Another year, another fantastic edition of the Stewart Brewing Scottish Tour comes to a close – a huge thank you to our sponsor, Stewart Brewing, for their continued support.
The series got underway with the return of the Helensburgh Sprints in May, with six boats hitting the East Patch in light breeze and strong tide. With the boats all funneled into the most favourable tidal channels, small differences in boat speed and handling were crucial to success, and Brendan Lynch/ Ellen Clark made the most of the fact that they sometimes actually train, winning six out of the ten races to fend off a challenge from Fiona Rigg/ Helen Wightman.
After we lost the Royal Findhorn event due to a clash with a very inconsiderately scheduled sailing wedding, the next event was the Scottish Champs at East Lothian. A deceptively strong offshore breeze was sweeping over the 2027 Nationals venue, and a strong leading group were tussling for the top places, Brendan/ Ellen joined by Ewan Wilson/ Rory Gifford and Jamie Calder/ Emily Hill, all of whom took race wins, but it was again Brendan/ Ellen who won the event after being taken to the last race by Ewan/ Rory.
The third event was something a little bit different as the fleet headed to Loch Tummel. The Saturday saw us heading down for a distance race around An Dùn in more big breeze. We started off with a 25 minute full-speed blast downwind, gybing more and more often as the loch narrowed. It was certainly a different experience, and apparently one that Jamie/ Emily enjoyed, winning comfortably from Andrew and Ben Homer with Ali Morrish and Fi Foulkes in third. Sunday had some more traditional round the cans racing, but Jamie and Emily were no less competitive, picking up a string of victories to win the event from Ali and Fi.
Next up was St. Mary’s Loch, and Fiona/ Helen were back. The light and highly shifty conditions clearly suited them, as they won four out of five races to take the event win, only dropping one race to Ali Morrish and Rían de Buitléar, who eventually finished second overall.
The final event of the season was our regular trip south to join our friends on the Northern English tour at GNAC. Bass always provides a challenge and this edition was no different. Big shifts and hefty gusts rolling down off the fells made for challenging conditions, and with eighteen RS200s on the water there were huge gains and losses to be had. Ultimately it was Alistair and Helen Norris who held off Chris and Jack Pickles for the event win. Peter Collings/ Martin Walker were top Scottish boat in fifth.
All of this meant that the overall winners of the Stewart Brewing Scottish tour were Fiona Rigg and Helen Wightman/ Rachel Scarfe, on countback from Ali Morrish and various crews. Brendan/ Ellen and Peter/ Crew Army were both just a point behind.
Next event will be the try-hards, which Ben Hay has been encouraged to organise. For those of you who don’t like winter sailing, see you all in 2027!
Photo: Garak barely touching the water as Ali finishes the final race at ELYC, photograph credit John IIson
To check out the full results please click here
