Sailing Fast Scottish Junior Travellers at Annandale Sailing Club

Prize winners in the SailingFast Scottish Travellers event at Annandale © Helen James

Saturday was a light and bright day at Annandale Sailing Club. We had three races in very shifty conditions around fixed buoys on Castle Loch.

Toppers

The first race was won by Eilidh McQueen followed by Orri Roberston, then Finlay Tulett in third; they clearly saw and benefitted from a right hand shift. The second race was won by Tom Mitchell then Euan Birrell and Fergus Wilson in third with plenty of changing of positions with the first three from Race 1. Race three was led by Fergus, then Finlay and in third was Orri.

The wind on Sunday was more testing with strong gusts, shifts and, just to make it more interesting, a few squalls with some very heavy rain. Several boats found downwind challenging with plenty of death rolls. Finlay Tulett won all three races, showing his ability to manage difficult conditions, and was overall winner in the 6 races followed by Tom Mitchell and Fergus Wilson in third.

The Scottish Toppers would like to the thank SailingFast for their continued sponsorship of the Series. Annandale Sailing Club again demonstrated slick race management with 22 Toppers, 17 optimists and 3 Fevas on the water as well as a Regatta Fleet for Oppies and younger sailors. The kitchen at Annandale once again excelled with lots of great coffee, rolls and soups and the social meal on Saturday. Thank you to all the volunteers and to the Race Committee and thank you for allowing us to come to your lovely loch.

Optimists

After a busy summer of sailing the Optimists travelled to the friendly sailing club at Annandale on the 9th and 10th September. 17 Optimists competed in the main fleet and it was great to see lots of new faces in the growing regatta fleet.

It was a weekend of two halves with light conditions and a mild dry day on Saturday followed by a very wet and windier day on Sunday. Both days provided challenging sailing conditions with shifty conditions and gains to be made by the sailors focusing on the conditions.

Saturday race wins were in hand by Alastair Coombs winning the 3 races with Danny Scott coming second in all 3. Third places on day one were shared between Connor Kennedy, Rory Gifford and Alex Cogan Sivarajan.

Day two and a much wetter and windier day with bigger gusts and shifty conditions. Alastair and Danny again shared 1st and second places with Danny securing a 1st in race 4. Ben Hale had a much stronger day on Sunday securing a 3rd and two 4ths giving him a final event placing of 3rd place.

Final results were Alastair Coombs 1st, closely followed by Danny Scott in 2nd and Ben Hale securing his 3rd place on day 2.

Another great weekend enjoyed at Annandale Sailing Club and many thanks to their friendly hospitality and all the club members and parents who volunteered and helped with the event.

The Optimists are next looking forward to competing in the RYA Scotland Zone Championships and Scottish Club Trophy Event at Loch Lomond. Thanks to our sponsors, SailingFast.