Yachts & Yachting — March 2018

CLUBS & CLASSES

TIM OLIN

MARC TURNER/RYA SCOTLAND

Winter wonderland

for Scottish youths

The annual RYA Scotland Junior and

Youth Winter Championships over two

days with 80 hardy sailors across eight

classes taking to the Largs Channel for 10

races in light northerly winds. BST

member and Nacra 17 sailor Anna Burnet

coached, while winners included Alastair

Coombs (Loch Venacher), who led the

Optimist fleet, with Tess Crooks top girl.

Finlay Tulett (Dalgety Bay) claimed Topper

fleet, with Erin McIlwaine top girl; Lorcan

Knowles took the boys’ Laser 4.7 and Catie

Warburton won the girls’; the Laser Radial

fleet was won by Harris Cartwright with

Christine Wood (CCCDS) top female.

and Susan Rickets in their

RS200 and Solo sailor

Richard Pryke. Whiskey was

shared out, as per the

tradition, dating back to the

founding of the club. 

Saltash opener

Hardy yacht crews blew

away the cobwebs in the

New Year’s Day Race at

Saltash SC in an increasingly

breezy westerly wind, with

eventually only one finisher

in the NHC class, Ashley

Davies’ Feeling 850 Crazy

Rhythm, while Dave Oliver

with X332 Extortion8 in the

IRC class won the Bar

Steward’s Trophy as the

day’s overall winner.

Bosun Bob’s

RS400 series

Bosun Bob’s RS400 Autumn

Series at the Royal North of

Ireland YC has been built up

over 10 years and now has

up to 18 boats on the start

line, the format of four

short back-to-back races

proving so popular even

Santa has been spotted

competing; the trophy was

claimed by Paul McLaughlin

and Owen McKinley.

Blustery close

to Frostbites

A breezy finale for the Dun

Laoghaire Motor YC

Frostbites saw the Fast PY

fleet overall win go to

Fireball sailors Noel Butler

and Marie Barry/Shane

McCarthy. The slow PY fleet

victory went to Shane

McCarthy in his Solo and the

Laser win to Conor O’Leary.

Marblehead

Brass Monkey

The weather lived up to the

name of the event, which

was sailed at GMYC’s Abbey

Meads Lake in atrocious

freezing conditions. Rob

Vice, who had upgraded his

Uproar with a robot keel

and bulb, set the pace early

on to claim overall victory,

ahead of Peter Stollery in

second and Roger Stollery

third. It was also the finale

of the Games series for the

Midgley Memorial Mug,

which saw Peter Stollery in

first overall ahead of Rob

Vice and Roger Stollery.

A rum pursuit

Welwyn Garden City SC ran

their end of year pursuit

race despite 30-40mph

gusts hitting competitors at

regular intervals as they

battled around the course,

with speeding dinghies lost

to view in spray and

inevitable capsizes.

After two 45-minute races,

Supernova sailor Alan

Campbell emerged as the

clear winner with

commodore Nigel Davis,

also in a Supernova, second.

Annette Walter (Comet)

was third and Mike Caddy

(Laser) fourth. Rum punch

and mince pies followed.

Seasonal style for RS

Aero stadium racing

RS Aero Christmas Stadium

Racing at Lymington Town

SC saw an early start for 22

RS Aeros on the top of the

tide for a series of sprint

races on the river. RS Aero

9s and 7s competed in the

Harken UK/IT Computers

event, with the sole RS Aero

5 in a pursuit race with the

RS Aero 7 fleet. There were

eight races for each fleet, in

a 6 to 12kt breeze; midway

mulled wine and mince pies

were delivered to the

pontoons! Youth prevailed,

with five under-19s in the

top three of the two fleets.

First in the RS Aero 7 & 5

fleet was Andrew Frost

(Sutton Bingham, 7) with

Kate Wharmby (Royal

Lymington, 5) top lady in

second. RS Aero 9 winner

was local Peter Barton.

Rearranged

RS200 inlands

When the rearranged RS200

inlands finally took place at

Rutland, trepidation over snowy

travel conditions affected

entries, although they still

included 470 national champion

(Birrell), 400 inland champion

(Holden), Merlin national

champion (Roberts) and RS200

national champion (Palmer).

In a breezy northwesterly that

barely got above freezing, there

were three race wins for Maria

Stanley and Rob Henderson.

Sunday saw real racing begin

as heavy snowfall threatened to

imprison the fleet at the club;

then racing was abandoned and

the prize-giving recognised the

first-ever lady helm in title spot

with Stanley/Henderson

(Itchenor SC/HISC), then Tom

Ballantine/Maddy Anderson

(Salcombe) second and Ben

Palmer/Claire Walsh (HISC) third.

Tinsley races Laser to victory at Brass Monkey

The Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey saw local

legend Graham Tinsley winning the third event in

the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series.

A bleak northerly greeted the fleet but later the

breeze swung and moderated to a more preferable

northwesterly at 15 knots. The Musto Skiff of Jono

Shelley took the first race win followed by Tinsley

and RS400 team Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman.

Those that braved the afternoon race enjoyed

bright sun and 10 knots. Jack Hopkins in his Laser

battled with Tinsley, with Hopkins coming out on

top to take the win and Charlie Chandler’s Blaze

splitting the two Lasers, while Shelley struggled to

break through in the lighter breeze, finishing 20th.

Outside the singlehanders, only Jonny and Sarah

McGovern in their RS200 broke into the top 10.

GERARD VAN DEN HOEK

Leigh & Lowton

Revett series

Sailors who braved the forecast for the

finale of the Leigh & Lowton Revett

Series had a great day with 5-8 knots and

only a flurry of snow on the finish line of

the 10th and last race.

More than 80 boats took part over the

series and in the hotly contested Laser

fleet, the top spots went to local sailors;

Charlotte Greenhalgh took two bullets to

wrap up the series, with Paul Heath

doing just enough to squeeze Stuart

Belfield down to third overall by one

point. In the Handicap fleet, Steve

Blackburn and Ian Richie (LLSC) had

the best of the day in their Enterprise

with a 1,2 to clinch third overall.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

March 2018 Ya chts & Yachting 91