For 2008 the Scottish Championships moved inland and were hosted by
Annandale SC over the weekend of 3 and 4 May. Annandale has been a
very popular venue on the Lairwell circuit and we knew that they would
pull out all the stops to make it a weekend to remember, but the event
surpassed all expectations and the Italian Night on Saturday will be a
hard act for any club to beat.
Six races were scheduled, with 5 to count, and Bernard Clark/Andrew
Mitchell made their intentions clear by taking line honours in the first
race. Mark and Emma Simpson took race 2 and the competition for
the front of the fleet was clearly set between these 2 boats.
Clark/Mitchell took the 3rd race to lead the field at the end of day
one. Howard Elcock/S Joseph showed sparkling form to take 3rd in
races 1 and 2, with Brian Herring/Ros Stevenson showing good to take 3rd
in the final race on Saturday.
Photo: Angus and Rohan Beyts, sailing their new boat ‘Killer Custard’
(seen here) clearly benefiting from the recent rig tuning and coaching
at Ripon SC to score a range of 3rd and 4th places to finish 5th
overall, much to their delight.
Sunday saw Clark and Mitchell once again leading the pack and
claiming race 4. Race 5 saw the Simpson’s showing a clean pair of
heels, with every chance of them being able to still win the event.
Sadly the Simpsons lost their lead by sailing to the wrong mark, leaving
Clark/Mitchell to claim the race and the event and giving
Herring/Stevenson the chance to show how competitive well sailed AC and
Vintage boats can be in the right conditions. Tim Gatti sailed the
newly restored ‘Gnasher’ to 3rd place and this will clearly be a boat to
watch on the Vintage circuit this year.
Just to make sure they made their position clear, Clark and Mitchell
took race 6 too but 2nd and 3rd places for this race were decided in the
final minutes of the race with Brian Herring/Ros Stevenson having a real
battle with Angus and Rohan Beyts, eventually finishing in that order.
Brian and Ros won the Mariner Mug for 1st AC (single bottomed) boat and
were also first Vintage boat.
Final Results
1st Bernard Clark and Andrew
Mitchell (Ripon SC/Helensburgh SC) N3447
2nd Mark and Emma Simpson (Scaling
Dam SC) N3472
3rd Brian Herring and Ros
Stevenson (Winsford Flash SC) N2345
1st AC Herring and Stevenson
