Arran Junior Sailing Club Invades England
Rory Hunter with his crew Scott Currie and Neil Hunter with crew Erin Mills from Loch Tummel Sailing Club travelled 480 miles south, with Iain Hunter, to Hayling Island towing two AJSC Fevas dinghies to compete in their first RS Feva National Championships as the only Scottish entries. In total 120 boats were entered from all over the British Isles, Italy and Holland but to their disappointment all racing on Saturday was cancelled because of winds gusting up to 30 knots. The two Arran crews decided it was no worse than a winter Sunday sail in Scotland and decided to go out for a “blast” along with 8 other crews to get the feel of the waters down in the south.
On Sunday the wind had moderated a bit but although 4 races were planned they only raced 3 because many of the crews were exhausted from the 17 to 21 knot winds still blowing. At the end of the day Rory and Scott were in 30th place and Neil and Erin in 65th place. On Monday the wind was light and only two of the three Gold fleet races were held and the Silver fleet had racing abandoned after one race.
Final results were that Rory and Scott were 38th out of 60 in the top Gold fleet and Neil and Erin were 30th out of 60 in the Silver Fleet. This is a real credit to both crews as to race against 60 boats all trying to cross the start line together when you are used to sailing at club level against less than ten boats is pretty intimidating. Their fellow competitors were a mixture of other first timers, more experienced old hands, all adult or parent and child crews and some already in elite sailing squads being groomed for Olympic and International Competitions. Thanks go to Visit Arran and the John Merrick Sailing Trust for their sponsorship of this not inexpensive trip to Hayling Island and also their travel to the summer races round Scotland in the Scottish Feva traveller series.
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