Flying Fifteen Scottish Travellers at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club

Scottish Travellers at Derwent Reservoir © Cliff Lamb

Derwent Reservoir SC welcomed visitors from Scotland and the North of England to their open weekend, officially a part of the Scottish Travellers Series. The weather omens were not good, and Saturday dawned to no wind and overcast conditions. 16 boats drifted down to the start line, while race officer Eddie Ramsden waited for the conditions to change. And change they did. When the race eventually got under way, there was an almost perfect 10 – 13 knots of breeze, with not unsurprisingly quite large wind shifts.

Race 1 saw Alistair Logan & Hugh Jenkins take an early lead at which they held till the wing mark, where Terry Crumpton & John Mathie gained the lead that they never lost. John Hardisty & Roger Errington worked into second, a result that was to be repeated for the rest of the day. Mike More & Kayla Sheard came in 3rd, but Bobby Salmon & Ingrid Magnus in their immaculate 50 year old classic won on handicap.

Race 2 was a Crumpton & Mathie benefit, showing not only good boat speed, but picking almost all the many shifts, winning by a large margin. New boys to 15s Euan Dunn & Graeme Henry showed excellent speed and skill, having only received their boat the weekend before, and were right up there at the beginning of the race, and Portavadie winners Graham Campbell & Graeme Galbraith were also in the frame, but again it was Hardisty & Errington who slowly tracked them down for another second ahead of Dunn & Henry.

Race 3 was again won by Crumpton & Mathie by a comfortable margin, but the race for 2nd – 5th was closely fought, with Hardisty & Errington once more turning on the magic for 2nd, with Dave Douglas & Steve Turley coming though a closely fought battle for 3rd, edging out early leaders Rod Huddleston & Chris Chew and the ever present Moore & Sheard.

A good meal was had that evening, with the Scottish teams leading the way at the bar.

The wind for Sunday was lighter, and had swung round to the North West. Again good courses were set, and Race 4 saw the newcomers Dunn & Henry (the “pancake boys”) show that their performance was no fluke, leading from start to finish in spite of the wind being at its most testing with larger shifts and almost dying for a while. Salmon & Magnus were right up near the front at one stage, and finished close enough to win this race on handicap. Second over the line were Simon Robinson & Dominic Murray, with Hardisty & Errington a close 3rd.

In the final race Crumpton & Mathie had to finish higher than 5th to win, whatever else happened. After a somewhat chaotic start (look at the flags, not the sound signals!), Hardisty & Errington sailed through the fleet to win by a comfortable margin from Dunn & Henry, but Crumpton & Mathie managed to get through to 3rd, giving them the title overall, with Hardisty & Errington 2nd, Dunn & Henry 3rd. In the Silver Fleet Giles Passmore & Lionel Sainsbury just edged out Tim Allen & Michael Cooper, and Salmon & Magnus took the Classic.

Luckily the rain held off till the fleet got ashore, topping up the new outpost of Scotland for a weekend, Derwent Reservoir SC.

The next Scottish Travellers event is at Helensburgh Sailing Club on the weekend of 18th 19th August. Full details can be found on the event website www.flyingfifteenscotland.co.uk