Scottish Skiff Series at the Largo Bay Sailing Club Regatta
by Martin Wilkie 3 Jul 2009 07:57 BST
27-28 June 2009
As part of their 50th Anniversary Regatta, Largo Bay Sailing Club hosted the third round of the Scottish Skiff Grand Prix on the weekend of the 27th and 28th of June.
Despite the torrential rain and lack of breeze which greeted the competitors on Saturday morning, the weather eventually played ball and a reasonably solid Force 3 filled in from the North East in time for the racing. As ever at Largo Bay, the racing ran like clockwork and three races were held on a well set windward/leeward course. At the front of the fleet, the honours were shared between Ian Renilson (Musto Skiff) and Paul Hignett (International Moth), with Renilson sailing consistently well to post a scoreline of 1st, 3rd, 1st, whilst Hignett mastered the conditions in his Moth and posted a 2nd, 1st, 2nd. Behind the front two, the 49ers of Stuart and Richard Urquhart and Stewart and Ben Robertson both put together a consistent set of results, with the Urquharts taking 3rd spot overnight with a 3rd, 2nd, 4th for the day.
Sunday dawned to more grey skies and, with a lighter wind filling in from the North East, the race team managed to run a further three races to complete the series. This time it was the turn of the International 14 of Martin Wilkie and Iain McCafferty to hit the front of the fleet, posting wins in races 4 and 6, whilst local sailor Alistair Reid had a better day in his Musto Skiff, posting a 4th, 3rd, 4th. Unfortunately for Hignett, the wind wasnt quite strong enough to allow him to foil around the course, thus taking him out of the running for the weekend. However, it was to be Renilsons weekend, with a scoreline of 2nd, 1st, 2nd securing him the overall win and once again demonstrating that consistent, mistake-free sailing is the way to win events. The 49ers again put together a solid day, with a 5th, 2nd, 3rd allowing the Urquharts to take second overall for the weekend, just in front of Wilkie and McCafferty, whose wins on the Sunday lifted them in to the third spot ahead of the Robertsons.
Overall Results:
1st Ian Renilson, Musto Skiff (Dalgety Bay S.C.) 7pts
2nd Stuart and Richard Urquhart, 49er (Royal Forth Y.C.) 14pts
3rd Martin Wilkie and Iain McCafferty, Int 14 (Dalgety Bay S.C.) 17pts
4th Stewart and Ben Robertson, 49er (Royal Forth Y.C.) 18pts
5th Paul Hignett, International Moth (Loch Venacher S.C.) 22pts
6th Alistair Reid, Musto Skiff (Largo Bay S.C.) 22pts