North East Clubs 2007 Early Series Event 1 – Brechin – 13th January 2007

A poor forecast did not deter 9 IOM skippers taking part in the first of the North East Clubs early 2007 winter series at Brechin – 4 from the local club, 3 from Aberdeen and 2 from Buchanness.

Three skippers were attending their first travellers event.

The southerly wind allowed Mel Percival to set a good triangle/sausage course along the full length of the Brechin lake and the less than forecast wind allowed skippers to start racing on No1 Rig.

Ali got off to a good start winning the first 2 races. Boyd won the third race. Some of the skippers sailing at Brechin for the first time were finding the conditions difficult especially the big shifts on the approach to the windward mark and getting safely round the leeward mark as the fleet arrived in a bunch at high speed. During the first break after 3 races Ian was able to fix his rig which was damaged in a collision before the first race while other skippers were able to made adjustments to suit the gusty conditions. After the break Colin McGinniss continued his good form with a win. The next race went to Ian who was now going well with his repaired rig. John Owens who was sailing off red handicap got a win in race 6 before lunch.

After the usual enjoyable lunch in the Brechin Castle Centre, racing restarted in a strengthening wind. Colin Deakin with his TS2 won race 7 after lunch but other skippers were really struggling to control their boats and the fleet moved down to No 2 Rig.

On No2 rig Ali came back to the front and had some close tussles with Ian. John Milne had some good results with his Widget on No2 rig and John Owens after winning 3races in a row and was promoted from red to yellow handicap.

The wind continued to increase and Ralph who was the first to move down to No3 Rig was rewarded with a win. Others followed Ralph’s lead to change down except John and Steve who soldiered on with their No 2 Rigs. The last 4 races were run in very blustery but exciting conditions. Remarkably the heavy rain that was forecast missed Brechin making it a great day for those attending. Results were affected by boat reliability and all but the top three finishers had dns or dnf`s to count.

All credit to Mel and his scorer for running 18 good races in difficult conditions.

Final positions were:

Full results (pdf file)