Results / LESC First Fling Loch Earn Sailing Club - 29/04/2006

8 RS200�s made the journey to the stunning setting of Loch Earn sailing club for the 1st of the Scottish traveller events of the season. The forecast for the weekend was for light northerly winds, couple this with the venue running west to east with high hills either side of the loch resulted in large windshifts and unpredictable winds. The order for the weekend was to keep eyes out of the boat and try to spot where the wind was strongest, and sail for it! Throughout the weekend the courses set were not standard RS windward / leewards. The courses often resulted in zigzagging from one side of the loch to the other with large holes waiting to catch people out. Race 1 started westerly 2 � 4 knots off wind. The line was heavily biased to the port end, however there was a short fetch to mark 10. Robbie Burns and Deano Gillespie started just below the port end and rounded mark 10 2nd. Richard & Val Evans now veterans of the RS200 Scottish scene started near the starboard end and sailed a shorter course to round just in front off Burns/Gillespie.With the leg being so short the chasing pack were not far behind. On the next upwind leg Evans�s went inshore where there was less wind, Burns went middle left, and put a loose cover on the fleet and noticed that Liz Jamie/Liz Copland had gone outside him and managed to sneak past into first. Burns then sailed a few shifts to get further left than team Liz and regained his lead. First to go left at mark 10 was Sarah Robertson / Kate Mitchell, who caught up considerably with the leaders and eventually finished 2nd with Bess Homer / Kirsty Higgins coming 3rd. Burns/Gillespie held on to the lead, although they were challenged on the next downwind leg by team Evans who sailed hard left down the run to take advantage of more wind on this side of the course. Burns/Gillespie had superior speed throughout the weekend, which was helped by the fact they only weighed in at 17 stone. However Gillespie a member of the Scottish optimist squad did comment on the fact that a lot of sailors were sailing with very tight leeches, possibly to much kicker or to much mainsheet and over sheeting the jibs, thus choking the slot. Competitors then made there way to shore for lunch, special thanks must be made to the club for bringing in outside caterers who made a mean steak burger. Race 2, was a case of who had bought the winning lottery ticket ! Team Evans made a great start to lead the race before the wind had other ideas and turned the race into a game of guess what is going to happen next. Burns / Gillespie made a horrendous start and gave the leading pack a 15 boat length lead. Homer/Higgins & team Liz obviously felt sorry for Burns/Gillespie and joined in on making a complete mess of the start. The rest of the race was a game off get the kite up and down as many times as you can in one leg and who could tack and gybe the most depending on where the wind felt like coming from. At one stage burns/gillespie and team evans were 3 metres apart on opposing tacks and both reaching in parallel, whilst team Liz was 10 metres behind running downwind and the rest of the fleet were 10 metres in the other direction beating, this made for some frustrating sailing. In the end Burns managed to slip inside Robertson/Mitchell on a reach to take line honours with Graeme Henry and Fi Foulkes 3rd. Sunday dawned with a fairly steady 3 knots off wind from the east. Race 1 got underway without team Evans who unfortunately left early due to a back injury. Burns/Gillespie won the race convincingly on the account of a rather bored optimist sailor constantly saying how he wanted kitkats and hated light winds. Henry/Foulkes finished 2nd and Robertson/Mitchell 3rd. Result of the day went to local sailors Tommy tailor and Ben Chapman who sailed brilliantly to come 4th, their best result off the regatta. We all hope to see them again at future events. Racing was then abandoned due to the lack off wind. Thanks must be paid to all at Loch Earn Sailing Club for hosting a good event with tough conditions for the OOD.