Scottish Blaze Championship at Port Edgar Yacht Club
by Nigel Duncan Media 31 Jul 2005 21:15 BST
30-31 July 2005
Bill Soudan came from behind to win the Scottish Blaze Championship today. The Nairn-based oil distributor was two points behind local sailor Peter Collings after the first three races held in a Force 3 north-east wind on Saturday off Port Edgar near South Queensferry.
But the Findhorn Yacht Club sailor helmed Wicked to win the two tactical Sunday races in fluky force two dropping to force one winds to take the title by one point.
Soudan collected five points while Collings, an Edinburgh civil servant, had six. Helensburgh's Mervyn Wright was third with 12 points in the hotly-contested series.
Report from Bill Soudan:
The Scottish Blaze Championships were run over the weekend of 30th and 31st of July at Port Edgar Yacht Club, Edinburgh. The atmosphere from the start was more tense than normal and this set the atmosphere for the Championship. Each competitor was out on the water hoping to win. We were un mistakably on the Forth with the bridges producing an amazing back drop for the event.
On Saturday the day stared dull and overcast with the wind settling in force three from the North East. Competitors were on the water early, some taking the opportunity to do some fine tuning on the water before the racing started. The course covered the width of the River Forth allowing for good reaches and a long run. Race one and Peter Collings of Port Edgar got off to a good start and managed to maintain the lead followed by Mervyn Wright of Helensburgh and Bill Soudan from Findhorn.
Race two and Peter Collings again got a good start along with Bill Soudan and Mervyn Wright. Rounding the Windward mark it was Peter Collings, Mervyn Wright and then Bill Soudan. On the downwind leg Mervyn Wright was covered by Bill Soudan and could not get away and when the leeward mark was rounded for the reach Bill Soudan shot past into second place behind Peter Collings.
Race three and the wind was dropping and Bill Soudan took first place having overtaken Peter Collings on the reach. At the end of Saturdays racing Petering Collings had four points, Bill Soudan six points and Mervyn Wright eight points. On Sunday the winds were light North Westerly force two but it was sunny and warm. Races four and five were dominated by Bill Soudan taking first place on both races. The races were very tactical with no room for error but Bill Soudan did enough to take the Scottish Championship title in his Black Blaze 721 called“Wicked”.
At the prize giving Bill Soudan commented that when he went on to the water on the Sunday morning that he did not know wheather it would be possible to win the Championship coming from two points behind Peter Collings. However he was absolutely delighted to now find himself standing on the podium with the Trophy and thanked his fellow competitors for taking part in what was top class racing. Bill also thanked Port Edgar Yacht Club for hosting the event on behalf of the Blaze Class Association.