JP Watersports RS400 Scottish Championships overall

by Rog Carter and Jim Sinclair on 11 Jun 2014 RS400 Scottish Champs 2014 - Add a storming entry of 24 boats at one of our favourite sailing clubs in a beautiful seaside town with a promising forecast and you have the makings of a perfect RS400 weekend. Unfortunately for some reason the weather gods didn't seem to fancy an RS400 event at East Lothian Yacht Club on 7 and 8 June. Competitors were greeted by lots of north easterly wind and a falling tide, which can leave breaking waves in the fairway between the launch area and the race course.

Opinions varied about how manageable Saturday might be, but the only opinion that mattered was that of the PRO. After a one hour postponement the decision was taken for no racing today. Not everyone agreed, but the decision was logical. Nevertheless, a few hardy souls from the 400 fleet went out for a blast just as the rain set in and met with somewhat mixed fates. The majority of the fleet took advantage of the extra time to reacquaint themselves with the sailing club bar which had proved so popular at the 2013 nationals.

Phil Britton social convenor extraordinaire then oversaw another classic RS400 social to welcome the many new faces to the fleet, and a massive curry was topped off by the obligatory trip to The Auld Hoose into the wee small, slightly hazy hours! The bar staff appeared genuinely concerned that a certain Pete Ugly Vincent was not in attendance , however we calmed them down and reassured them that he would be back again next year to top up their coffers.

With an early start in order to fit in up to five races, there were a few sore heads but spirits were high as the fleet launched into bright sunshine and a building South Easterly breeze for the 10am start. The first start got away cleanly, with many heading left, inshore, to get out of the tide. Mark Somerville and Joe Roberts from Bassenthwaite built a big lead and were looking good for the win. Alas, halfway up the second beat a substantial right hand shift caused the fleet to be turned on its head with Jim Sinclair and Ben Wilcox seeming to make the biggest gain and jumping into second. On what was expected to be the last run down to the finish, the race officer decided to abandon the race much to the relief of many, although perhaps not Mark and Joe.

The second race again resulted in many at the port end of the line, pushing towards the inshore side of the first beat to get out of the tide. After a number of sizeable shifts and massive lulls, first to the windward mark were Josh and Patrick Metcalfe hotly pursued by Keith B and Martin McC (sailing a borrowed boat it’s rumoured was once owned by John Wayne). It was clearly worth the long trip from North Wales for the Metcalfes who maintained a solid lead down the run to the finish as the race officer shortened course on the first lap to try and get a race under his belt. Roger Carter and Ian 'EinStein' Robertson were chasing Bedborough and McCrew hard right to the finish line but were unable to snatch second .

After much sunbathing in the now very light winds, the third race got underway. With the tide much stronger it was not looking great and many were caught out at the port end with some truly awful starts! The wind began to really drop away towards the first mark and it was a case of who was lucky enough to get a wee puff here and there. Josh again reached the top mark first and the rest of the leading fleet followed down the inshore side of the run. A number of the trailing boats made the call to gybe out into the tide with the lure of more breeze. This gamble paid off, with a hole appearing at the bottom of the run whilst the wind filled in from the left and those at the back were now sitting pretty whilst the leading fleet were now beating back up to the leeward mark. Jim and Ben took the biggest gain to take the win, followed by the Metcalfes just ahead of Bedborough and McCrew.

With the tide strengthening and the extremely dubious conditions, time was called on racing for the day. It was a great shame we didn’t manage to get in more racing and all agreed conditions were very unusual for North Berwick. Almost everyone could have found something to moan about, but no-one was sure what they might have done differently - it was just one of those days. That said, a very consistent performance by Josh and Patrick in the very inconsistent conditions secured them a well deserved victory. They were closely followed by Keith and Martin in second overall. Roger and Einstein managed a fourth in the second race and this was enough to give them third overall. Big thanks to Sponsors JP Watersports, DH Systems and Stewart Brewing and special mention to Phil Britton (who almost unbelievably survived a weekend without a single duckhams award), and to 15 year old Harry McCulloch from Dalgety Bay who volunteered to crew for Ben Robertson in his first ever RS400 event, and ended up looking after him for most of the evening!

Looking forward the next Scottish Tour event is at Prestwick SC in two weeks time, and then down to the Northern Champs at Scaling Dam in the run up to the RS400 Eurocup at Lake Garda in July. With 15 (yes Fifteen !) Scottish 400s coming to Italy – and with entries heading towards 40 the 400s 20th anniversary year continues to gather pace and momentum.

East Lothian Yacht Club Regatta 2014 RS 400 Fleet

Results are final as of 14:39 on June 8, 2014

Overall

Rank	Class	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	Club	Tally	R1	R2	Total	Nett
1st	RS400	1215	Joshua Metcalfe	Patrick Metcalfe	Y Felinheli	57	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
2nd	RS400	1006	Keith Bedborough	Martin McCrew	Dalgety Bay S.C.	7	2.0	3.0	5.0	5.0
3rd	RS400	922	Roger Carter	Ian Robertson	Wormit Boating Club	5	3.0	4.0	7.0	7.0
4th	RS400	1362	Jim Sinclair	Ben Wilcox	East Lothian Yacht Club	2	9.0	1.0	10.0	10.0
5th	RS400	1049	Neil McLellan	Ollie Milling-Smith	Dalgety Bay S.C.	64	4.0	6.0	10.0	10.0
6th	RS400	1196	Peter Snowdon	David Serle	Scaling Dam Sailing Club	12	8.0	5.0	13.0	13.0
7th	RS400	1398	Stuart Urquhart	richard Urquhart	Royal Findhorn Yacht Club	55	5.0	8.0	13.0	13.0
8th	RS400	1294	John MacKenzie	Andy Box	Dalgety Bay S.C.		10.0	7.0	17.0	17.0
9th	RS400	1161	Ben Robertson	Harry McCulloch		52	7.0	10.0	17.0	17.0
10th	RS400	1260	Steven Forteith	Pat Shellcock	Oban Sailing Club	39	6.0	13.0	19.0	19.0
11th	RS400	440	Robert Yeamans	Nadia Mcminn	Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club	33	12.0	9.0	21.0	21.0
12th	RS400	542	Angus Marshall	Calanach MacDonell Finlayson	Bardowie Loch Sailing Club	69	11.0	15.0	26.0	26.0
13th	RS400	1129	David Webley	Fraser Mulford	Wormit Boating Club	48	17.0	12.0	29.0	29.0
14th	RS400	1082	Mark Somerville	Joe Roberts	Bassenthwaite Sailing Club	62	13.0	16.0	29.0	29.0
15th	RS400	1043	Ian Watkins	Imogen Whittam	Grafham water sailing Club	28	20.0	11.0	31.0	31.0
16th	RS400	739	Phil Hermiston	Tove Hermiston	Royal Findhorn Yacht Club	56	14.0	17.0	31.0	31.0
17th	RS400	1337	Graeme Henry	Katie Masterson	St. Mary's Loch Sailing Club	4	19.0	14.0	33.0	33.0
18th	RS400	1198	Simon Gray	Hannah Robertson	Chanonry Sailing Club	67	16.0	18.0	34.0	34.0
19th	RS400	768	Colin Davies	Naomi Moran	Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club	15	18.0	19.0	37.0	37.0
20th	RS400	877	Phil Britton	Jules Thorne	Dalgety Bay S.C.	40	15.0	24.0 DNC	39.0	39.0
21st	RS400	1319	Stewart Robertson	Sarah Robertson	Royal Forth Yacht Club	54	24.0 DNC	24.0 DNC	48.0	48.0
21st	RS400	658	Andy McGibbon	James Pearson		20	24.0 DNC	24.0 DNC	48.0	48.0
21st	RS400	1018	Alan Henderson	Alastair Barrie	East Lothian Yacht Club	22	24.0 DNC	24.0 DNC	48.0	48.0

The Scottish Nationals was part of the Championships Tour, Scottish Tour, and Northern Tour.  The results to date of the Championship Tour, after 3 events of 7

RS400 RS400 Championship Tour 2014

Sail No Helm Crew Club Winter Champs Sprint Champs Scottish Champs Southern Champs Northern Champs Inland Champs End Of Season Champs Points  1215 Joshua Metcalfe Patrick Metcalfe Y Felinheli 2 1 1         2 1389 Nick Craig Toby Lewis Frensham Pond SC 1 2           3 1418 Howard Farbrother Dan Martin Queen Mary SC 4 4           8 1161 Ben Robertson Pete Snowdon     5 9         14 1340 Sam Neal Neil Cooney Grafham Water SC 5 10           15 1342 Jack Holden Ollie Miller   9 7           16 1051 Matt Sheahan Ellie Sheahan Netley SC 8 15           23 1275 David Hearsum Ian Hearsum Hickling Broad SC 10 22           32 1006 Keith Bedborough Martin McCrew Dalgety Bay S.     2         49 1385 James Downer Jon Prince Royal Victoria YC 3             50 1186 Dave Exley Nigel Hall Leigh & Lowton SC   3           50 922 Roger Carter Martin McCrew Wormit Boating Club     3         50 1362 Jim Sinclair Ben Wilcox East Lothian Yacht Clu     4         51 1049 Neil McLellan         5         52 1043 Ian Watkins Imogen Whittam Grafham Water SC 6             53 1196 Peter Snowdon David Serle Scaling Dam Sailing Club     6         53 1263 Rob Lennox Ruth Lennox Barnet Green SC 7             54 1398 Stuart Urquhart richard Urquhart Royal Findhorn Yacht Club     7         54 1216 Caroline Exley Jude Allen Leigh & Lowton SC   8           55 1294 John MacKenzie Andy Box Dalgety Bay S.C.     8         55 1395 Paul Allen Michael Allen Leigh & Lowton SC   9           56 1260 Steven Forteith Pat Shellcock Oban Sailing Club     10         57 1407 Jon Heissig Nicky Grffin   11             58 1296 Howard Eeles John Knight Bartley SC   11           58 440 Robert Yeamans Nadia Mcminn Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club     11         58 946 Nick Eaves Dave Prosser     12           59 542 Angus Marshall Calanach MacDonell Finlayson Bardowie Loch Sailing Club     12         59 1344 Roger O'Gorman Roger Craig     13           60 1129 David Webley Fraser Mulford Wormit Boating Club     13         60 725 Bill Kenyon Andy Dawson Budworth SC   14           61 1082 Mark Somerville Joe Roberts Bassenthwaite Sailing Club     14         61 1043 Ian Watkins Imogen Whittam Grafham water sailing Club     15         62 1131 Ben Williamson Fay Wheldon Welton SC   16           63 739 Phil Hermiston Tove Hermiston Royal Findhorn Yacht Club     16         63 697 Richard Ashwell Matthew Jones Bartley SC   17           64 1337 Graeme Henry Katie Masterson St. Mary's Loch Sailing Club     17         64 628 Bob Peak Barry Garrad     18           65 1198 Simon Gray Hannah Robertson Chanonry Sailing Club     18         65 1175 Shawn Woodcock Tony Cliff Bartley Green SC   19           66 768 Colin Davies Naomi Moran Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht Club     19         66 1101 Simon Baker David Rueda Queen Mary SC   20           67 877 Phil Britton Jules Thorne Dalgety Bay S.C.     20         67 1168 Oli Harris Ed Deacon Alton Water SC   21           68 1416 Norman Bell Barbara Bell Hickling Broad SC   23           70 983 Kevin Podger Heather Chipperfield     24           71 422 Jonathan Swain Craig Williamson                 94

Current RS400 Events Calendar

2014
Date	Championships (Eurocup - 3 events (UK & Irish Nationals & Garda), 2 to count)	Championship Tour (7 events, 4 to count)	Northern Tour (8 events, 4 to count)	Scottish Tour (8 events, 5 to count) Sponsors JP Watersports DH Systems Stewart Brewing	Southern Tour (7 events, 4 to count) Sponsors 2ndhanddinghies.com
07/06/2014 08/06/2014	Scottish Championships East Lothian YC	Scottish Championships East Lothian YC	Scottish Championships East Lothian YC	Scottish Championships East Lothian YC
07/06/2014 07/06/2014					Locks SC
21/06/2014 22/06/2014	Southern Championships Hayling Island SC	Southern Championships Hayling Island SC			Southern Championships Hayling Island SC
21/06/2014 22/06/2014				Prestwick SC
05/07/2014 06/07/2014			Lord Birkett Ullswater YC
12/07/2014 13/07/2014	Northern Championships Scaling Dam SC	Northern Championships Scaling Dam SC	Northern Championships Scaling Dam SC	Northern Championships Scaling Dam SC
12/07/2014 12/07/2014
19/07/2014 20/07/2014					Lymington Regatta Lymington Town SC
27/07/2014 27/07/2014			Glossop SC
28/07/2014 01/08/2014	Eurocup, Riva del Garda Fraglia vela Riva
08/08/2014 10/08/2014	Crewsaver Irish Nationals Galway Bay SC
24/08/2014 28/08/2014	Volvo Noble Marine UK National Championships Mounts Bay SC
07/09/2014 07/09/2014			Yorkshire Dales SC
13/09/2014 14/09/2014			Notts County SC
20/09/2014 21/09/2014				Dalgety Bay SC
27/09/2014 27/09/2014					Oxford SC
04/10/2014 04/10/2014				Loch Tummel SC
11/10/2014 12/10/2014	Gul RS400 Inland Championships Grafham WSC	Gul RS400 Inland Championships Grafham WSC
08/11/2014 09/11/2014	Volvo End of Season Championship Datchet Water SC	Volvo End of Season Championship Datchet Water SC			Volvo End of Season Championship Datchet Water SC
2015
Date	Championships (Eurocup - 3 events (UK & Irish Nationals & Garda), 2 to count)	Championship Tour (7 events, 4 to count)	Northern Tour (8 events, 4 to count)	Scottish Tour (8 events, 5 to count) Sponsors JP Watersports DH Systems Stewart Brewing	Southern Tour (7 events, 4 to count) Sponsors 2ndhanddinghies.com