Tasar UK Nationals and Europeans at East Lothian Yacht Club

32 Tasars for the combined UK Nationals and Europeans at North Berwick © Paul Bock / www.paulbock.com

32 Tasars for the combined UK Nationals and Europeans at North Berwick © Paul Bock / www.paulbock.com

Malcolm and Fiona Davis, Tasar 2628, won every race sailed to retain their UK Tasar Nationals won for the first time at last year's nationals in Torbay and became European Champions in the first Tasar UK Nationals staged in Scotland and the first combined UK Nationals and Europeans.

32 Tasars entered the event, 1 Cornwall, 18 England, 11 Scotland, one Tasar was from Holland and one competitor is from Germany. Constantyne Udo from Holland has participated in every UK Nationals in the last 31 years. Entries are down on previous years, which is partly due to the economic situation, partly the earlier timing of the event to allow for the Tasar worlds being held in Japan in September when the UK nationals are traditionally held, but also some felt that it was too far to drive. It is a pity for those that did not come as the sailing although hard was exciting and the weather was great over the whole weekend. Several that did make the journey said it is a place they will visit again and sail in again if they get the chance. North Berwick is a great place and ELYC has a great sailing location.

The event was extremely well managed by the Tasar Association team of Colin Tait and Alan Forsyth. Their task was made greatly easier by having such an experienced and friendly team from the East Lothian Yacht Club who managed everything to do with the sailing, the racing course, safety, the catering and the entertainment. Every competitor and quest was very impressed with the organisation by ELYC. They also found us a fantastic photographer www.paulbock.com

The championships were contested in strong and gusty south or south westerly winds of 15 knots (17 MPH) with gusts of 20 Knots (23 MPH) to 30 Knots (35 MPH). Saturday had the strongest and most gusty winds. Sunday started off almost as strong but eased slightly in the fifth and sixth race.

The event was planned for 8 races, 3 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday and 2 on Monday. Six races were sailed as Monday’s 2 races were called off as the tide was stronger than the wind! A few Tasar retired from Saturday’s race, several boats needed small repairs between races, but there was no major damage sustained to any of the Tasars. A few competitors decided it was too much for them and acted responsibly in line with the sailing instructions and elected to not go out in the conditions.

The event had prizes provided by the following sponsors; Signal Locker, Harken, Ronstan, Topper, and Goldratt-TOC Ltd. Paul Bock provided his fantastic photographs to the Association for free.

Overall Results: