JP Watersports RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven YC

JP Watersports RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven YC © Rona Rose

JP Watersports RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven YC © Rona Rose

Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club played hosts to the JP Watersports 5th RS tour on the weekend of 30/31 of August. With the forecast for a variable wind on Saturday, the real question was to sail high or low downwind? Some sailors opted to sail high and take the chance while others were more modest and opted to sail low. Those best placed at avoiding the many capsized Blazes made it to the leeward mark first!

Saturday proved to be a real game of snakes and ladders for some of the crews fresh out of the cot, starting often proved to be tricky with tidal conditions resulting in some interesting tactics and strategical calls.

As is usual with the RS fleet of 20 sailors sailing was close and there were many close tussles all over the race course with a number of teams taking the glory of being in the front during the course of the weekend.

Team Lennox sailed consistently well and were unlucky not to be overnight leaders. Fresh from packing the toys in the car Burns and Simpson managed to claw their way back into the races after some interesting descions were made by helm. Crew Simpson hiked hard all day and got extra burger points for calling the breeze well. The random number generator however proved to much for Burns as he often fell out of phase when hunting the pressure lifts and lull headers.

Duckhams award was not issued but if it could be then Emily would have stepped up to the plate for having a rather heavy boat to drag up the beach at the end of the day. Hero award must go to team Lennox for assisting a broken forestay prior to launching on Saturday.

Saturday night and the BBQ provided by the host club was welcomed by all the sailors. The food laid on by the host club was outstanding and many teams enjoyed the huge variety of foods on offer.

Sunday always looked to be a difficult day for the race officer, who did a sterling job given the conditions. Thanks must be paid to the team on the water for doing such a good job with the conditions at hand. Marks were reset a number of times, throughout the weekend.

Finally in race 5 some true wind was established and this proved to be a great finish to the weekend's racing. The last race was won by Stuart and Martin who finally got the well earned race win they deserved.

It was unfortunate that R5 had to be restarted as some of the young talented sailors from the topper fleet of today and days gone by showed the older generation how it should be done. However there can be no better family boat for a racing circuit in existence in both Scotland and the UK at large.

The Local chippy, who sponsored the event was frequented by the RS fleet to say thanks for sponsoring. Furthermore thanks must be paid to all the volunteers who make events like this possible. A lot of effort is put in both before and after in creating this type of event.

The next event is our last for 2014, the end of season party at Loch Tummel SC. One day of sailing followed by AGM and RS party. Camping facilities on site, it may be worth packing a extra layer or 2. There's also a caravan park nearby. The Saturday night steaks at the club are legendary. With beautiful scenery to it should prove to be another great RS event. Lets make it a good one!

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