WASZP Scottish Championships 2026 at Loch Lomond Sailing Club

WASZP Scottish Championships 2026 at Loch Lomond © Nici Hoyle

Loch Lomond Sailing Club hosted the 2026 WASZP Scottish Championships this weekend, and the loch made a 16-boat fleet work for every single point of it.

Racing alongside the club's annual Dinghy Weekend, the WASZPs completed seven races on their own course across the two days in conditions that swung from low riding, marginal foiling to full-power 25 knots. The title was not settled until the very last leg of the very last race, when a countback separated the top two.

Saturday opened at the marginal end of the range, the conditions that separate a fleet far more ruthlessly than a solid 18 knots ever does. Staying on the foil through the lulls was the whole game. Steven Forteith of Oban SC read it best in the opening race to take the bullet, with Jim Bowes second and George Spence third.

Race 2 was the one everyone will be talking about. A shift towards the north turned the windward-leeward into a reaching track, and what followed was less course racing and more mini-NASCAR. Daniel Goodman came out on top of it, from Peter Hoyle and Steven Forteith.

WASZP Scottish Championships 2026 at Loch Lomond - photo © Nici Hoyle

Ian Fitzgerald then produced the standout result of the day, winning Race 3 from Ben Miller and George Spence to move into the overnight lead. He finished the day tied on 12 points with Goodman and Spence, holding first place on countback thanks to that bullet. Forteith sat a point back in fourth and eventual champion Max Rawlinson sitting in fifth with plenty to do.

Sunday began with a short wait for the breeze to make up its mind. The wait was worth it: the fleet launched into a building breeze, and Goodman opened the day with a win in Race 4 from Rawlinson coming in second and Oscar Hoyle in third.

From there the loch split into hairy wind lines funneling off the mountains. The right-hand side delivered huge gusts, 25 knots and more at times, offering the pressure lines to those who found them. The gains and losses were enormous, and the leaderboard was a tight fight for the overall win.

WASZP Scottish Championships 2026 at Loch Lomond - photo © Nici Hoyle

Rawlinson read it better than anyone. A first in Race 5, a second in Race 6 and a first in the closing race gave him a Sunday scoreline of 2,1,2,1 and lifted him from fifth overnight to the top of the table. Forteith matched him almost stroke for stroke, taking Race 6 and finishing on exactly the same net score of 14 points. The Scottish title went to Rawlinson on countback, with two second places to Forteith's one. Goodman took third on 21 points, Spence fourth after a second in the final race, and Fitzgerald held on to fifth.

Enormous credit goes to the Sailingfast team on the committee boat, who were outstanding all weekend. Reading the loch's weather to get seven races away was no small task.

Loch Lomond Sailing Club deserves the same praise. The welcome was warm from the moment boats arrived, the club was friendly and hands-on throughout and the setting was stunning with the mountain backdrop. There was a great atmosphere with the dinghy weekend in full swing and it was great to see so much interest for the WASZP taster session on the Friday leading into the event. The class look forward to running some more in the near future.

Welsh Champs in Bala next up in the calendar to round off the end of the month on the 26-27 September. Looking forward to seeing you there on the start line!

Overall Results:

Overall 8.2m MEN: Colin Rawlinson
7.5m MEN: Oscar Hoyle
1st Super Master: Daniel Goodman
1st Master: Steven Forteith