Optimist Scottish Championship at Helensburgh Sailing Club
by Harris Cartwright 23 Jun 2015 09:08 BST
13-14 June 2015
Optimist Scottish Championship at Helensburgh SC © Dougie Bell
The spotlight fell on Helensburgh Sailing Club as over 30 young optimist sailors ranging in abilities and ages from 7 to 15 years old came to compete to try claim the title - Scottish Optimist National Champion.
The first day of racing brought very light airs which was quite good for the majority of the optimist fleet and the race officers made great decisions and managed to bang in 3 races. The girls made an impressive start with Catie Warburton 1st and Lucy Wilson 2nd in the first race but the boys fought back and the star of the day was Rory Harper coming off the water with a 3rd, 2nd and a 1st. Not far behind, once a discard came into play, was Loch Lomond's Scott Forbes, starting off the day with an unfortunate OCS in the first race. He fought back with a 3rd, and then a bullet to sustain a solid position of 5th including the OCS. It was proving to be a great day for the bigger sailors as Lucy Wilson and Rory Harper both finished their day well.
Sunday brought poorer weather with lots of cloud cover and very little wind. Launching signal was at 10 o'clock prompt. The first race of the day belonged to Rory Harper taking the lead from start to finish. The last two races were a battle between CCC's Harris Cartwright and Rory Harper. In the end the races were well led by Harris Cartwright scoring a 2nd and 2 bullets but that still wasn't enough to win. Rory Harper sailed a very consistent series to claim the title of Scottish Optimist National Champion. First Girl was Lucy Wilson.
Meanwhile in the regatta fleet they managed to bang in 9 races to complete the series with Adam Watkins winning 6 out of 9 races completed. Anna Miller was 2nd, Sophie Kennedy 3rd and Morven Wood a very close 4th.
A big well done to all sailors competing and a great job from Helensburgh Sailing Club for hosting the event.
Prize Winners: (full results can be found here)
1st overall Rory Harper
1st Girl Lucy Wilson
1st Junior and 2nd overall Scott Forbes
1st junior Girl Anna Miller