OK Scottish Championship at East Lothian Yacht Club
by Mike McMillan 11 Jun 02:51 PDT
7-8 June 2025
On the weekend of Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of June, East Lothian Yacht Club based out of the beautiful harbour of North Berwick hosted the OK Scottish Championship. The event was also part of the Grand Slam OK circuit and attracted sailors from the far corners of the UK to attend. Finally, the event was also the completing half of the Border Trophy, which combines results from two events on either side of the border - the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta which was won by Chris Turner and the ELYC regatta.
Eleven helms in total attended and were rigged and ready to go on Saturday morning. After a week of back-to-back strong westerly winds, the Saturday forecast was for very light wind from varying directions. Unfortunately, the forecast was accurate, and the fleet waited on shore for a short delay. Finally, it appeared that the wind had successfully swung to the new afternoon direction and arrived with enough pressure to get some light wind races under way. The OK fleet left the shore and made its way to the East to a course being set up between the Bass Rock and Craigleith Rock. Everything looked on for some racing and then the wind disappeared.
The afternoon drifted on as the fleet drifted with the tide further eastwards. As time went on a point in the afternoon was reached when the race officer made the only decision he could and cancelled the racing for the day. The fleets headed back to shore and on the way were greeted by a growing force 2 to 3 westerly. Bad luck with the timing of the wind, but it was still nice to have something to play in and fortunately Richard Burton (Burt) suggested some time on the water training. Several of the OK fleet were rounded up and engaged in rabbit starts and short windward-leeward courses. The recipe was educational with several hints being handed around to those that had spent less time in an OK than others. It was also incredibly good fun, and there were several races before the fleet headed to shore with things to think about and questions to be asked and answered. Always good to have had a sail before a Saturday night social.
The OK fleet then met at the bar in East Lothian Yacht Clubhouse where Class Chir Karen Robertson had kindly donated a bottle of Glenturret whisky to be given to a winner chosen on merit from Saturdays proceedings - for example effort, sportsmanship, or just doing something so stupid that you deserved to be noted and given a bottle of whisky! The candidates were Burt, for getting the fleet out for the quality sailing in the afternoon, or Calum Tait, an experienced Laser sailor who was sailing on OK for the second time, was at his first OK open event, and had attended by taking public transport from Aberdeen carrying all his sailing gear and camping gear with him (his borrowed boat was brought to the event by Karen). Ultimately it was offered to both.
Calum did not seem too fussed about owning the bottle, and with a declaration of love for all things whisky the bottle made its way to Burt. His enjoyment in sharing his knowledge of OK sailing and bringing others on had been very apparent in the afternoon. To be honest that is a trait that exists throughout the fleet and no doubt contributes to its continued growth and success. The fleet then met for a meal at a local restaurant. There were some new faces and as everyone did not know each other, introductions were made round the table in the manner of boats anonymous, each declaring how many boats they owned. Respecting anonymity it would be fair to say that some individuals do have a problem - with a few only owning one boat.
Sunday morning was greeted with sunshine and Force 4 westerly with wind against a flooding tide. The plan was for four races to make up for the lost racing on Saturday. East Lothian Yacht Club delivered excellent courses and race management to ensure the plan was delivered very professionally. The OK fleet was on a windward-leeward course. The fleet got away on a port biased line cleanly for the start of race one and there was a clear split in the fleet. Some went out right into open water perhaps hoping for a stronger tide, and some went inshore perhaps seeking flatter water and more pressure.
There appeared to be a wind bend favouring the inshore choice however there was not much in it with the fleet meeting at the windward mark. Downwind there was an untidy chop to be navigated secondary to the wind versus tide situation. There were waves to be surfed but standing chop that was easy to run straight into the back of. Richard Burton showed considerable downwind pace and went on to win race one with Chris Turner a close second and Ian Hopwood in third. There was tight racing and plenty of place swapping throughout the fleet.
Race two was to get under way before noon with the tide to change at a quarter past one. The wind-bend inshore and the lack of apparent tide gain offshore in the first race had several sailors lining up their hulls against buoys and trying to assess the tide direction and strength. It seemed there was no easy tactical answer as again the fleet got away cleanly and chose different sides, although this time more boats were also making their way up the middle and making gains on wind shifts. Ian Hopwood led from Chris Turner at the first mark, with both boats well ahead of ther pack as they started on the run. At the end of the race, it was the same top three although in a different order with Chris Turner having moved into first ahead of Ian Hopwood in second and Richard Burton in third. Tom Lonsdale was still in contention picking up his second fourth.
By the start of race three the tide had turned, and the port biased line was now tighter to cross on port tack with wind and tide in the same direction. Chris Turner had pulled off a fantastic port end flyer at Ullswater and was spotted hanging around the pin end on port. The fleet had lined up on Starboard and left enough of a gap at the pin end that Chris pulled off another port flyer and crossed the fleet.
A considerable portion of the fleet went inshore searching to avoid the tide and finding several wind-shifts to be played as well. Unfortunately, their focus led to them overstanding the long leg to the mark. The sailors that had ventured out into what might have been anticipated to be more tide did rather well because of this but it seemed there was perhaps also more to it. The race finished with Chris Turner in first and Richard Burton in second setting things up for a final race. Tom Lonsdale took the third with Karen Robertson who was coming back after gear failure in the first race taking the fourth. Ian Hopwood took fifth and Keth Byers taking the sixth. Calum Tait was looking very at home in the boat and showing considerable pace downwind.
The final race saw the fleet get away cleanly and several boats head inshore to avoid the tide. The suspicion that there was more to the tide situation was confirmed when Chris Turner headed all the way out the right into the tide and yet appeared at the windward mark with a truly massive lead. The rest of the fleet all met from different directions at the windward mark like moths to a flame in a very tight bunch with Bernard Clark rounding the windward in second place followed by Michael Macmillan and... well the rest of the fleet really all tightly together in one mass.
Chris Baines was enjoying the slightly lighter wind in this final race and Sarah Meyer who had been handling the difficult conditions extremely well throughout the series was doing well. The next lap saw Chris Turner head right out into the tide again. It became apparent that at an event about ten years ago he had observed a tidal effect involving Craigleith Rock (which we were sailing towards), and was putting this observation to good use. Not bad local knowledge at North Berwick for a man form Lyme Regis! He went on to win the race. Michael Macmillan sneaked in at the leeward mark to secure second place with Richard Burton in third and Bernard Clark getting fourth. The gap between 2nd and 6th place was the distance of four OK hulls.
Winning the last race secured the overall series win for Chris Turner who therefore took the OK Scottish Championship title and the Border Trophy due to his previous win at Ullswater. Richard Burton finished second, Ian Hopwood third and Tom Lonsdale fourth. Top Scottish sailor was Michael Macmillan in fifth place.
There is no doubt that East Lothian Yacht Club know how to host a major event. Their organisation was second to none and the effort their entire club went to was very apparent with multiple members helping us launch, arriving with trolleys after racing and aiding us to pull boats up the beach each day. They are a great team making such a fantastic venue available for us and others to sail.