Report from the Secretary (*with corrected results*)
A windy day Some forecasts said gusts of 30kts, others 20kts. Maybe there were a few gusts a cat’s whisker over 20.
Five of us turned out, some people are on holiday. Wind was blowing from the south, with an element of west in it. A course was set down and up the Shandon shore. Visiting F, off Shandon Church, in the first round and G, a little north of Gully Bridge subsequently.
Iris, with Bess Homer at the helm, made by far the best start. She was at the favoured pin end at the gun. Catriona a little way down the line. If the rest start like they did when we team race against the Freundeskreis Klassische Yachten in September, we shall have brought a knife to a gun fight.
Catriona set off down the loch close to the shore and soon realised further out was favoured. From being to leeward of the fleet and taking counters, she found the better clear air in the loch and was first to the windward mark. Partly because the rest did not follow her out and partly because she had scrubbed below the water line.
Downwind it was undoubtedly a spinnaker leg but it was gusty. Catriona set hers and amused the fleet. As Dave Perry says in his excellent ‘Winning in One Designs’ “if your rig is rocking and rolling a bit dangerously, over trim your main, put more weight to leeward, move aft and head up a bit. If you want to go faster, reverse all the above”.
Anyway, the competition was between Zephyrus, Dione and Iris. Ceres at the back. Zephyrus led the group convincingly for the first two rounds. She let Dione have better air out in the loch at the start of the third. She had mark room at the windward mark but thereafter was behind Dione.
No one set a spinnaker downwind, which they easily could have. Wind had moderated.
1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Zephyrus, 4 Ceres, 5 Iris.
President: