Day 1 - Click here for results

Day one of the Scottish Flying Fifteen Championships dawned ominously, with clouds to the water, steady rain and no wind. After a short postponement though, the cloud lifted, the rain cleared and a westerly force 2-3 settled in.

Two races were sailed on a three lap windward – leeward course with a spacer mark at the top, a gate at the bottom and the start/finish line half way up.

Race one got under way with a clean start on a starboard biased line. Those that could, stayed on starboard but the fleet split as boats tacked off to clear their air. With the wind shifting and sizeable holes, it was a tough one to call, but Steve Goacher and Phil Evans played the centre right well to get round the mark first just ahead of Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas then Dave Douglas and Andrew Weatherspoon.

The windward leeward format makes the first run very difficult for the leaders, but the leading three held their positions to the bottom. The second beat was even more difficult than the first, with the wind shifting through thirty degrees or more and varying in strength by three or four knots. There was plenty of place changing lower down in the fleet, but the leading trio stayed the same, with Goacher and Evans threatening to stretch away.

However, it stayed close and with the race shortened to two laps, Goacher and Evans just held on by a few boat lengths from Kneller and Lucas with Greg Wells and Richard Rigg getting past Douglas and Weatherspoon on the last beat to the line.

The race officer got race two under way quickly, which was good as the rain had come back. The wind shifted left before the start and the fleet got under way with an individual recall and a heavily port biased line.

This time most of the fleet went right to make the most of the port lift. But a small group including Goacher and Evans stayed to the left of the rest. Another set of tricky shifts saw John Hardisty and Roger Erington get to the top first, with Howard Green and Ian Preston just ahead of Goacher and Evans, then Wells and Rigg.

The run saw Goacher and Evans and Wells and Rigg pulling through to second and third and by the end of the second beat it was business as usual with Goacher and Evans getting into the lead, Wells and Rigg in second and Green and Preston still in third.

On the third beat, the leading group made the mistake of going left in a header early on and this let three boats, Dave and Andrew McKee, Kneller and Lucas and Mike and Caroline McIntyre, jump up to second, third and fourth behind Goacher and Evans.

A swift gybe at the spacer mark saw the McIntyres get on the inside down the run and they got through to second, ahead of Kneller and Lucas then the McKees. Tight covering on the last beat to the finish made sure there were no place changes with Goacher and Evans winning comfortably from the McIntyres with Kneller and Lucas just pipping the McKees for third.

Click here for results Day two of the Scottish Flying Fifteen Championships produced a great day's sailing, with a good force four to five from the west. After a couple of heavy showers, the weather even behaved itself with a good dose of sunshine.

Two races were sailed on a triangle – sausage – triangle course with the start/finish line a third of the way up the beat.

There was drama even before the start as overnight leaders Steve Goacher and Phil Evans sheered a bolt holding their shroud chain plate, putting them out of the morning race.

Race three got under way with a clean start on a slightly starboard biased line. The fleet split fairly evenly, but pretty soon it was clear that the right hand side of the beat was paying, with the gusts producing sizeable starboard lifts.

Sure enough, the leaders came from the right hand side, with Scott Beattie first, just ahead of Mike and Caroline McIntyre then John Hardisty and Roger Erington. With the wind shifting to the left, the first reach was tight and the second one turned into a run. The McIntyres got into the lead at the leeward mark, but couldn’t make it stick with Beattie getting past before the top mark. Best move of the race came from Greg Wells and Richard Rigg as they gybe set at the windward mark and charged into the lead down the run with more wind, closely followed by David and Andrew McKee then Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas. Up the beat though, the McKees shone and they took the lead from Wells and Rigg with Kneller and Lucas staying in third. It looked like that would be the finishing order, but Wells and Rigg worked the shifts well on the last beat to the finish to pip the McKees by half a boat length with Kneller and Lucas taking third.

Once again the race officer got the second race of the day under way quickly. This time the wind shifted left soon after the start and stayed that way, which caught out a number of boats looking for the right hand shift at the top mark.

Having sailed back to the marina to fix their shroud plate during race one, it was back to normal for Steve Goacher and Phil Evans as they got to the first mark in the lead, despite a bent mast. Second to the top were the McKees, with David Douglas and Andrew Weatherspoon close behind.

The first reach was tight and with the wind gusting to force five, only the big guys could hold spinnakers all the way. This helped the leaders and the front two boats pulled out in front of the fleet, which left a group battling it out for the minor places.

After another tough two laps and a couple of screaming reaches, it was Kneller and Lucas who got through to third place from Hardisty and Erington. This gave Kneller and Lucas second overall just one point ahead of the high performing McKees with Wells and Rigg another two points adrift in fourth.

So Steve Goacher and Phil Evans took the title with three first places. Everyone had a great weekend’s sailing and our thanks go the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club for putting on an excellent event.

Report by Mike McIntyre

Overall results

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