RS400 travellers event at Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club

Scottish travellers open meeting at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Rebecca Park

Neil McLellan and Andy Mckeown win the 2016 open meeting at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Rebecca Park

Keith Bedborough and Kirsty Higgins at Aberdeen & Stonehaven © Rebecca Park

The Scottish RS400 fleet joined the RS200, Solo and Laser classes for their 5th traveller event on 20/21 August in Stonehaven, a picturesque east coast town and self-styled home of that world famous culinary delight the deep-fried Mars Bar.

Saturday dawned bright with a light south easterly and rolling left over swell from the previous days breeze which made boat handling particularly tricky and opportunities to fill the boat on tacks and gybes aplenty.

In race 1 it was Bedborough and super flyweight crew Kirsty Higgins that opened the scoreline with a win over freshly crowned European Champs Stewart and Sarah Robertson (Robadobbers). Conditions were tricky though and with plenty of holes in the wind, weed, other classes to navigate around, a couple of knots of tide and a big eddy there were plenty of snakes and ladders on the racetrack.

The Robadobbers took the win in race 2 with Neil "I've finally remembered how to sail" McLellan and new crew Andy McKeown shaking of his perpetual under-achiever award to finish a close 2nd and Pete Taylor / Naomi Moran continuing his performance enhancement process with 3rd.

In race 3 McLellan continued his upward trend to take the win, with Robadobbers 2nd and Bedborough a shade of the pace in 3rd. This left Robadobbers overnight leaders, Mclellan and Bedborough close behind and Twin#2 (Stuart Urquhart) crewed by Jack Sparrow (Martin Cruden) just ahead of John Mac and Andy Box – both sailing their brand new boats.

As everyone knows the real competition in the 400 class is off the water and with the convenient location of the Edinburgh-festival inspired Stewart Brewing pop-up bar (aka Keith's camper) right beside the dinghy park some convivial apres-sail banter was enjoyed by all. Robadobber senior is developing something of a reputation for a lack of form on "the morning after", and wise to this Mrs R was seen to be sneakily hiding his beers whilst the rest of the fleet attempted to maximise on this apparent weakness.

This form continued throughout the evening as grumpy senior was whisked off to a 4 hour romantic meal whilst the rest of the fleet proceeded to drink the sailing club bar dry (genuinely) whilst awarding the RS400 "hoop of shame" to various deserving winners as outlandish story telling proceeded. Notable winners was (obviously) Mr R for being entirely absent from proceedings, with runners up Angus Marshall for putting his career and life prospects ahead of sailing, Big Bob for letting the bar run dry, Roger Carter for defecting to the 200s and someone best left unmentioned for admitting to owning a Laser EPS.

Sunday as usual dawned slightly misty for some - with bright sunshine and a northerly F3-5 to greet us all. As this increased there was some trepidation around launch time but with the forecast set to drop the fleet set off into some exciting conditions. Race 4 Mr R showed that the previous night's abstinence had worked making no mistake with the win, with John Mac / Andy a close 2nd and McLellan in 3rd.

Race 5 was 1,2,3 McLellan, Robertson, Bedborough which put the event all down to the last race. Bedborough missed the start by 20 seconds, rolled the dice and banged hard right, and rounded the windward first with a 10boat length lead and a big smile. This lead was gradually ground down over 4 laps and a great 2-way battle ensued with McLellan who could sniff the win – Neil having the edge upwind and Bedborough having better speed / depth downwind.

With Robadobbers slightly off the pace, Bedborough rounded the final mark in 1st only to be taken on the last cross by McLellan / McKeown who had sailed brilliantly all weekend and took the race and with it a very well deserved first regatta win. There was an equally closely fought battle for 4th twin#2/Jack Sparrow came out on top by 1 point of Team MacKenzie / Box and soon-to-be-newly-weds BigBob Yeamans and Nadia McMinn in 6th.

Jamie Rogers and Neil McLaren race the RS Scotland demo boat at Aberdeen & Stonehaven - photo © Rebecca Park

Everyone agreed Aberdeen / Stonehaven YC had run a fantastic event and at prizegiving McLellan was gracious in his praise of the hospitality and excellent race management we had all enjoyed. The fleet also welcomed newcomers to the fleet Jamie Rogers and Neil McLaren who sailed the RS Scotland demo boat "Desdemona" and did extremely well particularly in the testing conditions in Race 5. This event represented everything RS racing stands for –very close racing, excellent race management, good banter and an all-inclusive spirit.

Next up is the combined Scottish Championships and RS400 Eurocup at Dalgety Bay on 10/11 September at which we hope to welcome strong representation from the visiting fleets at Scotland's premier dinghy club.

Overall Results: