A wonderful evening for racing. Sunshine and wind.
In the absence of a race officer on shore, Craig MacDonald on board a Sonar selected one of the longer courses, zig-zagging across the Gareloch to the northern most mark near Rahane. The other classes followed suit and we took our timing from him.
With wind off the Shandon shore, the first leg was necessarily downwind. Teal made the best start but was just a cat’s whisker slower under spinnaker than Catriona. There was a couple of boat lengths in it over the length of the leg. That allowed Catriona to get away in clear air on the beat back across the loch. Zoe, meanwhile, had done well without resort to her coloured sail and Halcyone always looked dangerous. After her win on the previous Tuesday, Thia was not satisfied with being towards the back.
The fleet approached E, the mark near Rahane, from an unfamiliar direction. We all went high, Catriona and Teal spotted the mark first but the rest seemed not to believe them and continued towards Faslane. That promoted Teal to second after she had suffered in poor air on the previous windward leg.
There was time for a second, shorter, round. Hermes had had enough, though. Thalia lost places here.
1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Zoe, 4 Halcyone, 5 Thia, 6 Thalia, 7 Ceres. Hermes Rtd.
President: