Largo Bay Open Regatta

Largo Bay Open Regatta 2015 © Donald Aitken

Largo Bay Open Regatta 2015 © Donald Aitken

Traveller Event for 2000, Solo, Enterprise, Scottish Skiffs, Laser and Laser Radial

The last weekend in June traditionally hosts LBSC Open Regatta and this year we were to be blessed with some fantastic weather conditions over the two days. This was a welcome sigh of relief to the organising committee after such a poor season of cancelled racing weekends both here at LBSC and other events across the country.

Saturday

Saturday brought a steady westerly breeze which would remain relatively steady throughout the day at around 12 / 14 knots with only one major wind shift later in the day. This required a 45 degree courses change which 1 minute before the start decided to return to exactly to the position had had been the rest of the day. Quick work on the committee boat saw only a delay of a few minutes in order to get the fleets back racing.

There was certain inevitability in the Scottish Skiff class as Ian Renilson showed the fleet a clean pair of heels as he stretched out an impressive lead in race one. This was to be halted on the first reach as it was clear there was some sort of technical issue which saw him have to withdraw from the race and indeed didn't compete for the rest of the day. This would be a day of varying results for the top three boats with some very good close racing. It was John Reekie from Bassenthwaite SC who would come out on top after Saturday with 2 firsts and a second. He was closely followed by Jono Shelley from Ullswater YC in second and Alistair Kerr from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC lying in third. Len Read and Frances Lord sailing in their 29er (only non Musto Skiff boat) did put in an impressive performance in race 2 with a very good second place.

With only 4 full rig Lasers attending for the weekend it was the local Largo boats who were showing good pace on the Saturday with Mark Allen doing particularly well in this wind strength and also getting on the right side of a few good sifts in the morning. Mark could have done even better had he not sailed the wrong side of the finish line on his second upwind leg which saw him loose two vital places in race one which he couldn't recover. Iain McLaulghin from Largs SC continued to show some great form as he has done all season but an OCS in race 3 would see him score 5 points. Mark Allen would finish in first at the end of the day with Pete Malcolm in second and Iain McLaulghin lying third.

The Laser Radial class with 8 boats offered some very good racing over the whole weekend and were all immaculately behaved on the start line with only the odd individual recall from the committee boat. Lewis Smith from Royal Forth YC was to dominate the weekend in all weather conditions and took 3 very impressive bullets on the Saturday. Angus Lawson from East Lothian YC took second place and Tom Graham form Craignish BC would lie third over night.

The Solo fleet saw the biggest entry of the weekend bringing 18 boats to this their Ben Leddie Trophy weekend. This trophy requires every race to count for the title, with no discards and as the weekend would pan out it was to be a closely fought affair.

Largo Bay sailor Kevan Gibb with home advantage was in a close battle all day with Andy Hutchinson RYA, Richard Bolton Dalgety Bay SC and Stuart Gibson CCC. It was to be very close thing with both Kevan and Andy Hutchinson finishing on 5 points but Andy would lead over night with his 2 firsts, Kevan Gibb in second and Stuart Gibson lying in third place.

Unfortunately the 2000 fleet did not appear for the weekend, this might have been due to the ominous forecast which was forecast for Sunday which predicted winds gusting to 33 knots.

George Thomson and Oswyn Ashwood West Lothian SC showed Steve Wood and Daryl Archibald Largo Bay SC how to do it with 3 firsts on the Saturday.

A similar low turnout from the Enterprise class. possibly for the same reason, saw Charles Morrish St Marys Loch SC put in an impressive 3 firsts, after all he is nearly a local as I'm sure Charles has been attending LBSC regatta for at least 25 years so does have some local knowledge. Richard Denny and Maureen Denny Beccles SC were in second place and Beca Oosterheuse Forfar SC lying in third.

Sailing completed, the competitors were treated to a fantastic summers evening of sunshine and a BBQ on the patio, washed down their favourite tipple and then a traditional visit to the Railway Inn for a few beers to end the day. All in all a really good day!

Sunday

What a difference a day makes. There had been much talk in the clubhouse on the Friday evening of the impending spike in the wind forecast for Sunday morning and how best to deal with this? After racing on Saturday it seemed that the strength and timing of this was now to blow through relatively early in the day, which would allow us to fully complete the days racing programme.

The southerly breeze which was predicted for Sunday at 10.00am did not appear and we were greeted with and Easterly of 3 knots and mist!!!. However by 11.00 am there was a 180 degree wind shift into the west and the steady 13 to 15 knot breeze was warmly welcomed by the race committee.

As always at Largo we stick to our schedule and did catch out a few skiff sailors who were slightly late for the published start time bang on 11.00am.

Races one and two saw the wind increase steadily to 17/18 knots with a few 20 knot squalls with rain showers to top it off. These really were champagne sailing conditions now and just a little more testing than the Saturday. The 32 knots that had been predicted earlier in the week did finally arrive for the last race and in a hurry. Not only did it come but it came with a 90 degree shift which meant for rapid course changes. This happened very quickly but as soon as all the classes were round the windward mark it decided to revert back 90 degrees to its original position. The committee made a decision that it was too late to abort the race and allowed the fleets to enjoy what was a bit of a sleigh ride to the finish.

The Skiff class saw Len Read and Frances Lord take a well earned 1st place in the opening race.

Ian Renilson improved as the wind increased and had a 1st and 2nd in the last two races but this was all too late for his weekend. Jono Shelley continued with his consistent weekend with 2 seconds and a first to win the event comfortably in the end on 9 points. John Reekie finished second on 15 points and Alastair Kerr third on 18 points

The Laser fleet would see Mark Allen from LBSC go backwards in the windier conditions finishing with 3 thirds on the day. This left Pete Malcolm and Iain McLaulghin to fight it out. Iain was to regain his composure after his OCS in the last race on Saturday and take 3 bullets leaving Peter somewhat in his wake. An impressive result in a wide range of conditions with Ian finishing on 7 points Peter on 10 and Mark on 11.

The Laser Radials could do nothing but watch in awe at the continuing performance by Lewis Smith who continued on from where he left off on Saturday with another 3 bullets. He was hot on the heels of the full Rig Lasers and in fact caught some of them as the wind increased. Watch out for Lewis once he makes the move to the full rig!!.

The Solos continued to offer up some really good class racing but it was always going to come down to the head to head challenge between Andy Hutchinson and Kevan Gibb for the Ben Leddie Trophy.

Races 4 and 5 saw them swap first and second places and would see them go head to head into the last race still both level on 8 points. The partisan race committee were keen to see the wind conditions increasing for the last race as we all know that Kevan often comes into his won in the windier conditions. Unfortunately this was not to be the case and although he did well to recover from third place he could not catch Andy to the finish. In the true spirit of sportsmanship though, there had been a racing incident somewhere in the last race which had involved Andy Hutchinson. He approached the committee boat after the race indicating that although he had take his penalty he realised that in so doing he had severely disadvantaged others on the race course and that he was retiring from that race. This ultimately lost him the event and handed it to Kevan. I think if we could have offered them both first positions then that really would have been the fairest result, but well done to Andy for showing such honesty and sportsmanship, it's great to see that level of sporting awareness being displayed a club level. Hats off to you Andy!!

There would be little change in the positions of the Enterprises or 2000 fleets with Charles Morrish winning comfortably in the Enterprise class but a really good second place finish by Beca Oosterheuse in the last race was an impressive one in some really challenging conditions.

George Thomson and Oswyn Ashwood continued with another 3 firsts in the 2000's to have a comfortable winning weekend.

In finishing we would like to thank all the competitors for coming to LBSC Regatta and we trust that everyone enjoyed the event. We are a small but dedicated club who have a passion for dinghy racing. We are always looking at ways to improve our event and would welcome any constructive feedback that you may have. Please email socialmedia@largobaysc.org.uk if you have any comments.

We are already well under way in our discussions and preparations for our next National event which will be the Musto Skiff Nationals in 2016. Some sponsorship is already in place and we are looking forward to welcoming back all the Skiffs who were here this weekend and the rest of the UK fleet. Please keep checking the Musto Skiff class website and Largo Bay SC website for dates etc.

See you all in 2016.

Overall Results: