2022 MYA Scottish District DF95 Championship at Greenock
by Richard Rowan 16 May 2022 09:27 BST
14 May 2022
This inaugural event is the first significant DF95 regatta to be held in the MYA Scottish District for one of the new generation of radio sailing classes. These boats have been described as providing the next step in high performance radio controlled yacht sailing at a fraction of the price of the longer standing equivalents in the UK.
Twelve skippers from throughout Scotland brought their DF95s to Greenock for the 2022 MYA Scottish District Championship. They arrived with an expectation of good conditions for racing at Greenock. Their expectation was fulfilled.
The event started with a 10 knot wind from a direction varying between South West and West. That permitted the Race Committee to lay a starting line right in the eastern corner of the dam which then provided a good beat up to one or other of the windward marks that had been laid across the centre of the dam at the Clubhouse end. After the windward mark, there was short reach to a wing mark followed by a run to the leeward mark which was near the starting mark. This general wind direction and strength held for the day which made for an easy life for the Race Committee and lots of reasonably challenging racing for the competitors. All this combined with the bonus of a lovely late spring / early summer afternoon - with no rain!
The day can be summarised as sixteen races completed with time set aside for a morning refreshment break and a good lunch break (the lunch provided was up to the best Greenock standard!). No skipper carved out any significant advantage with each of the leading skippers having a run of good results followed by a few not so good.
The eventual 2022 MYA Scottish District DF95 Champion (Chris Nichols) made a good start, keeping out of trouble on the start line and picking the good shifts up the first beat giving him a number of good placings. Chris appeared to have very good boat speed which frequently allowed him to recover from the odd mishap. His results show great consistency with no score worse than a 3rd until the very last race when undoubtedly it would seem that his nerves had finally got the better of him.
At the start of the event, Ali Law was overheard saying that this was the first time he had seriously raced his DF95. After a relatively bad first race, he settled into producing a number of good results. However, these were interspersed with a number of poor results which ultimately increased his overall score. The trim of his boat always looked quick and was observed making regular good starts right at the far end of the starting line.
Gordon Allison started slowly and then gradually settled into improving his race craft so that by the end of the day, he had achieved a number of first places. At the final count, Ali and Gordon were tied on points but Ali took overall second place with six 1st places as opposed to Gordon who had two. In fourth place was Robert Rooney who sailed fairly consistently but At times found it difficult to get the higher placings required to compete for the lead.
Finally, the Greenock club race convenor, Ian Davidson, with his bright red/orange hull is congratulated for his fifth place overall. His score line shows three 2nd places in amongst his run of places in the middle of the fleet. However, his scores do not reflect the number of times he was well placed with good boat speed and particularly good choice of line on the runs, only to then suffer little misfortunes which would drop him back from the front of the race. Next time Ian will do better.
Reviewing the Championship results, it is seen that the event finished with only 10 points between 1st and 4th and everyone enjoyed a great day of racing and camaraderie.
Race team
Richard Rowan (RO), Bill Terry, Simon Thomson, David Addison, John Douglas (all from Greenock MY&PBC) and Malcolm Durie (Scorer) from Kinghorn RSC. Thanks also to David Smith who provided lots of help to Malcom who was running the scoring at his first significant Scottish District event.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Skipper | Sail No | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Chris Nichols | 383 | Levenhall RYC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 27 |
| 2 | Ali Law | 68 | Buchanness RYC | 10 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33 |
| 3 | Gordon Allison | 62 | Ayr Bay MYC | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 33 |
| 4 | Robert Rooney | 87 | Paisley MYC | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 37 |
| 5 | Ian Davidson | 71 | Greenock MY&PBC | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 58 |
| 6 | Gordon Rae | 260 | Ayr Bay MYC | 4 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 73 |
| 7 | Robert Brown | 26 | Kinghorn RSC | 5 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 86 |
| 8 | David Smith | 89 | Paisley MYC | 11 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 87 |
| 9 | Arthur Black | 21 | Paisley MYC | 9 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 105 |
| 10 | Alan McKechnie | 59 | Buchanness RYC | 12 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 125 |
| 11 | Stewart Campbell | 50 | Greenock MY&PBC | 7 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 137 |
| 12 | Bill Lees | 31 | Ayr Bay MYC | 8 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 164 |