Shirtsleeve sailing with sufficient wind to keep us interested. Seven boats raced, it should have been more.
On the water race officer Iain MacGillivray set a course beginning with a beat to A, off the club. Not a true beat, but the best that could be done in light of the direction of wind.
Teal had pole position at the favoured shore end of the starting line. Catriona just behind. Athene came in from the pin end, hardened up as soon as she could and pressed her starboard tack advantage.
The way the wind was, Teal and Thalia approached A from close to the shore and prospered. Catriona led a group which ended up further out. The wind did not favour them. Teal led round A (for a downwind leg to Clynder) from Thalia with Catriona well back. Thalia declined to set a spinnaker on this leg. A poled out jib is no substitute. She was passed by Catriona and reeled in by a hard charging Athene.
A fetch back to the starting area was uneventful. Catriona learned from the first round, Teal did not. When the two crossed, they were close together. Teal rounded A just ahead. The two diverged downwind. On the approach to the gybe mark, Catriona had the inside overlap. Teal tried to turn more sharply, but there was no room for her and she touched the mark. The penalty turn let Catriona away. Meanwhile, Thalia had learned to set her third sail and was in third place from Hermes and Athene.
There was a contretemps between Thalia (just ahead) and Hermes at the third rounding of A. No rules broken (it was decided later) and no contact. Hermes insinuated her was past on the downwind leg.
1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Hermes, 4 Thalia, 5 Athene, 6 Ceres, 7 Thia.
President: