Another day of shirtsleeves and sun. There was plenty of wind, too, although it was not evenly distributed over the Gareloch.
On the Water Race Officer Carol Rowe was unable to start us with a leg to windward and so sent us on a run to D, north of Clynder. She made the best start in Hermes although found one of the many holes soon after and tarried too long on the Shandon shore. The rest of us were by no means sharp, but managed to get away into the loch where wind was less inconsistent. Nevertheless, the direction varied from dead run to as fine as the spinnaker wanted.
Catriona and Teal were first at D. Thalia next although she was having trouble dropping her spinnaker and in the confusion rounded the mark the wrong way. Returning to get it right promoted Hermes.
There was a beat to the Shandon shore, which spread the fleet, followed by another offwind leg to E, the most northerly mark on the Clynder shore. The first three maintained their order. After E, a beat back to the finish. In the variable wind, the corners of the racecourse were especially dangerous. Some stayed too long on the Clynder shore and discovered that to their cost.
When there is no race officer on shore, the instructions say the race is shortened if the leading boat crosses the line at the end of a round more than 1 hour from the start. Catriona crossed after 1 hour and 30 seconds. Teal close by. Thalia made ground on Hermes but could not get the place back. Ceres had been ahead of Thia but was caught on port tack near to the line so that Thia, on starboard, made up a place.
1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Hermes, 4 Thalia, 5 Thia, 6 Ceres.
President: