Time flies, this was the first race of the last of the three points series for Tuesday evenings.
Sailing in shirt sleeves is becoming a habit. There was good wind in places, but even there its direction varied. We were sent on a beat across the loch to D, north of Clynder. The shore end of the starting line was favoured but, as often happens, there was little wind close in. Early contenders were Juno, Thalia, Iris (sailed single handed by Simon Jackson) and Catriona.
Iris got herself into clear air and was able to sail as she wanted in the variable conditions. Catriona edged past Thalia on the windward side. That meant both sailed closer to the wind than they otherwise might have. To the benefit of Iris. In similar wind on Sunday, the Shandon shore had paid. Juno tried that, but it was not the same this evening.
Iris, Thalia and Catriona swapped places as they made their way to D. For a long time, Iris was well ahead. For the leaders, the area around D had no noticeable wind. Iris was there for some time. Catriona got herself back into contention. Hermes found a line of pressure and was able to call for mark room from several boats struggling to approach the mark.
Spinnaker legs to the finish. There was not going to be a second round. Unaccountably, Catriona passed Iris to leeward on a line of air that defied physics.
The final leg was straight downwind for much of the time. Bias on the finishing line caused the shore end to be favoured, where there was no wind. Catriona became nervous as a suggestion of a breeze filled in behind and brought up Iris and Thalia. Luffing to keep her air clear of the shadow from Iris took her further from the shore and thus from the line. Thalia, meanwhile, bet on going close inshore and became another threat. As it turned out:-
1 Catriona, 2 Iris, 3 Thalia, the race officer could not sepparate Hermes and Zephyrus who were 4th equal, 6 Juno, 7 Thia, 8 Ceres.