Scottish Junior Champs at St Mary´s - Press Release June 2005Last weekend, St Mary´s Loch Sailing Club played host to 54 young sailors competing in the Royal Yachting Association Scottish Junior Regatta.
St Mary´s Loch again proved its worth as a popular venue with sailors of all ages when budding Scottish champions from all over Scotland arrived for a weekend of great sailing. Three championship classes, in Optimists, Toppers and Lasers, were keenly contested in no less than six races over the two days. This was the first occasion on which this prestigious event had visited St Mary´s. Some of the boats (and some of the sailors) are very small indeed, but this belies their hi-tech equipment and the undoubted skills of the sailors. Many who had not seen competitive Optimist sailing before could be excused for thinking these are little tubs for little people, but when one sees them being expertly roll-tacked and rounding marker buoys with barely inches to spare, one soon realises that competitive sailing at all levels is alive and well in Scotland today. The Topper class is more familiar and for some time has been the starting point for many sailors, and the level of expertise being demonstrated in this class over the weekend was truly impressive, prompting wide-eyed looks of envy from some of the club´s senior members. Though there were only two Lasers in their class, they too were sailed with great aplomb and much entertainment. These competitive classes were accompanied by the "regatta" classes for the very junior juniors (we are talking here about some nine year olds), and whilst it would have been unfair to pit them against their elder brothers and sisters, there are clearly some great talents here for the future. The competition was serious in the older classes, and represents the 2005 Scottish Zone Championships for sailors up to 16 years old. Some are already in the Scottish Sailing Squad and that showed in the standards on display. Presenting the prizes, RYA Scotland Chief Operating Officer Agnes Barclay, said, "The sailing I have seen here today has been inspiring. I haven´t sailed a dinghy for fourteen years, but I´m going to get back out in one now, after seeing here what fun it can be." Results:
Race Officers for the event were: Charles Morrish (Championships) and Ian Malcolm (Regatta).  Image captions: 1. Optimists and Toppers ready to set off for the first race at St Mary´s 2. Peter Irwin (Linlithgow Loch SC) crosses the line in his Topper to take the 2005 Scottish Championship 3. Smiling faces from the prize winners |