RS200 Scottish Travellers at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club

Calum and Ellen take a break from dolphin-spotting during the RS200 Scottish Travellers at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club © Tony Ray

Ditta and Georgia having some downtime between races during the RS200 Scottish Travellers at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club © Tony Ray

ASYC put on a show for the visiting sailors at the latest RS200 traveller event with two days of warmth, sunshine and friendly marine life. Seven 200s is a little down on what we've seen at some of the other events this season, but all of the people who foolishly decided they'd prefer to spend time with their families over the school holidays (or couldn't sail because their boat had been run over by a Flying Fifteen) were definitely missing out.

Race 1 got started in a fresh southerly breeze, and was won by Calum Bell and Ellen Clark, followed by John Ilson and Laura Glover. Marginal planing conditions meant there were huge gains to be made, especially on the downwinds, and these two teams showed they were the most adept at switching modes to maximise the advantage from any gusts or waves.

Race 2 saw the order switched, as John and Laura led Calum and Ellen across the line. Further back in the fleet, some more battles were developing, with Peter Collings/Iona Smith and Jake Miller/Emily Miller trading 3rd and 4th places, and Alistair Colliar/Findlay Cormack, Lindsay McCosh/Izzy Burroughs in a class demo boat and Ditta Neumann/Georgia Lloyd all having tussles of their own.

Race 3 was to be the last of the day (with a minor delay to appreciate the pod of dolphins who decided to swim straight up the beat, much to Emily's delight), and was won by Calum/Ellen again, giving them a slender 1-point lead overnight, with lighter breezes forecast the next day. Jake/Emily were third, ahead of Peter/Iona, who had suffered gear failure in pre-start and were hoping for a discard.

Lindsay and Izzy get their kite set during the RS200 Scottish Travellers at Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club - photo © Tony Ray

The excellent barbecue in front of the clubhouse gave a chance to socialise with the 400 sailors, swap war stories and drink some sponsor beers from Stewart Brewing.

Day 2 was everything it was forecast to be, with light winds and soaring temperatures. After a slightly delayed start (partly low tide, partly wind shadow from cliffs, partly trademark RS200 timekeeping) it was clear that the lighter conditions weren't going to slow down Calum/Ellen, as they won from John/Laura with Jake/Emily not far behind. The breeze had started to build again and race 5 resulted in one of the more controversial moments of the event, when Calum/Ellen and John/Laura came together at a leeward mark after an intense series of gybes, which resulted in Calum/Ellen later retiring from the race. This gave Peter/Iona a second place, and meant they were just one point behind Jake/Emily going into the last race of the event, and put John/Laura just a point behind Calum/Ellen for the overall win.

The final race of the event started with a collision between Jake/Emily and Lindsay/Izzy, which resulted in spins and a capsize for Jake/Emily, giving them an uphill battle to reclaim the third place they had held for most of the event. Further up the fleet, John/Laura were leading Calum/Ellen, until they mistook an individual recall flag from the RS400s for a shortened course flag, allowing Calum and Ellen to sail through and clinch the event win.

A huge thanks to ASYC for hosting such a fabulous event. The next Scottish traveller is at Loch Lomond SC on the 3rd and 4th of September.

Overall Results: