Scottish and North of England Traveller and Scottish Single Handed Championships at Largo Bay SC 19th - 20th June

Largo Bay is a wide, open bay on the north shore of the Forth estuary. Launching is off the beach, which is sandy with several rock outcrops. The SSHC and Europe traveller were part of the local club's Annual Regatta and six races for seven classes were scheduled for the two days. Courses were triangular and in the conditions the Europes completed two laps in the Average Lap Time handicap class for the SSHC.

With several regulars on the Scottish & Northern England circuit unable to take part through holiday, work, or injury there were only three Europes in the fleet of 27. Visitors Val Ludlow and Brian Finnie joined Gordon McGeorge from the local club. The overall numbers for the event were also down as the Laser class held their Scottish Area Championships the same weekend on the other side of Scotland.

Saturday started with a light wind from the South East which freshened a little during the day. With the start line only just long enough for the number of starters and a handicap fleet made up predominantly of fast classes like the RS300, an RS600, a Musto Skiff, three Foiler Moths and a small pack of Laser/Radials, each race for the slower Europes was likely to be decided by who managed to get away into clear wind at the start and this proved to be the case.

In the first of Saturday's three races, Gordon McGeorge chose the leeward end on starboard and made the first of six near perfect starts over the weekend. Val took the middle of the line, while Brian found himself behind a blanket of sails and elected to duck out to port. At the windward mark the order was Gordon, Val, Brian and with the Europes split by the back markers of the faster classes there was little opportunity to change positions, giving Gordon a clear lead at the finish with Val and Brian following in that order some way behind.

In the second race the wind had freshened slightly. All three Europes made a conventional starboard tack start with Gordon again making the perfect start at the leeward end while Brian had the better of Val to begin with. By the windward mark Val had overtaken Brian but had not managed to make any impression on Gordon's lead. Once again, after the windward mark there were no more changes and the finishing order was that of the first mark rounding.

By the third race the wind had picked up further, although still not strong. Gordon and Brian elected for the leeward start and again Gordon was in perfect position at the gun. Val stayed at the windward end this time and chose to keep on the right hand side of the course, while the other two continued inshore. At the mark Gordon was ahead once more while Val and Brian arrived together some way behind. Val got round just ahead but Brian had to go round the outside of a pair of arguing Lasers and then lost touch with Val on the downwind legs. The race finished as the others with Gordon well ahead and Val opening up an increasing gap on Brian behind.

Sunday found the wind round to the South West, again rather light, although by race time it had risen to a reasonable breeze, which was to freshen during the day and shift towards the West. With relatively little tidal stream the sea had not so much waves as a boat-stopping chop. Val and Brian had decided that this needed to be a day for more aggressive starting tactics and the first race saw all three Europes scrapping for the leeward end position. Unfortunately most of the fleet had come to the same decision resulting in a large crowd at the leeward end. Only Gordon made the ideal start while Brian gybed out to find a gap to port. Val persevered on starboard and allowed the faster boats to clear. The left side of the course proved to be the best route and by the windward mark Gordon had maintained his early lead with Val following close behind and Brian trailing again. As on the previous day this order continued unchanged to the finish.

Race five followed the same pattern. Again it was all in the start and Gordon and Brian just squeezed into the last two leeward slots at the gun. However it was Gordon who powered off in the clear leaving Brian struggling to get up to speed under the faster boats coming down from further up the line. Even so Brian just had the edge over Val in the early stage of the beat but Val's better choice of route had her overtake Brian by the mark. With Gordon by now well ahead Val and Brian had to contend with the Laser pack on the downwind leg. Although initially this held up Val enough for Brian to keep in touch, Val's better downwind speed allowed her to get clear ahead of the Lasers and leave Brian behind. Despite Val working hard to catch Gordon, the gap was too large and the finish order remained as before.

By race six the wind had started to shift and lighten again. Once again Gordon made the near perfect start, and he repeated his form of the previous races to be the first Europe over the finish. Unfortunately this time he had cut it too fine at the start and was penalised with an OCS for him to discard. Val took an early lead over Brian and steadily increased this to take the vacated leading slot for the Europes.

The final traveller positions were Gordon 1^st, Val 2^nd, Brian 3^rd. Gordon finished 8^th in the overall handicap result for the SSHC, which was won by Ian Renilson from Dalgety Bay in his Musto Skiff.

Europe Results: