RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club

RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Ditta Neumann

RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Ditta Neumann

RS200 Scottish Tour at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Ditta Neumann

With a weather forecast predicting sun, wind and waves (not necessarily in that order), eight RS200s were ready to launch on the Saturday morning at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club, four of which had made the journey up north for the weekend.

Although a good breeze was predicted for the racing, it had not yet arrived at the time the fleet attempted to sail out of the harbour; there was a lot of tacking involved as the light winds flicked backwards and forwards, and a lot of bobbing up and down on the waves. Putting your head down and bailing the water that kept coming into the boat was not fun.

However, there was enough wind to start the first race on time. Neil/Alice did not have the best start, coming across the line on port after the fleet had already crossed, but soon found themselves leading to the windward mark as the breeze shifted. They were closely followed downwind by Roger/Rachel, with Chris/Kirsty threatening to catch as well. There weren't many opportunities to gain places in race 1 due to the windshift, but Roger/Rachel managed to make it past Neil/Alice to take the first.

The course was squared up, and the breeze started to build for the second race. It seemed that local knowledge was key to understanding the tides, with patches of slacker water in the middle as the current circled around the bay, and it was local boats taking the one (Alex/Alex), two (Chris/Kirsty) and three (Katie/Lynne) in the second race, while Roger/Rachel took fourth and Neil/Alice took fifth. It seemed that everyone had got the hang of the tide by the third race, and Roger/Rachel came first again, followed by Chris/Kirsty and Alex/Alex.

The wind had swung round for the second day, and it was a lot more windy as the fleet sailed out to the start, excited by the prospect of planing conditions! Neil/Alice were first to the windward mark again, hotly pursued by the rest of the fleet. However, the rest of the fleet soon caught Neil/Alice as they capsized in a crash gybe halfway down the run. We won't blame the capsize on the wrongly-rigged kite, but Neil/Alice took the opportunity of being in the water to sort out the tangles! In this race, Chris/Kirsty came first, Roger/Rachel came second, and Martin/Charlie came third.

The wind had dropped a little for the second race and, once again, it was very close to the windward mark. For the first downwind, it was a toss-up between trying to plane and soaking but, after a couple of laps while the wind gradually eased, it became clear that soaking low definitely paid. By the finish, Roger/Rachel were first, Chris/Kirsty were second and Martin/Charlie were third.

Rob/Amy and Ditta/Phil decided to call it a day before the last race, in order to be first in the queue to get back into the harbour and ashore. Despite that there were only five boats still out, it was probably the closest racing of the series, with several key position changes. In the end, however, Roger/Rachel took first place, Chris/Kirsty took second, and Neil/Alice just beat Martin/Charlie right on the line to third.

After a weekend of very close racing, Roger/Rachel managed to win the series, with Chris/Kirsty following in a close second, and Alex/Alex just beating Neil/Alice on countback to third place. A big thank you must go to the race committee for making the most of the excellent conditions and running all six races efficiently, and we are all looking forward to the next traveller at Loch Lomond Sailing Club!

Overall Results: