RS200 Scottish Tour Round 4 at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club
by Roger Carter 21 Sep 2015 08:18 BST
5-6 September 2015
Riva Dalgety certainly delivered for the penultimate event of the RS200 Scottish Tour. A Sunny F3-4 greeted the 7 boats, a small but extremely competitive fleet.
On Saturday the wind direction didn't play ball and the Northerly offshore breeze resulted in some seriously tricky conditions. The first race got away cleanly on the small line, with a beat back towards the shore. A massive right hand shift as the fleet approached the windward mark set the tone of snakes and ladders for the day. After numerous place changes it was Ronnie and Tor Millar who got to grips with conditions quickest to take the first race. Closely followed by Gavin and super lightweight Finlay MacKinnon in second.
The shifting wind directions called for a course re-jig and resulted in a very bias line for the second race that the fleet struggled to cross on starboard. Conditions remained very tough to call and this meant that a bad start could easily be recovered. The fleet was beginning to get the hang of the conditions where 3-4 boats could be gained in one leg, but trying to be conservative up the middle of the course rarely paid off! After another race with countless place changes it was the newlyweds Chris and Kirsty Perry who managed to sneak ahead of Roger Carter and Rachael Cooke to take the second race.
Race 3 was started on the most challenging line yet, resulting in both the Perry's and Stuart Teasdale/Ashly Martin being on course side and having to return. Just as the teams were beginning to get to grips with the breeze it died to almost nothing mid race. Stuart and Ashly persevered and managed an excellent recovery from last to first as the breeze gradually came back up, leaving those stuck searching for the new breeze reeling. After a lap of chasing them down, Roger and Rachael managed to nip ahead to take the final race of Saturday, with Ronnie and Tor taking 3rd.
A fantastic evening of après sail was spent soaking up the last of the rays on the sailing club deck with tune after tune from local acoustic band "Shorelight".
Sunday dawned with champagne sailing conditions and the fleet launched into a strong outgoing tide.
With the breeze a bit more consistent out of the North West the first boats to get the hang of the tide on the start and hit the shore early were the winners. The big choice was when to tack back out towards the windward mark! The MacKinnons showed fine form tacking up the shoreline to take race 4 from Stuart and Ashly, closely followed by fleet newcomers Josh Kerr and Phenella Corlett with a well deserved 3rd.
The breeze was up for the fifth race and the lay of the course remained the same. This time it was downwind where the gains were to be made from catching the gusts and switching to planing mode. The Perry's extended a strong lead but some penalty turns allowed the MacKinnons to slip through and take the second race of the day.
Going into the final race it was all to play for with any one of 5 boats still able to win the regatta. It was the Largs 200 fleet's very own Mr Motivator Martin Faulkner and Bill Forsythe who lead the fleet after a good start and solid upwind. Carter/Cooke had the downwind speed to inch ahead of them but Faulkner and Forsythe were grinding them down upwind. After a closely fought race on tired legs Carter/Cooke managed to hold out from Faulkner/Forsythe and it was team Perry who took third in the final race after an exceedingly close finish.
All in all it was some of the closest racing this season, with 4 different race winners and the top 5 boats separated by only 3 points. A great advert for the excellent racing on offer in the Scottish 200 fleet.
Overall Results:
1st Roger Carter and Rachael Cooke – 13pts
2nd Chris Perry and Kirsty Perry – 14pts
3rd Ronnie Millar and Tor Millar – 15pts
4th Stuart Teasdale and Ashly Martin – 15pts
5th Gavin MacKinnon and Finlay MacKinnon – 16pts
6th Martin Faulkner and Bill Forsythe – 23pts
7th Josh Kerr and Phenella Corlett – 28pts
RS200 Scottish Tour Results: (after Round 4)
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | Fisherrow | ASYC | Largs | Dalgety | Best three |
|---|
| 1 | 1088 | Roger Carter | Rachael Cooke | | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 930 | Martin Faulkner | Bill Forsyth | Largs SC | 6 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 13 |
| 3 | 809 | Chris Perry | Kirsty Lytton | ASYC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 1571 | Allan Lennox | Amy Lennox | ASYC | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 623 | Ben Wilcox | Rachel Offer | ELYC | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | 942 | Stuart Teasdale | Ashly Martin | Kinghorn | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | 1167 | Ronald Millar | Tor Miller | RFYC | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 8 | 1203 | Gavin MacKinnon | Finlay MacKinnon | Dalgety Bay | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 | 1027 | Tim Jones | Carol Jones | FYC | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 10 | 1405 | Jude Baird | Fred Fuller | Loch Ryan SC | 10 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 12 |
| 11 | 1212 | Sam Thompson | Leanne Hibberd | Helensburgh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | 1120 | Willie Todd | Dom Todd | Largs SC | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | 1176 | Graham Tait | Vicki Tait | ASYC | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 14 | 1393 | Ruaridh Moss | Stuart Moss | Largs SC | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 15 | 1025 | Alex Beaney | Tini Davis | ASYC | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 | 1254 | Martin Latimer | Vicky Simpson | Largs SC | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | 594 | Lynne Skinner | Tracey Flynn | ASYC | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | 600 | Fiona Rigg | Ashly Martin | ELYC | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 19 | 1074 | Jacqui Taylor | Nick Taylor | Largs SC | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | | Josh Kerr | Phenella Cortlett | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
| 21 | 1281 | Neil Manderson | Stu Roy | Helensburgh SC | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 | 911 | Katie Skinner | Hannah Hasler | ASYC | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | 447 | Bill McCardie | Fiona McCardie | | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 | 437 | Kim Ross | Donald Guthrie | | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 3 |
