On the water Race Officer Peter Proctor was undone by the weather forecast, which was for wind. There was cause for optimism as we sailed to the starting area but pressure lessened soon after the starting sequence began. We were all caught out and late at the favoured shore end of the start line. Catriona made a poor start but the rest were worse. Halcyone and Thalia, further down the line, began with boatspeed to leeward. The rest were struggling to find forward motion in the light air.
Sometimes the Shandon shore is the place to be when beating up the loch against the tide. Teal, Dione, Hermes and Luna found this was not one of those times.
It took the leader an hour to reach what ought to have been the windward mark. Wind had veered to the extent that it became downwind. Pressure built so that the back markers set spinnakers. Teal recovered to take fourth place at the mark but could not improve on that.
A fetch across the loch and a beat to the finish held no drama.
1 Catriona, 2 Halcyone, 3 Thalia, 4 Teal, 5 Hermes, 6 Dione, 7 Luna.
President: