RS200 Scottish Championship at Castle Semple Sailing Club

Breeze on with Scott McWhirter/Greg Southall and Charlie Nunn/David Williams during the RS200 Scottish Championship © Alex Workman

It's been a tough season for many of us, but on the 19th of September the RS200 class, after discussions with RYA Scotland, finally managed to have our first event of the year.

Things were looking a bit strange, with limited numbers, no briefing, a social-less one-day format, and a cordoned-off unpacking and rigging area (which the general public completely ignored), and when we'd negotiated all of that, we still had to remember how to actually sail.

It was the first time for many of the sailors visiting Castle Semple, and using the club marks and a fixed line off the shore didn't make things any easier. Jon Hasler and Jules Whitestone making the first start after still being on their launching trolley with 35 seconds to go did, however, show up a possible advantage!

The sprint format with 25-30 minute races was giving some really tight racing, with plenty of ups and downs. In race 1, Calum Bell/Tony Fitzgerald threw away a lead by forgetting the starboard founding at the bottom mark, taking Peter Collings/Emma Fowler with them. In race 2, Peter/Emma were fighting for second place when an embarrassing windward capsize doomed their chances, and Emma's sandwich ("I forgot I had a crew". Sorry Emma!). And in Race 3, Calum/Tony finally converted one of their lightning starts to a result with a second place. However, in spite of all of the chaos and carnage, Brendan Lynch/Ellen Clark picked up three bullets to lead the event after three races.

Emma enjoying her sail before the tragic sandwich incident during the RS200 Scottish Championship - photo © Alex Workman

The 200 class isn't one that lets you get cocky though, and in race 4, their mainsail fell down half way up the second beat. Frayed ropes? Slippy cleat? No, Brendan replaced the bobble on the halyard with one that was too small to actually hold the sail up, because he was worried about having too much weight aloft, giving Andy McKeown and Emily Smith a popular and well-deserved race win.

Brendan sending his crew to fix a problem he created during the RS200 Scottish Championship - photo © Alex Workman

After a quick break to catch our breaths and experience the joys of a one-in, one-out toilet system, we were ready to go again. Fiona Rigg/Helen Wightman were starting to find their form with a clutch of second places, and newlyweds Daniel and Rebecca Smith were also consistently picking up good results.

Brendan/Ellen chasing down Calum/Tony, with Charlie/David and Martin/Cameron in the backgroud during the RS200 Scottish Championship - photo © Alex Workman

Race 6 was probably the highlight of the lot. The top five had been close all event, but for the entirety of the sixth race, there was barely daylight between the breakaway group of Brendan/Ellen, Andy/Emily, Peter/Emma and Calum/Fiona, with Fiona/Helen chasing them down after a slow start.

With just a couple of races left, Brendan/Ellen had the event sewn up, but second place was all to sail for, and four boats were within 5 points of each other with a second discard still to kick in. The rest of the fleet seemed to be starting to get the measure of Brendan and Ellen as well, with Fiona/Helen showing off their impressive downwind speed to dominate race 8, and Andy/Emily grabbing their second win of the event in race 9.

Race 9 winners Andy and Emily during the RS200 Scottish Championship - photo © Alex Workman

At the end of a hectic and very enjoyable 6 hours of full-on racing, the final results were as follows:

Congratulations to Brendan and Ellen, our new Scottish champions, and a huge thanks to Angus Winchester and Ollie Barr, who were our stripped-back race committee, Mark and Calum Simmonds, who gave up their day to provide rescue cover, and Alex Workman, who took some amazing photos from the shore (full 100+ photo gallery on facebook here).

Thanks also to all of the competitors for showing up, racing so hard, and especially for following the social distancing guidelines, not easy when people keep trying to walk dogs through your rigging bubble!

Overall Results: