RFYC cadet Robyn Dougall won gold at the Scottish Regional heat of the RYA Honda Rib Challenge 2010. This makes Robyn the RYA Honda Scottish Junior Rib Champion. She competed at a specially laid course at Port Edgar on Saturday morning against kids from across Scotland i.e. Largs, Ayr, Oban, Cramond, Elie to mention a few.

Robyn will now will go to the British final in Southampton on 12th September (at the Southampton Boat Show) to represent Scotland. She will face fierce competition from 9 English regions and kids from Ireland and Wales. The winner of  the challenge in the British final gets a 4.2m rib, engine and trailer  for the club she is representing!!

She was competing in new 5metre powerboats with 60 horsepower engine which the RYA are touring the country with.

Robyn was the only girl in the junior section of the challenge. There were 9-10 competitors in both age groups (8-12 years and 13 - 16 years).

The first nights racing on Wednesday saw eighteen boats come to the start line in a light north easterly wind. The first start was recalled as it was easier for the race officer to see who was not over the line than those that were. The re-start was run under the black flag and this focussed the minds of the crews.

Race two, which was also started under the black flag, was a much more controlled affair. Unfortunately one crew did not see the black flag and were over at the start, oops!

Thursday evening brought slightly more wind from the east and the racing was close, it especially suited the Solo's. Once again the race officer chose to use the black flag as time was limited due to failing light and an overcast sky. Unfortunately a couple of boats fell foul and were disqualified from the first race.

Friday evening saw winds gusting in excess of 25 knots and a large sea running. It was decided that the evening would be better spent in the club enjoying the excellent buffet, courtesy of the sponsors.

Our thanks go to James Gibb Property Management for once again sponsoring the event.

The individual race and series results are available at the downloads page. 

Congratulations to the Edinburgh University "A" team who last week won BUSA, the British University Team Racing Sailing Championship. The event was held at Chew Valley Sailing Club which is the home of Bristol University.

This is a fantastic result for our local team as the standard of sailing at the BUSA event has always been extremely high. It is thought that this is the first time that the event has been won by a university from north of Birmingham.

We'd like to think that this success was helped by the few weeks that they spent practicing in Granton Harbour this winter, whilst Linlithgow Loch was frozen.

This years May Island Race forms part of the FYCA Forth Offshore Series, Division 1. Although part of the series for Division 1 boats, it is open to any boat that can meet the safety requirements.

The Sailing Instructions are now available at the Downloads page.

The series finished today with three races sailed in conditions that ranged from 3 knots of wind, to 30 knots at times.

Seven boats took part and despite the warnings of strong winds, the first race had to be shortened because of a lack of it. The 707 Cacciatore, was leading the fleet on the downwind leg until in their excitement, although they say it was because they were so busy concentrating on keeping the boat going, they sailed through the start/finish gate, which is not allowed. This meant they had not sailed the proper course and were forced to retire.

Within ten minutes of race one finishing, the wind was up to over 20 knots for the start of race two. The strong wind, now gusting to 30 knots at times, meant that most of the fleet were planing under spinnaker. Later in the bar, there were stories of crew members being washed the length of the boat when taking water over the bow. On one particular boat, the skipper decided that November was a good time to go swimming in the Forth, luckily he was back aboard almost as quickly as he had left.

Race three again had a fair amount of wind and the race officer decided to shorten, much to the delight of most skippers and crew. The Overall results for the series are available on the Downloads page.

In what must surely be a record for this season, all the races, eighteen in the series, were sailed. Thanks to all those that took part and a special thanks to those club members that gave up their time to act as Race Officers and helpers.

Next years Autumn Sportsboat Series begins on 9th October 2010, we look forward to seeing you all then.

Tom Wilson

Sailing Secretary 

Dredger arrives at Granton.

The RFYC silt agitation barge has now arrived at the harbour.

The early series is now complete with all nine races sailed. Eight boats took part in the series, which included two visitors from Port Edgar. The overall results are available on the Downloads page.

The final days racing, in contrast to the first two weekend, was held in a fresh to strong E-SE wind, with a lumpy sea running out in the circle. Once again Elixir showed that she is the boat to beat in the series, coming away with three wins.

The Late Series begins next Saturday (31st October) with three races using the RFYC circle. Sailing Instructions are available on the website. 

A fleet of six 707's enjoyed two days of great sailing in winds ranging from 12-25kts.

Saturday saw three races being held over windward/leeward courses. The honours going to the experienced Blue Funk from Port Edgar. New boys on the block (the older Robertson boys actually) put up a good show, which would have been even better if they had read the course board properly in the first race! Various crew members were blamed, but on closer questioning the blame seemed to lie with the man who is more often on the West Coast in charge of Hops.

For what seems like only the second time this season the weather on Sunday could not have been better, with a steady South Westerly blowing, and the sun even showed itself at times. The overall result was in the balance right up until the finish of the last race, with less than twenty second covering the first three finishers. The overall result is available on the Downloads page.

This is the first time the 707's have raced seriously together on a one design level since both RFYC and PEYC introduced the class earlier this year. It is hoped that it will go from strength to strength and there are already plans afoot to have more class events next year.  

James Gibb Property Management Ltd. Spring Series for Dinghies 29/30 April & 1 May 2009

Competent Crew/Dayskipper practical courses will be run over a two day and a three day weekend (5 days total) in April/May probably on the Clyde. Cost will be about £350 - £400, member or non member.

If interested please contact Sandra at the office (royalforth@btconnect.com / 0131 552 8560)