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Inlands at Loch Tummel - 2006 |
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2006 Inland Championships at Loch
Tummel Sailing Club The UK Inland Championships were held over the weekend of 22-23 July at Loch Tummel SC in the Highlands of Scotland. The Europe class continues to see an upsurge in interest - twenty boats took part in the weekend and enjoyed some closely competitive racing. Sailors came from all around the UK - Guy Revill travelled from Devon and Tim Laws from Aberdeen. Dave Kent and Katie Mapplebeck had just returned from the Worlds in Copenhagen. The oldest boat was Andy Harris' GBR69 from Chew Valley and the latest Dave Kent's newly registered GBR390. Eighteen sailors also turned out at the training day on the preceding Friday to improve their skills in the shifty Loch Tummel conditions. The Highlands of Scotland enjoyed the same sunshine as the rest of the UK throughout the weekend. This produced light and fickle winds on Saturday and a deceptively shifting but stronger breeze on Sunday to give competitors a difficult test in each race. Race Officer Mark Barron had his work cut out to complete five of the scheduled six races. Courses were trapezoids with boats sailing the inner loop until finishing round the outer marks to a short final beat. Saturday The wind was light and varied from the east through south, remaining fitful throughout the day. Mark Barron found it necessary on two occasions to abandon a race after the start as major wind shifts would have left the race as a reaching procession. Race 1 The first start of the day led to an abandoned race as a shift moved the windward leg ever closer to a fetch. Following a delay to reset the course the race was restarted. After the previous day's training everyone was keen to demonstrate their starting precision with the result that several of the leaders were over at the start or thought that they were. Gareth Williams went back (and needed to). Katie Mapplebeck also went back but hadn't needed to. Tim Laws did not go back and was rewarded with the only OCS of the weekend. Bess Homer, on her annual trip out with her Europe, showed she had lost none of her ability to handle the tricky conditions and led all the way round. Richard Eagleton was holding on to second place until the last long beat where Dave Kent and Guy Revill worked their way past. However, on the final short beat to the finish Richard made the right tactical decisions and recovered to finish second, with Dave third and Guy fourth. Race 2 Once again with twenty boats on a relatively short line the start was keen and three boats were over but this time all three returned. Katie, having trailed at the start, had worked up to the front by the end of the second beat, followed by Bess and Gareth Williams. By the end of the third downwind leg Bess had worked through Katie to take first place for the second time. Gareth stayed in touch to finish third with Tim Laws, who was returning to Europes after a break, finishing fourth in a borrowed boat. An attempt at a further race on Saturday had to be abandoned half way through due to a massive wind shift, which changed the windward leeward legs into reaches both ways. Sunday Sunday brought a steadier and fresher wind from the south west, but there were still significant shifts to be anticipated (or discovered!). The steadier breeze allowed the Race Officer to get three races into the allotted time. Race 3 Guy led off the start with the lead changing between Guy, Richard and then Stacey Vials throughout the race. The race was shortened at the second leeward mark when the wind threatened to die and Guy and Gareth were quick to notice the shortened course and used the opportunity to sail for the committee boat end to get the advantage over Stacey and Bess respectively on the final dash for the line. Race 4 The wind had re-established and the fleet got away to a clean start with Dave carrying off a well judged port tack flier. However, once again Bess showed how to do it and by the end of the first downwind leg was clear ahead. Richard had been in contact in second place with Guy in third until on the second run Richard went for the wrong mark allowing the following gaggle of Stacey, Katie, and Lesley Foster through. Bess had her third win and Stacey had sailed consistently to take another second. Guy had made the mistake of following Richard and finished fifth while Richard himself dropped to sixth as a reward for his poor arithmetic. Race 5 By the final race the wind had freshened and, with the line having a strong bias to port, most of the fleet bunched at the pin to take advantage of this. Dave again got away with a port tack flier and led until Gareth closed the gap to catch him at the top of the second beat with Guy close behind. In another case of bad counting Gareth then led the first six boats the wrong way to let Lesley, Katie and Richard get past to tussle it out to the finish. Gareth worked hard to recover from his error and just caught Richard by the line to take third place with Richard being pushed into fourth. Lesley held her lead with Katie finishing second. Bess had been in the group that had followed Gareth towards the wrong mark and finished sixth but had already done enough to secure the trophy. Brian Finnie GBR367 (with thanks to Pip & Richard Eagleton, Bess Homer, Stacey Vials and Guy Revill) Full Results
Training Day 21st July Eighteen Europe sailors joined coach Mark Barron for a day of training and coaching on the Friday preceding the Inlands. Mark concentrated on starting and short courses with some boat handling thrown in to let visitors get accustomed to the shifty Loch Tummel conditions. These training days are a popular addition to the Europe events and give everyone, whatever their level, a chance to get expert advice.Tummel Week 23rd - July The week following the championships saw the annual sailing week organised by Loch Tummel SC. Several of the visitors stayed on to take part in a more leisurely competition where the Europes dominated the slow handicap class with up to14 Europes taking part over the series of nine races. Gareth Williams sailed consistently to win overall. Tim Laws, despite being recalled to work early, had sailed well enough at the start of the week to finish third overall and second Europe.
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