Tuesday 27th May

There was good breeze as we left the moorings, but that was it. We were all ghosting about before the start, which was complicated by the lack of a race officer on shore. The other classes chose a short course across to Clynder and back. We all tried extremely hard. Boats prospering, then dropping back in the light and variable air. We tried spinnakers on both legs, but mostly there was not air to fill them. The extra anticipation needed when boats are travelling very slowly and not answering to the helm eluded many. The ‘windward’ mark was left to starboard, so that right of way boats approaching had to tack onto port to round and so became give way. Complicated when several boats, a mix of Garelochs and Pipers, are overlapped and not manoeuvrable.

As it turned out, we over ran the time limit, no Gareloch finished.