Visiting sailors from as far afield as Yorkshire and East Lothian visited Annandale Sailing Club last weekend for a day of racing in hot sunshine and light breezes.
The competition was a combination of the Scottish Championships for the Streaker class and part of the Lakeland and Border Grand Prix series for the Laser class.
It was the first Open competition hosted by the Lochmaben club since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic and organisers were delighted to welcome visitors back and see 15 boats competing on Castle Loch.
Race officer Stewart Mitchell and his team fulfilled the challenge of fitting in three races during the day, despite the changeable breeze which also tested sailors’ skills and patience.
The first race started in a light SE easterly which flicked to easterly and north easterly but a simple trapezoid course provided tactical racing throughout.
Photos by Stephen Hinton Smith.
The first races were won by Tim Keighley of West Riding SC in the Lasers and Phil Manning of Delph SC in the Streakers, which proved to be the pattern for the other two races.
Race two was postponed as the breeze went northerly and died completely for 15 minutes before a sea breeze kicked in from exactly the same direction with an equally shifty nature.
The same course this time saw very close racing among the Streakers with places changing throughout the fleet requiring a pin end boat to assist with the extremely close finishes.
True to form at the end of race two the wind died completely resulting in another short postponement before a fresher southerly breeze built, requiring a rapid shift of committee boat and course to set a classic Annandale round the cans course to entertain the visitors.
Stewart said: “A full set of races and an overdose of sunshine resulted in.lots of happy sailors.”
The Club had the great honour of a visit from RYA Scotland chairman Brian Wilson during the afternoon and he kindly agreed to present the prizes.
Commodore Elaine Ross thanked all the sailors and race management team for making the event a success.
OVERALL RESULTS:
LASER: 1 Tim Keighley, West Riding SC; 2 Greg Liggins, Derwent Reservoir SC; 3 Jonathon Nicoll, Ullswater YC; 4 Carol Beattie, Annandale SC; 5 Richard Benson, Tynemouth SC; 6 Jordan Bell, Annandale SC.
STEAKER: 1 Phil Manning, Delph SC; 2 James Sinclair, East Lothian YC; 3 Guy Wheeler, Annandale SC; 4 Ian Priest, Ripon SC; 5 Katie Masters, St Mary’s Loch SC; 6 Barney Proud, Craven SC; 7 Elaine Ross, Annandale SC; 8 Trudie Mitchell, Annandale SC; 9 Angus Beyts, Newburgh SC
