MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay Radio Yacht Club

The Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 event which was hosted by Ayr Bay Radio Yacht Club at the Irvine Beach Park Pond on Saturday 26th March 2022.

It was great to be back to District sailing following the disruption over the last two years. This was evident by the excellent turnout of fourteen skippers from the East and West Coast clubs. The forecast had been for extremely light airs potentially drifting conditions. However, on the day, we raced in a glorious sunny conditions with light winds that posed challenges for the race team to set a course and the skippers to sail it!

MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay MYC - photo © Peter Carr

Following Registration, Bill Lees assembled the skippers at 9:45am for the briefing with "Boats on the Water" called at 10:00am. The very light wind was constantly shifting. This posed a significant challenge for the fleet to choose which end of the line was favoured and also to avoid holes in the variable conditions. The trick seemed to be to build a bit of momentum in a zephyr and then allow the boat keep moving across the glassy surface.

After each race the Race Officer had to adjust the courses to suit the wind conditions. In the first three races there were three different winners - Ian Dundas (38), Richard Rowan (85) and John Owens (33). However, Brian Summers (07) was always in the top three boats and had a bullet in the fourth race. Robert Rooney (71) had a string of fourth places and in Races 6 and 7 had back-to-back bullets. In the meantime, Ian Dundas was consistently sailing his new "Fat Boy" design to top three places.

MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay MYC - photo © Peter Carr

In the latter part of the morning, the "breeze" began to fill-in more. Malcolm Worsley (86) started to return top three places throughout the rest of the day. Richard Rowan was also showing good results. The racing was very competitive with the top skippers equally sharing the results up to lunch time. After lunch the wind settled and eight more races were run with no incidents and good clean racing. As the afternoon progressed, Ian Dundas won three races back-to-back. Pat Johnston (44) was also showing good boat speed. The "older generation" boats such as Robert Rooney's Topiko and Pat Johnston's Pikanto were competitive throughout the day with Robert's worst scores being a couple of sixth places.

Amongst the competitive field, Colin McGinnis (45) and Gordon Allison (62) recorded top four positions and Stewart Campbell (50) scored a bullet. This showed that nobody could relax and a mistake (or bit of bad luck) could be expensive. Throughout this, Ian Davidson (39), David Stewart (30) and Nick Slane (150) kept the fleet honest. Special mention should be made of Arthur Black (185) sailing in his first District event.

MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay MYC - photo © Peter Carr

With a total of fifteen races, all starts were excellent with only two general recalls which is a credit to the sailing ability of the fleet.

Overall, the winners were all those who took part. Credit must go to Pat Johnston and Malcolm Worsley who pushed the winners all day. However, special congratulations go to:

1st Ian Dundas (Aberdeen MYC)
2nd Robert Rooney (Paisley MYC)
3rd Brian Summers (Tayside RSC)
4th Richard Rowan (Greenock MY&PBC)

Winners in the MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay MYC - photo © Peter Carr

Ian Dundas proposed a vote of thanks to the Race Team for running such an excellent event - Race Officer David Belding and his assistant Peter Carr set very good courses and Bill Wylie ran the start line very well. Jim Reid's catering was very welcome. Thanks also to observers Gordon Neil and Andrew Riddle. David Smith once again did the scoring very professionally which he said is training for the 2022 UK IOM National Championship! The weather credit must go to Brian Summers and Bill Lees who choose the date!

Overall Results:

MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 at Ayr Bay MYC - photo © Peter Carr