This was a major event for St Mary’s Loch Sailing Club. The statistics were impressive: 6 classes, 2 days of sailing, 2 Scottish championships, over 70 boats on the water, 2 separate racing areas (3 including the coached Oppy fleet), 8 races per class, 7 safety boats, 2 committee boats, and countless people involved. The classes involved were Supernovas (Scottish Championship), ILCAs (Saturday only), Streakers (Saturday only), Toppers, RS Fevas (Scottish Championship), and Optimists.
The weather was cold but mainly clear, with winds starting very light and shifty on the Saturday, and growing in strength throughout the weekend, ending up with force 5 gusting 6 breezes by the end of the Sunday session. The race officers managed to find good courses in two different areas of the loch, giving exciting racing for the competitors, while the freshening wind gave the safety crews plenty to do as the event unfolded.
- In the ILCA class, local sailors Dougal Jackson (ILCA 4) counting 3 x 1st places, Sam Milroy (ILCA 4) counting 3 x 2nd places, and Josh Milroy (ILCA 6) with 1 x 2nd and 2 x 3rd places took the top three places.
- The Streaker class was won by James Sinclair from East Lothian Yacht Club counting 3 x 1st places. David Parkin from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC was second with 2 x 2nd and 1 x 3rd place to count. St Mary’s Loch SC’s Katie Masterton took third place, counting the same scores as David, but losing out as David had the better result in the final race.
- The new Scottish Champion in the Supernova class is Gavin Young, who travelled from Cotswold SC to win convincingly with 6 x 1st places to count. Alex Reeve from Burghfield scored a series of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places to take 2nd overall, narrowly easing out Mike Critchley from Bolton who took 3rd place. A special mention goes out to 14 year old Orlagh MacDonald from Castle Semple SC, who was the top placed female sailor in the fleet.
- The RS Feva fleet had a clear winner and Scottish Champion in Duncan Hepplewhite with crew Alexander Hepplewhite from Loch Lomond Sailing Club, with 5 x 1st and 1 x 2nd to count. Cameron and Finlay Ritchie from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC scored a creditable set of 3 x 1st and 3 x 2nd places to gain second place overall. The local team of Oscar Unger and Ross Gellatly scored a consistent set of 3rd places to end up third overall.
- In the Toppers, Finlay Nutt from Prestwick won overall with 5 x 1st and 1 x 2nd to count. St Mary’s Loch SC’s Elena Polnay had a good set of results to place second overall, and Harris Carlaw from Helensburgh was placed third with a consistent set of scores across the event.
- The Optimist fleet impressed with their ability and enthusiasm, with Ruben Hernandez-Woodd from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC winning every race to take first place. Hamish Pawson-Munro from the same club sailed well to take second overall, just ahead of Jodie Ferguson from Loch Tummell SC.
- Last but not least, the Optimist Coached fleet sailed well with Ben McGaughey from Prestwick winning overall, Torin Pawson-Munro from Aberdeen and Stonehaven YC taking second place, and local sailor Lewis Goodfellow being placed third.
Well done to all of the competitors!
Catering on Saturday night consisted of a hog roast (with a vegetarian alternative) and a bar. By all accounts this all went very well, and this, along with the bacon rolls for breakfast, may have helped to convince some of the competitors that they would like to come back again next year.
It was all hands on deck so there wasn’t much time for photography over the weekend, however here are a few pictures to remind everyone of how it all went:
