Scottish RS Feva Series Round 4 at Royal Tay Yacht Club

The fleet heads for the shallows to escape the morning's strong ebb tide during the Royal Tay Scottish RS Feva event © Matt Toynbee

Perfecting the art of capsize recovery during the Royal Tay Scottish RS Feva event © Matt Toynbee

Wacky races

With momentum behind the RYA Scotland Feva Event Series building steadily over the last few months the fourth event was always looking likely to have a good turnout. By the end of registration a strong contingent of local boats had been joined by travelling sailors from Findhorn, Loch Venachar, Portobello and a couple of boats from across the river at nearby club Wormit. This turnout of twenty four keen young sailors certainly suggests the fleet has come of age in Scotland, and there are still two more events for Scottish fevas left this season so plenty of opportunity for new sailors to get involved.

Launching into a light westerly breeze for the morning of coaching it was clear that the strong tide of the Tay estuary was going to play and important role. With strength of the tide varying significantly across the course sailors learnt quickly which side was likely to pay and spent much of the session working on layline and kite drop calls in the strong tide. With few other boats on the water the fevas with their brightly coloured sail made a great sight sailing up and down outside of the main clubhouse which hosts a Beer Festival this weekend. As boats fought their way up the shallows against the strong tide there was plenty of opportunity to work on roll tacking working back towards the slipways for lunch.

As predicted by the forecast the breeze gradually dropped during lunch with all the sailors keeping their fingers crossed that the wind would build from the east earlier than forecast. However this didn’t dampen enthusiasm as the fleet headed back out onto the water. Sadly the breeze never materialised so wacky races were the order of the day. With rock and roll races around a course to capsizes and tag there was plenty of action to be had as the fleet made their way ashore. Special mention to those perfecting their inverted capsize recoveries and to Catie and Jamie for winning the rock and roll race.

Tight competition in the rocking and rolling race as the fleet waits for breeze during the Royal Tay Scottish RS Feva event - photo © Matt Toynbee

The final event of the series is on 14th September at Portabello Sailing and Kayaking Club, with the Junior and Youth Zone Championships at East Lothian Yacht Club on the 28th/29th September. This winter RYA Scotland will also be launching a Feva Class Academy to offer open training over the winter joining the successful academies across the other junior and youth classes. Dates and books forms are now available on the RYA Scotland website under the Performance section of the Racing part of the website.