Largo Bay Sailing Club Open Regatta

by Donald Aitken 1 Jul 2014 22:05 BST 28-29 June 2014

Largo Bay Sailing Club Open Regatta © Donald Aitken

Traveller Event for 2000 and Optimist classes including the Optimist junior development class
Scottish Championship for Toppers
Scottish Championship for Enterprise
General Handicap

The last weekend in June traditionally hosts LBSC Open Regatta and this year we were to be blessed with an influx of youthful vigour in the Topper and Optimist classes providing some excellent close racing. On the other hand there were a few competitors at the other end of the age spectrum as well who none the less gave it their all throughout the whole weekend to provide some really hard fought races.

Saturday

Saturday brought some challenging wind conditions with a North Easterly breeze which would increase in its strength throughout the day topping off in the last race of the day at 23 knots.

With the breeze staying steady out of the same direction three races in each class were sailed back to back interrupted by the odd rain squall which would add slightly to the increasingly challenging conditions.

In the Topper fleet Calum Rosie from Helensburgh SC was to dominate day one by taking three firsts to complete a very successful afternoon. Mara Lyon form Prestwick SC with a 1st, 2nd and a third sat comfortably in second over night.

The Optimists were to watch Calum Cook Nairn SC provide a master class of single handed sailing by also taking three firsts on the day closely followed by Gordon Sivarajan with three 2nd places also demonstrating excellent boat handling skills across all the conditions.

The Enterprise class as ever provided some very close and exciting racing with Charles and Alison Morrish St Marys Loch SC being challenged by LBSC sailor Kevan Gibb and Struan Anderson looking to add another Scottish Championship to his long list in many different classes. Charles and Alison were to dominate the 3 races on day one with Kevan and Struan struggling with a little bit of a weight disadvantage in the windy conditions.

The 2000 class saw a fleet of six competing with a couple of LBSC 2000 boats being lent out for the occasion. As it turns out these club boats normally used for training showed a pretty good turn of speed winning a number of the races over the weekend. Richard Harper and Dave Sturrock Loch Tummell SC were to sit in pole position after Saturdays racing with George Thomson and Douglas Brand West Lothian SC tied in second place with Jane and Eric Robertson East Lothian YC.in third.

With only a small number of entrants in the General handicap fleet this was to be dominated by Jim and Ian McGillvray in a 505 taking 3 firsts on the day to be leading over night by some margin over Paul McCombie Laser St Andrews SC. Credit must be given though to Lewis Forbes Laser Radial Loch Lomond SC for his first competitive event competing well in the windy conditions.

Sunday

The day broke with beautiful sunshine and the forecast of a steady easterly breeze looking to set in at a steady 12 knots for most of the day. Well that's what the met office said!! With the breeze moving around nearing the start time of 11.00 am the first race of the day was started and did provide the competitors with a number of wind shifts making the choice of which side of the beat or run you were on rather critical.

With the breeze dropping right off during the first race, things were not looking good for race 2 and 3. Racing was postponed hoping for the forecast easterly to arrive. After 30 minutes we were delighted by its arrival but slightly caught out by the fact that it had decide to swing almost due south making for a hasty course rotation by the race committee. Once set this unexpected wind direction was to hold and increase as the afternoon wore on.

In the Topper class Calum Rosie once again chose all the right options and would take first place in the first two races which sealed the weekend for him making him Scottish Champion for 2014. Mara Lyon was to finish in 2nd place closely followed by David Rosie in 3rd.

Calum Cook in the Optimist class continued to show a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet winning all three races also on the Sunday. Gordon Sivarajan tried everything he could to get in front and did for a short time in race 5 but this was to be short-lived with Calum soon regaining his slot in front.

In the Enterprise class Kevan Gibb knew that he would needed to take 3 firsts to have any chance of taking the Scottish title. With light breezes and his super light crew Struan they were to overtake Charles and Alison Morrish on the last upwind leg to take first place in the first race.

Unfortunately with the wind strengthening the superlight weight crew was soon to be a disadvantage and they had to succumb to the inevitable with Charles and Alison taking a first in the next race to take the championship.

The 2000 class saw George Thomson and Douglas Brand make the most of the conditions with two seconds and a first to take the travelers event. Richard Harper and Dave Sturrock finished in second place only 2 points behind.

The general handicap fleet was down to only 2 boats on the Sunday the Laser Radial Lewis Forbes and the 505 with Jim and Ian McGillvray. Lewis did a great job and managed to take 2 firsts and a second over the 505 giving him a very creditable 2nd place overall.

Whilst the main fleet were racing in the eastern half of Largo Bay the Optimist development fleet were having their own event in shore supported by the RYA. The weekend was to be dominated by Alex Sivarajan younger brother of Gordon Sivarajan who finished second in the main Optimist fleet.

With a hectic schedule over both days, amounting to a ten race weekend. Alex was to take seven first places to win the event by a clear 10 points. A very impressive piece of sailing.

I am sure that we saw many of the potential sailors of the future here at LBSC this weekend and make sure that you look out for some of these rising stars in sailing reports in the years to come.

Largo Bay Sailing Club Open Regatta prize winners - photo © Donald Aitken

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Club
Topper Scottish Championship
1	Calum Rosie	Helensburgh SC
2	Mara Lyon	Prestwick Sc
3	David Rosie	Helensburgh SC
4	Angus Lawson	East Lothian YC
5	Niahh Harper	Loch Tummell SC
6	Anna Sturrock	Loch Tummell SC
7	Iain Duncan	West Lothian SC
8	Tom Aitchison	Dalgety Bay Sc
9	Christine Wood	Clyde Cruisng Club
10	Alastair Ferguson	Loch Tummell SC
11	Magnus Dixon	Peterhead SC
12	James Forsyth	Helensburgh SC
13	Ailsa Dixon	Peterhead SC
14	Gregor Lawson	East Lothian YC
Optimist Traveller
1	Calum Cook	Nairn Sc
2	Gordon Sivarajan	Clyde Cruisng Club
3	Scott Forbes	Loch Lomond SC
4	Catie Warburton	Loch Venacher SC
5	Amy Cook	Loch Venacher SC
6	Matthew McCulloh	Aberdeen and Stonehaven SC
7	Jennifer Wesley	Loch Venacher SC
8	Andrew Homer	Loch Tummell SC
9	Suzanna Homer	Loch Tummell SC
10	Jamie Warburton	Loch Venacher SC
11	Olly Carr	Loch Venacher SC
Optimist Development Fleet
1	Alex Sivarajan	Clyde Cruisng Club
2	Henry Smith	Loch Venacher SC
3	Sam Carr	Loch Venacher SC
4	Lucy Mucklow	Loch Tummell SC
5	Adam Watkins	Nairn SC
6	Tomas Forsyth	Helensburgh SC
2000 Travellers
1	George Thomso and Douglas Brand	West Lothian SC
2	Richard Harper and David Sturrock	Loch Tummell SC
3	Jane Robertson and Eric Robertson	East Lothian YC
4	Sophie Taylor and Aileen McDonald	Clyde Cruisng Club
5	Steve Wood and Coleman Clark	Largo Bay SC
6	Robbie Lawson plus one	East Lothian YC
Enterprise Scottish Championship
1	Charles Morrish and Alison Morish	St Marys Loch SC
2	Kevan Gibb and Struan Anderson	Largo Bay SC
3	Loz Young and Elie Geddes/Jude Corns	Tynemouth SC
4	Peter Middlemas and Alistair Middlemas	Tynemouth SC
5	Richard denny and Maureen Denny	Beccles SC
General Handicap
1	Jim and Ian McGilvray ‑ 505	Prestwick SC
2	Lewis Forbes ‑ Laser	Loch Lomond SC
3	Paul McCombie‑ Laser	St Andrews SC
4	Fiona Fergusson	Royal Tay SC