North East Clubs 2010 Early Series Event 2 – Aberdeen – 27th February 2010

Report by John Owens

Results (pdf file)

The event, run by Aberdeen Model Yacht Club, was transferred from the ice-bound Inchgarth reservoir to Peterhead. With the wind from the north-east, a course was set employing the local knowledge of the skippers from the Buchanness Model Yacht Club. Seven skippers participated with three from Aberdeen (Ian Dundas, Steve Taylor and John Owens), three from Buchanness (Ali Law, Brian Robertson and Colin Deakin) and Dave Stewart representing Brechin.

It was agreed that with a fleet of this size, all skippers would sail and the first across the finishing line would note the scores. In addition, the skipper who came first in the previous race would observe the starting line in the next race. This pragmatic approach avoided the need of taking a boat off the water for each race and maximised everyone’s sailing. The usual routine of two races and a break for a rig tweak plus 2 minute time-out’s were employed. Normal instructions applied of sorting-out rule infringements by taking penalty turns on the water.

Most skippers started the day using their large Number # 1 rigs. However, Dave Stewart (sailing a Stealth) who was on a 30 second Starting Advantage and had not sailed since June 2009, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and sailed the first two races with the medium sized Number # 2 rig. Having got a feel for the conditions he then changed to his Number # 1 rig and quickly showed the rest of the fleet a clean stern using his Starting Advantage to good effect delivering consecutive 1st, 1st and 2nd! This resulted in him moving to scratch starting. This was a particularly good performance as the wind was quite fluky in the early part of the day proving quite frustrating at times and explains the mixture of results. However, it was Ali Law (Pikanto) who most quickly came to terms with the tricky conditions.

Later in the morning the wind became more consistent, skippers learned from their experience and a different pattern of results began to emerge. Ian Dundas started putting in better results as the conditions also suited his Widget. Colin Deakin was also going well with his Widget. Unfortunately, Brian Robertson (Topiko) had a winch failure which put an end to his sailing but he kindly continued as Race Officer. Steve Taylor (Zig Zag) had an unusually inconsistent set of results although faring much better in the afternoon. John Owens (Widget) had a poor morning until he found a bowsie has slipped at the top of the jib. Once this was sorted, he put in a number of much better results.

Conditions throughout the day were characterised as dry, middle to top-end of Number # 1 rigs with gusts occasionally knocking down boats. The racing was always close, very competitive but in very good sailing spirits. At the top of the scoresheet a very close tussle went on between Ali Law and Ian Dundas. In all, 20 races were run and just 1 point separated these two skippers. The Race Officer’s Man-of-the-Match award goes to Dave Stewart for driving from near Pitlochry just for the event, for sailing in a very sporting manner and delivering race results of such a standard that he deservedly loses his Starting Advantage. In the club competition, Aberdeen were clear winners on the day.

Thanks to Buchanness MYC for hosting the event at such notice – a great day out!

The final 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):