RS200 Scottish Travellers Sprint Event at Helensburgh Sailing Club

by Roger Carter & Martin Faulkner 13 Oct 2015 10:21 BST 10 October 2015

RS200 Scottish Travellers Sprint Event at Helensburgh © Kevin Lynch

With light winds forecast, and a glass sea on arrival, the 9 boats for the final fling of the RS200 Scottish Tour wondered whether it would be sailing or rugby viewing on offer for the day. It was decided to do the AGM before sailing in order to wait for the wind and this proved to be a great decision as (just) enough wind arrived in order for the Helensburgh SC race committee to run 8 slick races in sprint format.

The wind wasn't quite settled for the first race causing a bit of start line chaos and a slow first beat, but once the wind settled down (from another direction) the first race was won convincingly by Martin and Bill - shortly after their pre-race comments that there wasn't enough wind! Robert Walker steered Simon the boat into 2nd and Neil and Alice took 3rd.

With the wind now more consistent from the east the super efficient HSC race committee smashed in another 5 races (in between G&Ts) over a short course with a short line! The 20 min races included LOTs of place changing, a few interesting pile ups and next to no time in between races to catch your breath!

After some abysmal starts, Roger and Rachael somehow managed to notch up 5 bullets during this spell, albeit with a lot of luck and only a small amount of shouting... There was some excellent racing being had all through the fleet as the tight courses meant that boat handling was key and a tactical mark rounding could take boats from the near the back to near the front! Allan "Greece Lightning" and Amy managed a solid set of results during this period too, putting them just behind Roger and Rachael. Neil/Alice and Martin/Bill were also enjoying a close battle for 3rd, although OCS in race 3 certainly didn't help!

The wind decided to drop after 6 races allowing the fleet to take a well needed break. After the wind threatened to fill in from the south, race 7 got underway as a bit of a drifter. With some entertaining mark roundings and a somewhat skewed course, it was Allan and Amy who took the win, closely followed by Josh and Fenella, with Simon the Boat notching a 3rd position to keep in contention.

Going into the final race, the breeze was back round to the east and now a bit more consistent. Allan and Amy disappeared off to take the bullet, Roger and Rachael fluked a 2nd after some major errors and minor gear failure and this was enough to give them the overall win just in front of Allan and Amy. 3rd place was super tight, but even after a tough last race, Martin and Bill's consistency over a day with no discards gave them the edge over Neil and Alice.

The sailors were treated to some fantastic club hospitality in the evening and a massive thanks must go to all the volunteers who made the day such a success. Plenty of smiles after the Sprint will ensure that this is a definite fixture for the 2016 season. See you next year!

Helensburgh Spring Event Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	1088	Roger Carter	Rachael Cooke	LLSC	4	1	1	1	1	1	5	2	16
2	1571	Allan Lennox	Amy Lennox	ASYC	5	2	2	4	2	3	1	1	20
3	930	Martin Faulkner	Bill Forsyth	LSC	1	4	3	6	5	7	6	8	40
4	1281	Neil Manderson	Stu Roy	HSC	3	7	4	OCS	3	6	4	3	40
5	774	Robert Walker			2	6	8	5	6	5	3	6	41
6	998	Josh Kerr	Phenella Cortlett	LSC	6	3	7	7	9	8	2	5	47
7	1025	Alex Beaney	Tini Davis	ASYC	9	5	9	8	4	2	7	7	51
8	1474	Kae Clark	A Kent	HSC	7	8	6	3	7	9	8	4	52
9	1405	Jude Baird	Fred Fuller	LRSC	8	9	5	2	8	4	DNS	DNS	56

Roger Carter and Rachael Cooke were the convincing overall winners of the 2015 RS200 Scottish Travellers' Series, raced at a planned 7 venues from April to October across Scotland. Although 2 events were lost to the weather, the others made up it, with close racing and some great event organization.

Scottish Travellers' Series Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	FYC	ASYC	LSC	DBSC	HSC	Pts
1	1088	Roger Carter	Rachael Cooke	LLSC	27	3	1	1	1	6
2	930	Martin Faulkner	Bill Forsyth	LSC	6	27	8	6	3	23
3	1571	Allan Lennox	Amy Lennox	ASYC	5	1	27	27	2	35
4	1405	Jude Baird	Fred Fuller	LRSC	10	27	11	27	9	57
5	809	Chris Perry	Kirsty Lytton	ASYC	27	2	27	2	27	58
6	623	Ben Wilcox	Rachel Offer	ELYC	2	27	4	27	27	60
7	942	Stuart Teasdale	Ashly Martin	KSC	27	27	2	4	27	60
8	1167	Ronald Millar	Tor Miller	RFYC	3	27	27	3	27	60
9	1203	Gavin MacKinnon	Finlay MacKinnon	DBSC	4	27	27	5	27	63
10	1281	Neil Manderson	Stu Roy	HSC	8	27	27	27	4	66
11	1025	Alex Beaney	Tini Davis	ASYC	27	5	27	27	7	66
12	998	Josh Kerr	Phenella Cortlett	LSC	27	27	27	7	6	67
13	1027	Tim Jones	Carol Jones	FYC	9	7	27	27	27	70
14	1212	Sam Thompson	Leanne Hibberd	HSC	1	27	27	27	27	82
15	1120	Willie Todd	Dom Todd	LSC	27	27	3	27	27	84
16	1176	Graham Tait	Vicki Tait	ASYC	27	4	27	27	27	85
17	1393	Ruaridh Moss	Stuart Moss	LSC	27	27	5	27	27	86
18	774	Robert Walker			27	27	27	27	5	86
19	1254	Martin Latimer	Vicky Simpson	LSC	27	27	6	27	27	87
20	594	Lynne Skinner	Tracey Flynn	ASYC	27	6	27	27	27	87
21	600	Fiona Rigg	Ashly Martin	ELYC	7	27	27	27	27	88
22	1074	Jacqui Taylor	Nick Taylor	LSC	27	27	7	27	27	88
23	911	Katie Skinner	Hannah Hasler	ASYC	27	8	27	27	27	89
24	1474	Kae Clark	A Kent	HSC	27	27	27	27	8	89
25	447	Bill McCarlie	Fiona McCarlie	LSC	27	27	9	27	27	90
26	437	Kim Ross	Donald Guthrie	HSC	27	27	10	27	27	91