Brown Cup Scottish Schools Sailing Championship
Date
Monday, 9 June 2025
Location
Loch Earn Sailing Club
Entry Open
25 March 2025
Entry Close
6 June 2025
The Brown Cup is awarded to the school team of three boats with the highest combined finishes. Individuals are welcome to enter and there will be be class trophies for the best finishers in each class as well as best finishing primary school aged sailor, but to win the Brown Cup, individuals must be a part of a team.
Notice of Race
Sailing Instructions
Marks & Site Map
2024
Special Class Champions
Junior School: Rory Gifford, High School of Dundee Junior School
Optimist Class: Andrew Perratt, Lomond School
Topper Class: Emily Shearer, Jordanhill School
Handicap Class: Cameron McDaid, Laser Radial/ILCA 6, Largs Academy
Brown Cup Scottish Schools Champions
Largs Academy:
Cameron McDaid, Laser Radial/ILCA 6
Eva Farnell, Laser Radial/ILCA 6
Kate Shelley, Laser 4.7/ILCA 4
2023
Special Class Champions
Junior School: Matthew Williams, Dunblane Primary School
Optimist Class: –
Topper Class: –
Handicap Class: –
Brown Cup Scottish Schools Champions
High School of Dundee:
Suzie Sturrock,
Scott Xu,
James & Rory Gifford, Feva
2022
Special Class Champions
Junior School: Matthew Williams, Dunblane Primary School
Optimist Class: –
Topper Class: –
Handicap Class: –
Brown Cup Scottish Schools Champions
High School of Dundee:
–
–
–
2018
Special Class Champions
Most improved sailor from Brown Cup training weekend
India Smith, Lathallan School
LESC boat: Eriskay McLellan, Morrisons Junior Academy
Junior School: Rory Gifford, High School of Dundee Junior School
Optimist Class: James Gifford, High School of Dundee
Topper Class: Daniel Scott, Arbroath High School
Handicap Class: Harris Cartwright, Laser Radial, Lomond School
Brown Cup Scottish Schools Champions
High School of Dundee A team:
Anna Sturrock, Laser Radial
James Gifford, Optimist
Tom Mitchell, Topper
Overall School Champs
1959 – Present
1959 Keil School
1960 Strathallan School
1961 Perth Academy
1962 Perth Academy
1963 Stirling HS
1964 Stirling HS & Perth HS
1965 Stirling HS
1966 Dollar Academy
1967 Morrisons Academy & Bell Baxter HS
1968 Morrisons Academy
1969 Morrisons Academy
1970 Morrisons Academy & Dundee HS
1971 Dundee HS
1972 Perth HS
1973 Perth HS
1974 Forfar Academy
1975 Forfar Academy
1976 Morrisons Academy
1978 Perth HS
1977 Harris Academy
1979 Forfar Academy
1980 Balwarie HS
1981 Balwerie HS
1982 Balwerie HS
1983 Forfar Academy
1984 Perth HS
1985 Dollar Academy
1986 Dollar Academy & Websters HS
1987 Forfar Academy
1988 Forfar Academy
1989 Douglas Academy
1990 Strathallan School
1991 Blairgowrie HS
1992 Forfar Academy
1993 Forfar Academy
1994 Morrisons Academy
1995 Lochaber HS
1996 Forfar Academy
1997 Stewarts Melville College
1998 North Berwick HS
1999 Inverkeithing HS
2000
2001 Madras College
2002 North Berwick HS
2003 Kingussie HS
2004 Lochaber HS
2005 George Watsons College
2006 Kingussie HS
2007 Kingussie HS
2008 Not sailed (no wind)
2009 Lomond HS
2010 Lomond HS
2011 Hermitage Academy
2012 Hermitage Academy
2013 Dunblane HS
2014 Hermitage Academy
2015 McLaren HS
2016 Dunblane HS
2017 Dunblane HS
2018 Dundee HS
2019
2020 Cancelled due to COVID
2021 Cancelled due to COVID
2022 Dundee HS
2023 Dundee HS
2024 Largs Academy
History of the Brown Cup
The idea of widening sailing competition beyond club membership to local schools was the idea of Jack Brown, who was the Commodore of Loch Earn Sailing Club from 1960 to 1962. He put up the Brown Cup for annual competition. Thus the Club began hosting a June regatta, specifically for sailors still at school, which is unique in Scottish sailing circles.
Jack’s daughter, Morag Donaldson, mother of present member Graham, was also to become Commodore some years later and kept up the family interest in the event. In the early days fleets were small and largely dependant on the children of members conning a day off school in June to compete in their parent’s boat. There were also entries from establishments like Morrisons where sailing was on the curriculum. The boats were mostly wooden hulls and masts.
Harvey MacMillan (Commodore 1992) was probably responsible for the most significant modern change in the format with his successful attempt to make the regatta nation-wide. His invitations to schools all over Scotland brought entries from Oban to the Borders and the event is now a fixture in the sporting calendar of many Scottish Schools with fleets in the range of 40 – 70 boats. Mark Champion, gave the event a fantastic boost in 2002 by bringing in sponsorship from Skandia.
Mark and his team continued to work with Skandia through to 2006, and during these years the event has had some great support, including that of Andy Hazel, which resulted in Team GBR helping out. In 2006 Steve Mitchell, who was campaigning the Star, and Sparky, Team GBR Head Coach, came up for the event, passing on some great advice to the sailors taking part; in the form of a pre-event briefing, on the water coaching, and a de-brief at the end of the event.
For the 2007 event, Mark handed over to Colin Tait with the help of Cammy Murray, Vice Commodore; Alan Forsyth, Commodore; Neil Morris, Training Principal; and continued help from Jack Halcrow (again to name but a few). The continued support of Andy Hazel from Skandia and Roy & Graham McCubbin from RYA Scotland made a important impact. In 2007 Andy also enlisted the help of Gul who very kindly supported the event with branded rash vests for all entrants.
Andy and Colin were keen to see the event evolve further. During a lunch break in 2007, Colin, Andy, Roy and Alan had a discussion on the future of the Brown Cup resulting in the plan to expand the event to a full weekend coaching camp followed by the Brown Cup on the Monday.
Brown Cup Coaching Weekend & Scottish Schools Sailing Championships
2008 Loch Earn Sailing Club hosted a training weekend on the 31st May and 1st of June to provide race coaching prior to the Brown Cup scheduled for Monday June 2nd. This was the first time the club had tried this format with the aim of providing a way for the Scottish Squad / Area Squad sailors to sharpen up their skills and more importantly to provide a taste of what coaching is all about for school children who had no previous coaching experience.
In 2008 the event was sponsored by Subsea 7 and gforce sailing with all the competitors receiving free t-shirts. RYA Scotland provided an excellent coaching team for the weekend. The coaches led by Roy McCubbin RYA Performance Manager were Graham McCubbin, Kirsty McSeveny, Richard Evans, David Sword, Michael Gorzkowski, Craig Moffett and also on site was double Topper World Champion Cambell Davidson who was passing on some excellent advice and tips to the Topper Dinghy fleet.
The 2008 Brown Cup Training Weekend drew in 38 boats. On Saturday they were split up into groups, each led by a coach. Mornings were spent working on and improving their sailing techniques followed by lunch onshore. The afternoon was spent practising starts with numerous short practise races. On Saturday evening during a barbecue, the wind filled in and a few boats took the opportunity to get in some more practice.
Sunday followed the same format as Saturday with the coaches concentrating on improving sailing techniques and boat handling. The wind freshened in the afternoon with the fleet taking part in a series of short races with separate starts for the Topper & Laser Fleets. After Sunday’s session, Cambell debriefed all participants passing on his advice on what it takes to become a World Champion.
On Monday morning 20 more boats arrived from schools all over Scotland creating a fleet of 58 boats for this year’s Brown Cup Scottish Schools Championship. Unfortunately the wind refused to fill in, and reluctantly the Brown Cup had to be cancelled.
The training event proved to be a great success in 2008 and Loch Earn Sailing Club will be running the same format in 2009, this time hoping that we get the wind for the Brown Cup which will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary next year.
In 2013, 18 teams from across Scotland competed for the Brown Cup at Loch Earn Sailing Club. Congratulations to the team from Dunblane High School who were the worthy winners. Fortrose Academy was a very close second with only one point separating the two teams.
In 2014, 36 boats took part in a great training weekend followed by the Brown Cup on Monday with an 80 boat turnout. Thanks to all the helpers from LESC and the visitors who all helped the event run like clockwork. Well done to Hermitage Academy in first place and Robert Gordon’s College in second place.
Great to see LESC club members taking part. Well done to Aaron Murray fifth place in the H/cap fleet, Nicol Halcrow 18th in the H/Cap fleet & Anna Scougal 15th place in the Topper fleet. Anna has been sailing hard in the club races in her Topper and 15th place in a 33 boat fleet was an excellent result.
I’ve left the best to last and what a result for the Orr family & LESC with Cults Academy finishing in 3rd place for the Brown Cup. Mhari finished 6th in the H/Cap fleet, Alex finished 8th in the H/cap fleet and Becky finished 10th in the Topper fleet. This is the best overall Brown Cup result during the years that I have been involved from LESC members so well done.
84 competitors assembled at Loch Earn on Monday, 8 June, 2015, for the 56th Brown Cup in 2015 and the cup was hotly contested between McLaren High School and the 2014 cup champion, Hermitage Academy.
Unfortunately due to a technical glitch with the results software, the cup was incorrectly awarded to Hermitage Academy and not corrected until after the prize giving. A big thank you to Catie Warburton who spotted the glitch with her result and brought it to our attention and our sincere apologies to both Hermitage and McLaren for the mistake. Well done to McLaren High School for winning the 56th Brown Cup by one point.
This was the first time in the history of the Brown Cup that McLaren High School have taken the honours: congratulations to Catie Warburton, Alastair Murphy and Andrew Murphy.
The 2018 Brown Cup Scottish Schools Championships took place on Monday 11 June, 2018, at Loch Earn Sailing Club. LESC have been proudly running this event for Schools for 59 years and were delighted to welcome back Brooks Macdonald as the event sponsor. They very kindly supplied logo’d rash vests for all the competitors.
Prior to the Championships a training weekend was run by coaches who had all been previous Brown Cup entrants.
The 2018 event attracted 64 entrants this year representing over 28 Scottish schools. The event format consists of three races all to count with classes for Optimist, Topper and Handicap. School teams competing for the Brown Cup name their teams of three boats prior to the first race. This year there were 12 teams competing for the Brown Cup.
The weather was perfect for the event this year with a steady easterly all day ranging from 6 mph to 12 mph by the last race. This resulted in three great races with plenty of action for the spectators in front of the race box.
The Brown Cup is unique in that as well as the squad sailors who are seasoned race competitors, many of the entrants were sailing a regatta for the first time. It was great to see a high standard throughout all the entrants and the hope is that some of our new competitors have now got the desire to do more regattas.
The 2023 Brown Cup commenced after a two-day training weekend for around 34 boats lead by LESC’s RYA certified instructors. The coaching aimed to improve the skills of the experienced racers and introduce race skills to the less experienced sailors, some of whom were competing for the first time.
On Monday morning, a further 28 competitors registered for race day, resulting in a fleet of 62 boats representing 14 schools throughout Scotland. Thankfully, the weather conditions eased for Monday, with 15 mph winds from the West-Southwest. The race team ran two excellent races before a 20 knot squall came through, resulting in the end of racing for the day. The High School of Dundee retained the Brown Cup. The 2023 Brown Cup was sponsored by Optos.
The 65th Brown Cup in 2024 was the first to return to the older format without a training weekend. The 2024 Brown Cup, held on 10 June at Loch Earn Sailing Club was sponsored by Optos. Largs Academy emerged as the dominant school in the overall standings, securing the top three positions in the Handicap category.
