IOM Scottish Travellers Event 5 – Levenhall – 25th August 2007

Report by Richard Ennos (RO)  Score Sheet

All six of the Scottish radio sailing clubs were represented among the sixteen skippers at the Scottish Travellers event at Levenhall on 25th August, with a healthy contingent of six from the home club. A favourable wind from the west allowed race officer Richard Ennos to set a windward/leeward course. This made use of the area nearest to the southern shore that was mercifully free of weed. As a consequence of the 16 boat entry, a two fleet format was adopted using the Heat Management System 2006 with 4 promotions and relegations. This was combined with the 30 second starting advantage for four of the skippers, a hybrid racing system that had not previously been tested.
The seeding races began in top suit, but heavy squalls that had many in the fleet nosediving, and resulted in the dismasting of Tom Milne’s yacht, led to the fleet changing down to second suit at the first break. It was clear from the start that a 30 second starting advantage in these conditions would be hard to overhaul, even for the top skippers, and so it proved, with strong performances throughout by newcomer Nick Cowern with his red Lintel, old hand Mel Percival with his blue Italiko, and veteran John Dewar with his yellow TS2. Before the end of the day, Nick, sailing in his first travellers, had recorded two wins and lost his 30 second advantage.

Meanwhile Mel played it canny, and made sure he never won more than once, thus retaining his advantage throughout the event. Meanwhile among the scratch skippers Ian Dundas started to get his act together after oversleeping and arriving at the venue in a cloud of dust and burning rubber. Dane Ashby was initially his nearest rival, but a trip to B fleet after lunch saw his challenge drop away. Also in the hunt was Bruce Davidson, with consistent sailing over the course of the day. A series of retirements due to battery failure, servo and winch problems, and sheer fatigue meant that the fleet was reduced to 13 by race 10, and at this point A and B fleets were combined.

In total 13 races were completed, meaning that there were two discards over the day. The clear winner was Ian Dundas, scoring half as many points as his nearest rival. Mel Percival exploited his starting advantage to full effect to finish second, just ahead of Bruce Davidson in third and Dane Ashby in fourth.

It was generally agreed that the two fleet format had been a success, the number of infringements of the rules being kept to an acceptable level. Vigorous calling by both the race team and observers ensured that all incidents were settled on the water, and no protest hearings took place. At the prize giving both the race officer and winner thanked the race team of John Wylie, Sandy McArthur and Alec Chalmers for giving up their time to ensure the smooth running of the event.

Top placings were: