Stewart Brewing RS200 Scottish Champs at East Lothian Yacht Club

After a light and flukey event at Largs to kick off the season the 14-boat fleet were hoping for something a little breezier, or at the very least a bit steadier, for the 2023 Scottish Champs at East Lothian. And North Berwick delivered, a beautiful sunny day with a 10-12 knot easterly giving enough waves for a challenge, but not enough to make the upwinds a chore.

The first race was won by Brendan and Ellen, trying to defend the title for another year, but he was pushed very hard by James and Rory Gifford, who had stolen their Dad’s boat while he was briefly distracted by his National 12. Paul and Fiona Rigg were just behind them in 3^rd.

The second race was a little more open with the tide on the turn opening up some more tactical options. Roo Purves and Rachel Scarfe took the bullet in this one ahead of James/Rory and Paul/Fiona behind them. Further down the fleet, the racing was really tight, with a sloppy mark rounding or badly-placed Musto Skiff making the difference of 3 or 4 places.

In the final race of the day, Roo/Rachel took their second bullet, ahead of Brendan/Ellen and Paul/Fi again, to lead the event overnight. With the forecast for the Sunday giving the real possibility of a cancellation, things looked good for the young pairing. While the rest of the fleet headed in for some well-deserved ice cream and chilli, Brendan and Ellen went off to sail around the Bass Rock for 5 hours.

The Sunday morning dawned true to the forecast with the AP heading up the flagpole while we waited for the cloud to burn off and the breeze to fill in, which it eventually did shortly after 12 o’clock. With a strong  flood tide the preferred tactic was to get off the conveyor belt onto the right hand side of the course, and the committee boat end of the start line was hotly contested. Some bad behaviour from the fleet the day before had used up the PRO’s patience, and he was very quick with the black flag to keep the rowdy 200 sailors in line.

For the first two races, Brendan and Ellen were on top form, winning both. Second and third places were taken by Roo/Rachel and a resurgent Ronnie and Tor Millar, giving a finely poised final race with Brendan/Ellen on 5 points, and Roo/Rachel on 7 points, both discarding a 4^th place and knowing whoever won the final race was likely to win the event.

As it happened, neither of them were able to cross the line first, that went to James and Rory Gifford, who sailed an almost flawless race ahead of John Ilson/Laura Gover and Christine Wood/Ollie MacLean. With Brendan/Ellen in 4^th and Roo/Rachel down in 8^th, that was enough for Brendan and Ellen to be crowned RS200 Scottish Champions once again.

Peter Collings

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