SCOTTISH SKIFF RACING 2009 - Dalgety Bay – May 16/17

Dalgety Bay Sailing Club were the hosts for the first Scottish Skiff event of the 2009 season, and the 16 boats that made it were treated to strong breeze and sunshine for the majority of the weekend.

After launching the boats were given a downwind blast to the start line, just off Inverkeithing, which saw a few take their first swim of the day! After a short delay Race 1 got underway in a fresh easterly breeze with home boy Ian Renilson establishing an early lead that he would hold to the finish. The chasing pack of mustos were having a hard fought race with places changing constantly – a theme that would carry on for the remainder of the weekend. Meanwhile Paul Hignett, in his bladerider, was making the most of the conditions to finish in 2nd position on handicap. 3rd place went to John Evans from Derwent who just pipped John Reekie who was 4th.

The course had to be re-laid for race 2 as the wind had swung to the right and lightened during the last lap of race 1. However, half way up the first beat it went back to the left leaving more of a reach/reach than windward/leeward course. Reekie and Renilson fought it out for the port end of the startline with Andy Hooton getting a good start at the starboard end and leading up the beat. With the wind swinging back to the left Renilson rolled Hooton to lead at the windward mark with Reekie back in 3rd. Reekie managed to over take Hooton on the run but went round the port gate mark which didn’t pay leaving Hooton to reclaim second place. With the race shortened after 2 laps this was how it finished.

By Race 3 the wind had moderated in direction and increased in strength so the course was re-laid once more. After a clean start most of the boats worked their way up the left of the first beat, keeping out of the tide on the right. The top 6 boats all arrived at the top mark tightly packed with Alister Conn and Nick Marshall sailing well and pushing Renilson, Homer, Hooton and Reekie hard. Half the fleet gybed set at the mark and by the leeward mark Renilson led from Conn in second and Reekie third. Hooton made up good ground up the second beat by going right and managed to overtake Homer and Conn by the second windward mark. A close battle then ensued with Reekie down the run with Hooton managing to overtake Reekie by staying on his quarter and preventing him from gybing first. 3 more laps of a physical race followed and with Hignett taking the win in his moth followed by Renilson and Hooton.

The Fleet headed back to shore to enjoy the hospitality of the club and were treated to a hot meal and live music with ex skiff sailor Keith Cuthbert’s band hammering out the tunes. Needless to say all the sailors rehydrated themselves in the proper way after an exhausting day on the water.

Sunday dawned with bright sunshine and a nice force 4 blowing from the east. By the beginning of race 4 the breeze had increased which coupled with the waves made for some great downwind rides. Paul Hignett took the bullit again from Renilson with Reekie holding of Hooton on the final leg to take third. The race officer threw a black flag into the mix for race 5, catching out Reekie, who by all accounts was trying to port tack the fleet, but ended up taking a swim for his troubles. The fleet got away cleanly on the restart and Mark Haine from Prestwick led at the first mark after banging hard right. Next came Renilson, Homer and Hooton with Hooton overtaking Homer on the run. A broken main halyard up the second beat ended Hooton’s race leaving Haine and Homer to fight it out for 3rd. Renilson won with Hignett second and Haine eventually took 3rd by 2 seconds from Homer. In the sixth and last race of the weekend Hooton, Renilson and Homer arrived at the windward mark within seconds of each other, however Renilson tried to squeeze round the mark and impeded Hooton and had to do his turns. This let Hooton, Homer and Haine get away down the run but on the second beat Renilson took the lead by going right while the others faltered on the left as the breeze died and veered. Renilson held the lead to the end with Homer second and Hignett third.

Overall Results:

Rank Tally Fleet Class SailNo Club HelmName CrewName PY Race 1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total Nett
1st 3 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 334 DBSC Ian Renilson 875 1.0 1.0 (2.0) 2.0 1.0 1.0 8.0 6.0
2nd 24 Skiff MOTH INTERNATIONAL 3136 LVSC Paul Hignett 750 2.0 (12.0) 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 21.0 9.0
3rd 35 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 058 Loch Lomond SC Andrew Hooton 875 6.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 (8.0) 7.0 30.0 22.0
4th 37 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 253 DBSC Gavin Homer 875 5.0 (6.0) 6.0 5.0 4.0 2.0 28.0 22.0
5th 26 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 098 Largs SC John Reekie 875 4.0 3.0 5.0 3.0 (17.0 OCS) 17.0 DNC 49.0 32.0
6th 12 Skiff LASER VORTEX 1181 Castle Semple SC Angus Winchester 937 (12.0) 10.0 9.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 49.0 37.0
7th 53 Skiff LASER 4000 4428 Wormit Boating Club Roger Carter Ian Roberston 908 9.0 9.0 11.0 (17.0 DNS) 5.0 5.0 56.0 39.0
8th 27 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 248 Prestwick SC M Haine 875 11.0 11.0 (12.0) 9.0 3.0 6.0 52.0 40.0
9th 36 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 141 NFA Nick Marshall 875 (17.0 DNF) 17.0 DSQ 7.0 6.0 9.0 8.0 64.0 47.0
10th 51 Skiff LASER 4000 4709 DBSC Peter Taylor Cheryl Taylor 908 10.0 7.0 13.0 10.0 7.0 (17.0 DNC) 64.0 47.0
11th 10 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 211 Derwent Reservoir SC John Evans 875 3.0 4.0 8.0 (17.0 DNS) 17.0 DNC 17.0 DNC 66.0 49.0
12th 11 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 130 Derwent Reservoir SC Alastair Conn 875 7.0 5.0 4.0 (17.0 DNF) 17.0 DNC 17.0 DNC 67.0 50.0
13th 66 Skiff LASER 4000 4629 Royal Tay YC Peter Hay Richard Harper 908 8.0 8.0 10.0 7.0 (17.0 DNC) 17.0 DNC 67.0 50.0
14th 40 Skiff MUSTO SKIFF 255 DBSC Andrew Scott 875 (17.0 DNF) 13.0 14.0 17.0 DNS 10.0 17.0 DNC 88.0 71.0
15th 62 Skiff 59ER 108 St Mary's Loch Graham Henry David Redpath 904 (17.0 DNS) 17.0 DNS 17.0 DNS 11.0 17.0 DNF 17.0 DNC 96.0 79.0
16th 69 Skiff 49ER 869 RoyalFindhorn YC Stuart Urquhart Richard Urquhart 747 (17.0 DNS) 17.0 DNS 17.0 DNS 17.0 DNS 17.0 DNC 17.0 DNC 102.0 85.0