North East Clubs 2007 Early Series Event 2 – Aberdeen – 17th February 2007

11 skippers took part in the 2nd event in the 2007 North East Clubs Early Winter Series. The largest contingent of 6 came from Brechin with 2 from Buchanness and 3 from the host club Aberdeen.

Three skippers from Aberdeen – John [RO], Steve [Boatman] and Ken [Scorer] had volunteered to tackle for the first time the duties of Race Committee and had prepared well. John gave the skippers briefing at 10h00 sharp and racing starting at 10h15 on a large course set by Steve on the North side of Inchgarth Reservoir.

It was an unusually mild day for mid February and under the clear sunny skies skippers were regretting to have come clad in their thermals. The good weather lasted throughout the day. The wind was westerly and although as expected at Inchgarth it was fickle at times the racing was good and the results were close. 14 races were run over the day on the “3 and a break” procedure through till 15h30. After a few incidents at the weather mark in the first races with boats turning down the run into beating boats it was decided to lay a spreader mark to separate the fleet.

Skipper start handicaps were used but as the wind went light it was difficult for the handicappers to stay up with the more experienced skippers although Derek Latter scored a race win and a second sailing off 20 secs with his recently acquired Black Stealth.

In the morning session it was Ali Law that got going well in the light conditions. He consistently read the shifts and put together a good run of top three finishes which he kept up over the day. Ian had 3 wins but lacked his recent form as he tried to get to grips with a new rig. Neil Jardine shone in the afternoon session with his wooden Kite winning 3 races but electrical troubles held him back in the later races.

Most Improved skipper was awarded to Derek Latter.

Thanks were given to the new race team who ran a very well organised and enjoyable event and showed that a team of 3 in the race committee is ideal.

Overall results for the day were:

Full results (pdf file)