Scottish Solo Ben Ledi Trophy at Newburgh Sailing Club

The Scottish Solos race for the Ben Ledi trophy on the upper reaches of the river Tay © Henry Henderson

Sponsored by Wilburn Homes

Saturday the 17th May saw the internal Scottish Championship for the Solo class in Scotland. The Ben Ledi Trophy was contested by twenty boats on the upper reaches of the river Tay at Newburgh Sailing Club who are celebrating there 50th anniversary this year.

Race one started with Geoff Henstridge and Jim Sinclair, defending Champ, taking an early lead in the first round but at the leeward mark Kevan Gibb tacked and cheated the tide up over the bank to lead at the next windward mark. The race finished with Kevan, Geoff, Jim and then Barrie McLean.

Race two, back to back, started and in this race Jim and Patrick Burns stormed of into a huge lead which was never contested by the rest of the fleet. Jim won, and Patrick (our sponsor) came second with Kevan following up in third and Geoff fourth.

Lunch and a change of course meant that the tide was now ebbing and the fleet took a number of attempts to get started. With Kevan and Jim both on 1,3 each all was to play for in the last race. All three races coun in the Ben Ledi Trophy and it came down to the start. Kevan got away cleanly on his third attempt and lead at the windward mark followed closely by Geoff in second place, Richard Bolton in third and David Sword in fourth.

The prizes were presented by Eileen Cameron and the class thanked the club for a great afternoon's racing on interesting waters of the upper Tay.

Overall Results:

1st Kevan Gibb (Largo Bay SC)
2nd Jim Sinclair (East Lothian YC)
3rd Geoff Henstridge (Pentland Firth)
4th Barrie McLean (Loch Ard SC)
5th Richard Bolton (East Lothian YC)