On the morning of Sunday 20th June, 25 brave, intrepid Juniors joined in battle for the title of winer of the second ASYC Junior regatta. They were accompanied by a mottlie crew of parents, siblings and wizened sailors without whose help the aventures could not have taken place.

For once the wind god smiled on the Juniors allowing a gentle Force 2, gusting 4, rather than trying to blast them off the water or leaving them drifting. The admiral of the fleet for the epic sea battles was Victoria Park with her crew of Emily Smith and Alan Fraser on the noble flag ship “City Rib”.  “Humber”, ably coxwained by Lynne Skinner with Phil Rose and Rob Skinner rounded up stragglers and led the Oppies into battle and gave assistance to any vessels in peril. While the thirteen from the "race training" group rigged and helmed their ususal vessels the "Learn to sail" group joined more experienced sailors in a flotilla of of double handers. However, three intrepid, but inexperienced sailors even chose to take to the waters in boats on their own. Three races were sailed in close combat without a chance of respite in between.

The double hander handicapped fleet saw very close racing between two Lasers (Scott Murdoch with Rory Ward; Elli Nuttall with Anna McLullich) Feva (Katie Olson with Mathew Munt) a Stratos (Jan Barraclough with his parents Marlis & Ian) and five Mirrors (Andrew Simpson with Ian Park; Gina Murdoch with Patrick Nuttall; Owen Stewart with Keith; Laura Barracloch with Elspeth George). Despite the variable wind conditions and both Lasers going for a swim all boats zoomed around the course, managing between two and three laps per race. After the first race the kids took over the helm, expertly guided by their allotted adult. In the first race Gina Murdoch and Patrick led from start to finish, hotly pursued by Scott and Rory on a Laser and Jan with his parents in Stratos only to find them knocked back by the awsome Mirror handicap. In the second and third  races it was both Lasers and Stratos pipping the fleet over the line, only to find again the Mirrors stealing their wins on handicap. After adding all the scores for the three races Andrew Simpson and Ian Park tied with Gina Murdoch and Patrick Nuttall for first place with Owen and Keith coming a very close third.

The Toppers saw Rachel McLullich, Sandy and Jamie Richards, Rona Rose, Natasha Steward and Callum Simmons competing. There was extremely close racing between Callum, Sandy and Rona over all three races, each taking it in turn to lead up the pack. In the end there were mere seconds separating them and 2 points between them on the final score board. Callum won with Sandy coming second and Rona third. In mid field Jamie and Natasha did extremely well keeping up with the leading boats, snapping at their heels. Rachel earned the overall prize of Endurance, bringing up the rear. Having never rounded a buoy, let alone crossed a starting line during the "Learn to sail" sessions she nevertheless manged to complete five laps of the course although she only started sailing 10 weeks ago!

Nine Optimists competed over 3 races (Barbara Buchan, Joshua McLullich, Emily and Fraser Park, Sally and Clare Stewart, Dan and Katie Skinner, Tom Ward). In the end Katie was awarded first prize with Fraser coming a close second and Dan third in their racing Optimists. The remaining 6 club Optimists tried their hardest to keep up and some very close racing ensued. A special mention must go to Joshua and Tom who kept in the middle of the pack, despite this being their first race as well as their first time in an Optimist. Barbara, as a full grown adult, also did nae bad ducking under that very low boom.

After huge fortifications from the BBQ, fired up by Shona with the great help from Gillian and other parents the kids headed out again for a game using the club Optimists. Frantic paddling, sailing and squeaking ensured fun was had by all. This was followed by the grand prize giving.

Besides the sailing and motor boating helpers a huge thank you must also go to Shona Olson and family for organising and running the BBQ, as well as the beach crew led up by Ditta and included Bruce Murdoch, Hamish McLullich, Barbara Buchan, Les Simmons and margaret Simpson. Thanks also to Alan and Elspeth, our esteemed commodore couple. They not only turned out to join in with the fun on the day, hand out the trophies, but also  helped move the entire fleet of 15 club boats and RIB to Stonehaven. Thanks also to Barbara Buchan came out to help on the day only to find herself relegated to an Optimist after helping launch the fleet.  A huge thank you to all the parents who came out to cheer on their youngsters, joined in with the fun and helped move the fleet to Stonehaven.

Ditta

Click here to go to the photo gallery and see a collelction of photos from the Junior Regatta !