Summer Champs in Scotland

The weekend of 3/4th July saw the first RYA Scotland championship event in over eighteen months following the global pandemic, with many eager to get some racing in. Loch Venachar SC played host to the inaugural Summer Championships with over thirty optimist and topper sailors taking part.

Forecast for the weekend promised very light winds and the threat of thundery showers towards the end of the weekend. However sailors arrived on the Saturday morning to a promising breeze so all systems were go to get the course set up and the fleet afloat to get racing as soon as possible. Unfortunately the breeze dropped off before the start of the first race which led to a short postponement, which allowed sailors to get afloat for the racing area and bob around in the sunshine. Once racing got underway the conditions pushed sailors and race management teams with the changing pressure and shifting wind direction. It was a day that rewarded those sailors able to keep heads out of the boat and sail in the patches of pressure whilst making the most of the shifts.

Finlay Davidson and Ruaraidh Purves took the overnight lead in optimist and topper classes respectively. Both having put down three first places across the three races.

Sunday dawned with similar conditions to the previous day with showery spells expected to spice up the day. Launching on schedule for the first race the sailors and race management teams were ready to run on time, but sadly the wind which promised sailable conditions initially had dropped off completely. Whilst the sailors bobbed around waiting for some breeze it was nice for the sky to open and ensure everyone afloat benefited from a thorough dousing.  Once the first band of showers had moved through the Race Officer was able to get the fleet away in a light breeze and followed this up straight away with a fifth race for both classes. By this stage the forecasted thundery showers could be heard moving up from the South and followed on the Met Office rain radar. The fleet headed ashore as the breeze started to swing one hundred and eighty degrees with some of the optimist fleet running back to the beach up the upwind leg of the course.

Great performances from sailors across both fleets especially given the lack of events that they have had over the last eighteen months. A special mention to those sailors completing in their first championship event. Full results are below:

https://www.sailwave.com/results/RYA-Scotland/junior-summerchamps-2021.htm

Was great to hear comments from parents and locals alike about how good it was to have junior sailors back on the water. We look forward to supporting our junior and youth sailors at championships across the country over the next couple of months, starting with the 29er Nationals at Largs SC in the last week of July. The optimist and topper class associations are currently working on the 2021-22 Scottish Junior Traveller circuit which will start after the class nationals have taken place.

The next RYA Scotland event is the RYA Scotland Junior Championships which will be hosted by Loch Tummel SC on 25/26 September.