Scottish District IOM Travellers at Levenhall Radio Yacht Club

The Skippers for the Scottish District IOM Travellers at Levenhall © Ian Dunda

The Race Team for the Scottish District IOM Travellers at Levenhall © Ian Dunda

The first event of the Scottish Travellers IOM series for 2017 attracted eighteen skippers with fifteen from six of the Scottish District clubs together with three raiders from Killingworth south of the border.

The wind was light and in a SSW direction making course setting tricky, especially positioning a start line so that it could be judged, but also be sufficiently distant from the windward mark to stretch out the fleet before the first rounding. The event was sailed with two fleets to keep incidents to a minimum and reduce the fear factor for those competing in a Travellers event for the first time.

The seeding races were won by current Scottish District IOM champion Ian Dundas and home skipper Robert Brown. Sailing was unfortunately interrupted at the end of race two by a lengthy protest but resumed to allow four races to be completed before the break. There were numerous wind shifts and changes of place on the long beats and many were caught on the wrong side of the course after apparently being in a very good position.

Patrick Johnson and Steve Taylor showed their light weather skills in winning races 3 and 4 respectively while Simon Robinson and John Owens were posting some consistently low scores. In the race after lunch Ian Dundas took a trip to B fleet and failed to get out at the first time of asking denting his prospects of winning. At this point a break was called to allow those who had been yo-yoing between A and B fleets to recover. During the break the wind shifted 180 degrees such that on resumption very little tweaking was needed to allow the original course to be sailed but in the opposite direction. As the breeze fell away the V8s of Roger Ellington and Simon Robinson showed some impressive speed and the Killingworth duo posted a one two in the final drifting race.

Charging for the weather mark during the Scottish District IOM Travellers at Levenhall - photo © Ian Dundas

The overall results were very tight, with seven points covering the first five places. Steve Taylor on 13 points took the regatta from Simon Robinson on 14 points and Ian Dundas on 17 points. One of the most striking aspects of the results was that four of the first five yachts were wooden, all constructed to a very high standard and showing that given the right design and the right skipper it is still possible to build your own International One Metre and win a regatta.

Race Team: Richard Ennos (RO), John Handley, John Wyllie, Nick Cowern, Tom Milne, Douglas Thornton.

Overall Results: