The RS200 Fat Face Racing Circuit went to Largs for the first time over the Bank Holiday weekend of 28-29 May for an extremely varied few days of weather. In a very scary development British weather forecasting is improving as they got every detail right about the weather over the weekend.

Several English boats in the RS Classes made the journey north on Friday to arrive in Largs to find 45 knots from the east howling over the hill and turning the Cumbrae strait into a mass of white tops. The Milton Keynes RS300 contingent had their tents flattened and slept in the men’s changing rooms where the lights motion detector kept them awake all night. The Honda powerboat grand prix was also taking place at Largs and the display stands on the prom suffered even worse with one of the marquees being blown onto Cumbrae Island during the night.

There was never any real hope of sailing on Saturday as the weather did exactly as forecast with a Force 6-8 from the south-east slowly clocking round to the south and then south-west. Racing was abandoned for the day.

Sunday, and what a difference. As the weather forecast predicted there was a Force 3-4 from the west with sunshine; although with the occasional heavy shower. A very depleted fleet of 18 boats, so many Scottish and Northern England boats had not travelled due to forecast or gone home on Saturday, went out for four races.

Race 1 and Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls led at the windward mark after a huge beat. They were then the only boat to get a planning gust on the first reach and disappeared into a huge lead. Trudie Danbury/Simon Fells made it a Bristol Corinthian 1,2 just beating Largs Robbie Burns/Alistair Grant.

Sarah Robertson/Kate Mitchell from Dalgety Bay had a superb start in race two, sailed the opening beat really well and had a good lead. Graeme Henry/Shona Redpath (St Mary’s Loch) led the chasing pack but no one was making an impact on Robertson until counting problems set in. The race officer had reduced the number of rounds for the second race so as the leading three boats took their kites down and started another beat Vincent/Nicholls said thank you very much and scored an unlikely win from a poor fourth with Burns/Grant recovering quickly to claim second with Matt/Emma Jenkins third.

The wind dropped giving PRO, David Kent and the mark layers such a hard time and the weather was becoming positively idyllic showing Scotland’s scenery at its best. Ronnie Millar/Nicki Davies had a peach of a leeward end start to lead from start to finish. Danbury/Fells had a close tussle with Burns/Grant for second before coming out on top with the consistent Jenkins fourth.

In race four there were four possible winners with Vincent/Nicholls in pole position. Millar/Davies again had the best start but had Vincent/Nicholls less than a boat length behind at the windward mark. Vincent/Nicholls had better speed on the run to take the lead on the run and then opened out a big margin to win the event in emphatic style.

Overall Results

1st Pete Vincent and Tessa Nicholls Bristol Corinthian

2nd Ronald Millar and Nicki Davies Dalgety Bay

3rd Robbie Burns and Alistair Grant Largs SC

4th Trudie Banbury and Simon Fell Bristol Corinthian YC

5th Matthew Jenkins and Emma Jenkins Sheffield Viking SC

6th Katie Masterson and Ailsa Redpath St Mary’s Loch SC

7th Sarah Robertson and Kate Mitchell Dalgety Bay

8th Richard and Sarah Dowsett 9th Graeme Henry and Shona Redpath St Mary’s Loch SC

10th Kirsty McSeveney and Mandy Hindle St Mary’s Loch SC

11th Sarah Meldrum and Jessica Copeland DBSC

12th Peter Craggs and Phil Nelson York Railway Institute SC

13th Liz Jamie and Liz Copland Dalgety Bay

14th Katy Shepherd and Dan Phillips Ripon SC

15th Jo Dixon and Vicki Simpson Largs SC

16th Chris Noble and Douglas Campbell Largs SC

17th David Donaldson and Stuart Campbell Largs SC

18th Nick Marshall and Anna Renz St Mary’s Loch SC