Scottish 420 Winter Championship at Helensburgh Sailing Club
by Matt Toynbee 15 Dec 2020 08:17 GMT
12 December 2020
Scottish 420 Winter Championship © RYA Scotland
In place of the normal RYA Scotland Winter Championships this year saw racing delivered as a series of Christmas Regattas with each class having a one day event.
The 420 class was hosted by Helensburgh on Sat 12 December on a beautiful clear winter day. It was the first time since March that the fleet in the East (Royal Tay based) had seen, sailed with, or socialised with the fleet in the West (Prestwick/Largs/ Helensburgh). With a mirror flat Clyde there was plenty of time for sailors to set up their boats and for the newer sailors to learn a little bit more about boat set-up from the other sailors.
A hugely optimistic race officer sent the fleet on the water into a flat calm with plans for photo comps, rock n' roll (suspending rule 42) races and general Christmas fun. With Christmas music from the coach boat sailors made their way towards the committee boat identifiable by the Christmas tree and with a little bit of Christmas magic a light breeze slowly filled in from the East.
Racing got under way in a light 4-6kts with priority being the hunt for pressure and avoiding the holes. Lots of opportunities for gains and losses across the course made the racing interesting and kept the sailors on their toes. Some significant gains were made by those who had read their sailing instructions best! Tight racing was the order of the day with lots of close finishes and downwind battles across the short races. Finlay and Tess proved that practice does help and deserve congratulations for everything about their performance except the bit about reading the Sis.
Great to have the sailors out on the water racing again and lots of shore banter (outside and socially distanced of course). The fleet are now looking forward to the Invitational Training Camp taking place next weekend.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Finlay Herrington | Tess Crooks | Largs SC / Prestwick SC | DNF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | Anna Miller | Eilidh McQueen | Prestwick SC / Helensburgh SC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | Rory Gifford | William O'Keefe | Royal Tay YC / Loch Lomond SC | 1 | DNF | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| 4 | Ruairi Herrington | James Gifford | Largs SC / Royal Tay YC | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | Katie McNicol | Josh Howe | Largs SC | 4 | 4 | DNS | DNS | 20 |
Special Prizes:
- Best Fancy Dress - Anna and Eilidh in their Christmas Jumpers with Christmas lights decorating their foredeck
- Crazy Racing (Downwind Start) - Anna and Eilidh
- Crazy Racing (Backwards Race) - Ruairi and James
- Perseverance Prize - Katie and Josh for their spinnaker work and using the coaching input to develop these skills