North East Clubs 2009 Early Series Event 3 – Buchanness – 14th March 2009

Report by Ali Law  Results

The Buchanness leg of the 2009 early series went ahead as planned – the Brechin and Aberdeen legs had been cancelled due to ice. The weather forecast for the day predicted 26-36 mph wind speed with light rain later in the day, needless to say the Met office got it half right (for a change) we got the wind but not the rain which proves the futility of cancelling an event on the strength of a bad forecast, in fact, we had a wonderful day with sunshine.

Nine skippers (3 from each NE Club) had entered and all were present for the Race Officers briefing at 9:47. RO Ali Law introduced his team of two, himself and Buchanness member Tony Webster who would act as line judge and scorer. In his address Ali announced that the RYA Advisory Hearings, RYA Arbitration and Protest Hearing systems would be used for dealing with any protests. In addition he would call any incident seen on the water and where possible would award a penalty along with an explanation.

The wind was from a south-westerly direction with a strength which made the skippers set their number two rigs. The course was two triangles with a long beat to the finish. All skippers started on scratch with the exception of one – Steve Vidac, who has just taken up Radio sailing and is a member of the Brechin club – Steve started on 30 seconds and went straight out and won the first race Sailing a “Gadget” closely followed by club mate and future brother in law Colin McGinnis sailing a “Widget”. Highest placed local skipper was Brian Robertson sailing his famous Black Pig (Topiko) and favourite for the day, Ian Dundas “Widget” was back in 7th. And all that was to change.

During race five the wind strength suddenly increased and yachts were diving all over the place and along with the increase came a huge shift in direction – just as the Met. Office had predicted – RO Ali decided to call a break to allow him to set a new course at the south side of the pond. Ian was heard to comment that he would not change down as his Widget had found its sweet point, but wisdom prevailed, as the wind steadily increased yet again which gave the RO another headache as he could not control the new inflatable (bit of a novice). The new course saw the yachts using quite a wide expanse of water on the two triangles with a longer beat to finish, however the RO had placed the finish line in the turbulent air close to the bank which meant that places were often won and lost a mere metre from the line “exciting stuff” After a lockup between Ian and Colin McGinnis, Ian was six meters from the finish in second place and on starboard, Colin approaching at speed on port tried to bear away but got caught in a gust, luffed up and locked onto Ian, after they retrieved their yachts we sailed one more race and had launch.

When we resumed Ian was on 22 points and Colin McGinnis was on 25 points but with discards they were equal, unfortunately, as the afternoon wore on Colin faded away somewhat, it could be that Colin has not gained enough experience in heavy weather sailing as the wind was whipping up some very large waves especially down towards the leeward mark. As the event progressed we saw Neil Jardine having some great racing, but unfortunately he also suffered bouts of gear failure. Steve Taylor started the event poorly with linkage problems which are better sorted in the garage but he did a Lazarus and came back from the dead. John Owens sailed his best regatta yet but still has to be more decisive in his decisions on and off the water (he has youth on his side) the Buchanness bunch will be getting a visit on Wednesday evenings but they put up a solid display in the face of difficult conditions. Ian mastered the Yacht, the conditions and was persistent. He is a worthy winner.

Summary
• A good turn out from all clubs, could have been better, but some just could not make it.
• Really good sailing conditions but not a day for the beginner, especially in the afternoon (Steve coped extremely well).
• Race team just got through it; in strong wind you need more eyes.
• The format of two races back to back with a break worked well in the tough conditions.
• No raised voices over the whole day (maybe I should stay on the bank!!).
• On the water umpiring helped especially for the less experienced but I think you need more than one pair of eyes, even for nine yachts.
• Final observation – the winter series in the north east works well as it allows skippers to gain valuable experience of sailing in numbers at different venues with different topography and wind patterns than they would see at their home club. Peterhead, for example, is small sails, tie your hair on and go for it.

First 3 individual positions were:

Final team positions taking the finishing positions of the top 3 skippers from each club
(Clubs with less than 3 skippers scored Number of entrants + 1 for each missing skipper):