in races ten, twelve, thirteen and fourteen but Ali Law was never far away, winning races eleven, eighteen and nineteen, and generally coming second in the others. Ali and Robert didn’t have it all their own way as Richard Rowan won races fifteen and sixteen while Brian Summers won race seventeen.

After the first few races it was clear that the leaders were Ali Law, Richard Rowan and Robert Rooney; after twelve and sixteen races Robert Rooney seemed to have the edge over the others. However when the scores were totalled after nineteen races, Ali Law gained first place on 31 points closely followed by Robert Rooney in second on 35 points clear ahead of Richard Rowan in third on 45 points. Brian Summers achieved a very creditable fourth place some way behind Richard.

Ali Law thanked Paisley MYC for their organisation in difficult conditions and his fellow skippers for sporting racing.

Top placings were: