North East Clubs 2006 Early Series Event 2 – Aberdeen – 18th March 2006

Two visitors from the Brechin Club, Ralph Knowles and Mel Percival, made the journey to Aberdeen to join three local skippers and Shaky Bill from Buchanness for the second event in the early 2006 winter series. Participation was down on the previous year with many regulars caught by other commitments and the recent severe weather keeping many boats “in the shed”.

It was good to see new member John Owens tackle the event with the club TS2. This was John`s first race and he completed the course on a fast learning curve. Jimmy Bisset had rebuilt his boat after damage at the last event. His new mast seemed to work well. Shakey had solved his elusive leak and Mel had dusted down his Italiko for the event.

There was a slight breeze from the north east which meant the normal race area at Inchgarth was in a wind shadow. As the water level was up to maximum it was decided to move the marks to the west to give a good triangle /sausage course. This gave a risk of weed, but over the day there was very little impact from weed in the race area. However any excursion into the south west corner of the reservoir was dramatic as John Owens found.

Alistair Struthers officiated as Race Officer and ran 13 races through to the 3pm finish.

Inchgarth played to its reputation of being tricky. There were big windshifts and varying wind strength across the course which meant there was no fixed way to go up the beat. This lead to several place changes and a difficulty to defend against boats taking fliers. It was good racing with the wins spread amongst the skippers. Mel (1), Ralph (2), Jimmy (2), Shakey (3) and Ian (5). The overall results showed Ian to have the edge but there was very little in it between the next 4. John had a few 4th place finishes which is encouraging for his first regatta

With the prevailing tricky wind conditions it was decided to double the RYGG handicaps for the day ie Red went to 60 secs. This proved to be a good experiment as it helped redress gaps at the finishing line. Revision of handicaps is worth considering by Race Officers after say 3 races. After all the spirit of the RYGG Handicapping is to give an equal chance to all participants.

Another good experience on the day was take time during a coffee break to review the circumstances of an on the water rule infringement which had caused “emotion” at the time between two skippers. By going through the details in slow motion it helped all to better understand who had the rights and more important what to do to avoid getting into the problem. T he exercise also allowed through discussion to clarify other issues that had arisen on the race course such as giving handicap boats room on their start.

Full results (pdf file)

Final positions were: