Scottish Challenger Series at Castle Semple Sailing Club
by Dik Toulson 15 May 2019 15:15 BST
11-12 May 2019
Scottish Challenger Series at Castle Semple © Dik Toulson
It is a very British thing to do to talk about the weather, so let's not break with tradition. The weekend weather for round two of Scottish Challenger series was hosted by Castle Semple SC, and with bright sunshine. It was very sunny and warm, lovely you might say. BUT the wind, what wind? Both Saturday and Sunday started off with very calm conditions but ended up with a pleasant and cooling breeze.
Without a constant breeze it meant that the sailing was challenging and testing the patients of the sailors. However, in every race the fleet started to pick different ways to find the precious wind to each mark, with some having more success than others. Silver fleet sailor Dik Toulson found himself mixing it with the leaders by good fortune of the wind on one of the legs.
Duncan Greenhalgh and local sailor Jon Hasler battled for first place all weekend with Duncan coming out on top. Again the light winds meant that they had to keep their wits about them whilst looking for the shimmering surface caused by the light winds.
This was the first time that Dawn has sailed a Challenger in anger, and the light winds never worked in her favour. Dorothy's return from a year away saw her battling with Dik for fourth place. Dorothy was always quick off the mark at the start and she was frequently up in third place over the weekend, just not as frequent as Alex. It was surprising to see Ronnie at the back of the fleet, maybe the sun was in his eyes too much?
Overall Results:
1. Duncan Greenhalgh
2. John Hasler
3. Alex Hodge
4. Dorothy Bennett
5. Dik Toulson
6. Ronnie Cameron
7. Dawn Kyne
The next Sailability Scotland SCIO event is the T3 and Scottish Open Challenger Championship which is being hosted by Loch Venachar SC on the 8/9 June. Please visit www.sailabilityscotland.org.uk for more information. Finally, our thanks go to Mr Boyd Tunnock and Icom radios for their support and of course the commodore of Castle Semple SC, Dawn Kyne, for hosting such a great event.