Report from John Campbell on Circe
A good turnout with a gentle breeze from the south, or thereabouts, and lovely post coronation sunshine (which was unexpected).
RO Fergus** set the course which was from Z, A, G, Z and at the start both Catriona and Ceres settled for a position down the line and got cleanly away. At the pin end, Circe had managed to get to the outer buoy on close hauled forcing a few others to be squeezed out, but no shouting or drama, so that was good! Up to A the boats generally stayed close to the Rhu shore and round the mark it was Catriona and Ceres up ahead, followed very closely by Circe, Dione and Halcyone.
On the run, there was good racing in the middle of the fleet, with boats jockeying for windward position, with spinnakers dangling a bit. For a moment, Catriona seemed stuck in a hole and the fleet bunched up but she moved on in good time. Hermes was well placed but then seemed to drop back (she was pointing well upwind).
Round the bottom mark and then the wind seemed to drop just that little bit more allowing Catriona to make good her lead (even though she overstood the Z mark), Circe arrived 2nd, followed by Halcyone, Dione, Ceres, Thalia, then Thia and Hermes. Just as well we didn’t do a 2nd round….otherwise we might have been out there for the next coronation!!
1 Catriona, 2 Circe, 3 Halcyone, 4 Dione, 5 Ceres, 6 Thalia, 7 Thia, 8 Hermes
**The RO’s assistant Charles Darley on Catriona points out: “It should be pointed out, Fergus is a dog sailing with the On the Water Race Officer. He is more competent than most but timing is unreliable.”
President: