Report from the Secretary.
A day for sailing. Sun, Goldilocks wind. It was sometimes light on the Clynder shore with direction variable but to complain about that would be churlish.
The Garelochs have discovered a taste for courses intended for Sonars. They prefer windward/leeward legs and dislike reaching. So it seems do we. With wind from the west, on the water Race Officer John Campbell selected a Sonar course zig zagging across the loch. A further refinement was a Boinard start, after Eric Boinard who first thought of a starting line parallel with the shore, between the two outer starting marks.
There was congestion at the favoured Z end of the line. Those who started in clear air with speed, a little further towards Y, did well. Zephyrus, who has not been a devotee of the scrubbing brush, bucked the trend and was a close second to Catriona at the windward mark. (Thia and Luna have not been so fortunate). Zephyrus’s crew has an aversion to the spinnaker, so that she dropped a couple of places downwind to Teal and Circe.
The Z mark has been a frustration. It became almost submerged at high water and so its mooring line was extended. For the same thing to happen again. At the end of the round (there was time for a short second round) the leader could not see it and selected a mooring as alternative. An eagle eyed crew in the peloton spotted the very top of Z, just breaking the surface.
Thia, off the pace no doubt as a result of growth, elected not to sail the second round. The others had a frustrating time at the windward mark, off Clynder, where wid had become especially vague. Out in the loch Teal looked strong. She appeared to be laying the mark and about level with Catriona, well to windward, who seemed to have overstood. It was not to be as Teal was obliged to tack in the illusive wind near the shore.
1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Circe, 4 Zephyrus, 5 Dione, 6 Halcyone , 7 Luna, 8 Ceres. Thia RTD
President: