RS200 Scottish Championship at Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club

Aberdeen & Stonehaven YC Regatta © Alex Peacock / Nadia McMinn

With a blue sky and 24 degrees forecast for the weekend somewhere, the weekend was looking perfect for the RS200 Scottish Championship. Aberdeen hosted the event with 2 boats making the arduous journey up the road and 6 local boats, for what could best be described as a grim forecast of light to non-existent wind with a good helping of rain. Reality thankfully turned out to be better, with a nice steady southerly on the Saturday with glimmers of sunshine, resulting in a few sunburnt sailors, and a light southerly on the Sunday finishing with a nice dose of freshwater to wash everybody’s kit down in time for packing up.

Eventually racing stared on Saturday after a brief delay to secure the committee boat to the North Sea, with sixteen tons of chain. Diametrically chosen strategies were taken by two main groups, the committee boat end closely fought by the Tait’s, Roger & Rachael and the Jones’s and the pin taken by Team Lennox, closely followed by the soon to be Team Perry. Wining the beat was the Tait’s, followed by Lennox and Perry. In the end, race one was dominated by team Perry, with their superstar performance downwind in the marginal plane-ing conditions. Next was start number 2, with the majority of the fleet bunched up at the committee boat to take advantages of a slight starboard bias.

Storming to victory in race number 2 was Roger & Rachael , taking their first win in an RS200 traveller since moving to the “Junior” fleet. The third start was taken by Alex & Tini, who took an early 2 boat lead straight of the start line after they caught the fleet napping. As the wind shifted, team Lennox took advantage of an early gybe and soaking directly to the mark closely followed by the Perrys and Roger and Rachael. Racing was close between the whole fleet and by the end of day one the Perry’s, Lennox’s and Roger & Rachael, tied on points and count back. Requiring the committee to dust off the rule book before the Saturday BBQ.

The race officer stood to his promise and got racing underway in difficult conditions with the wind threatening to disappear. The evenings rest seemed to have refreshed team Tait with them taking the pin and lea-bowing the Lennox’s. Team Perry was left stalled on the start line, they tacked off and headed for the starboard lay-line. This was followed by them showing the fleet their downwind turn of speed again, and by the leeward mark they had taken a commanding lead that they only extended in the weakening wind.

With only one point separating the top three, it was all to play for in the final race. The start was hotly contested with the fleet bunched up at the committee boat causing a few boats to bail out. The first lap was dominated by close racing between the Tait’s, Roger and Rachel and the Lennox’s, until lap two when the wind almost disappeared and the fleet were left dodging holes and bailing continually as the heavens opened. The fifth race was won by team Lennox, with Roger & Rachael taking second place from team Tait on the line. With no wind for a final race, the abandonment flag was raised and everyone drifted for shore to dodge the stormy weather.

A huge thanks to the Aberdeen & Stonehaven YC and their team of, RIB drivers, Bar tenders, Galley hands and the Race Officer. The Scottish Tour moves to Largs for the next event, so let’s twist again and see you all there.

Overall Results: