Sailing taster for youngsters

Jun 26 2009 by Susan Bryden, Dumfries Standard Friday

UP to 100 secondary school children from across Dumfries and Galloway and North Cumbria will compete in the seventh annual schools regatta on Friday.

Organised by Annandale Sailing Club, in partnership with Galloway Activity Centre and Solway Yacht Club, the event, held at Loch Ken will see teams from eight schools compete in races using identical dinghies.

Fielding competitors this year are Wallacehall Academy, Lockerbie Academy, Dumfries High School, Austin Friars, Dalbeattie High School, Castle Douglas High School, Limehouse School and Douglas Ewart High School.

Other schools taking part in taster sessions are Dalry, Annan Academy and Moffat Primary.

* A TUSSLE between three GP14s was played out in a gentle breeze on Lochmaben’s Castle Loch on Sunday.

The pursuit race at Annandale Sailing Club saw Alasdair Cook and Stephen Hinton Smith take an early lead but face challenges throughout the afternoon from Chris Mitchell and crew and Tony and Steph Bamforth.

After much jostling for position Alasdair and Stephen did, however, regain their lead to win the race.

* THE second South West Scotland Sailing Association regatta of the 2009 season was played out at Kippford at the weekend.

Hosted by Solway Yacht Club, racing got off to an early start at 8.45am to catch the tide on Saturday.

A variety of classes took part, from the small single-handed Topper to the mighty two-man Flying Fifteen keel boat.

Members of the host-club made up the bulk of the fleet but three boats made the journey from Annandale SC to enjoy a rare foray onto tidal waters.

In a perfect force two to three, north westerly breeze, the first race took competitors round a large triangular course and saw some close, tactical racing.

Race two saw a slight alteration to the course to include more of a beat and strengthening gusts meant competitors enjoyed three full laps of the course before the finish.

After boat handicap calculations, Carol Beattie and Jill Dobbie from Annandale won both races in their GP14, followed by George Clark, from Solway Yacht Club, in a Laser Radial and Amelia Joseph (ASC), also in a Laser Radial, a close third.

Sunday morning’s racing was cancelled due to a lack of wind which left Saturday’s results standing overall.

* THREE Topper sailors from Annandale Sailing Club travelled east to Derwent Reservoir at the weekend for the second Topper Nationwide meeting which attracted more than 200 entries.

A stiff breeze on Saturday put the young sailors through their paces during four back-to-back races.

On Sunday, a lack of wind meant only one race was held.

Jessica Campbell had the best result of the three Annandale girls, finishing 45th and notching up a 3rd in one of the races.

Joanna Barrie finished 120th and Sophie Joseph 175th.

* FOUR or Annandale SC’s junior members travelled to Hayling Island, off the English south coast, last weekend to take part in a major national regatta for the RS Feva class.

Fifty-seven boats took part in the Feva Grand Prix and among them were Kellie Carmichael and Emily McCall, members of a developing Scottish Feva Squad, and John Beardon and Fergus Barrie, who usually sail a 420 dinghy as part of the Scotland Squad.

Light winds suited the girls and an impressive performance saw them finish 27th, with the boys 37th.