Report from John Campbell on Circe
Sunday morning was ominously quiet on the loch, an echo maybe of the 2021 season but by lunchtime there was a nice breeze which had set in from west / south west, and the sun was out. The afternoon was set for some “champagne sailing” (as one skipper quipped with his peaked cap and sunglasses on!).
No RO, so Mr Choules took on the mobile RO duties and set course H6. Unfortunately Hermes (mainsail hoisting problems) and Halcyone (jib clew block shattered) were late to the line so had their own race independent of the main fleet.
On the start line it wasn’t too congested, however Teal was forced upwind of the Z mark so ended up tacking round and following on having dropped a number of places.
Up to B, and Zephyrus was going very well, she had the edge at the windward mark, ahead of Catriona and then it was a broad reach down to F. The considerate skipper of the naval destroyer managed to avoid the fleet meaning that no one was compromised as she sailed up to Faslane. Most of the boats had their spinnakers up, although Circe (sailing single handed) stayed with white sails only – surprisingly not losing that much distance. Round F, and Catriona had taken the lead from Zephyrus, followed by Dione and Teal.
There was a good beat over to C, back to Y, and then back to B for the second round by which time Dione had moved into second place. At the windward mark, Teal had Zephyrus on starboard, and snuck past into 3rd, Circe followed behind and Zephyrus dropped back into 5th place.
The reach down to C had some potential for errors as there were some quiet holes in close to the shore, however those positions held as the fleet crossed back to Y to finish the race. A really lovely afternoon to be out on the loch.
It was also good to see our Convenor Prof. John Blackie out crewing in Halcyone after the sad death of Jane, his wife, earlier that week.
1 – Catriona, 2 – Dione, 3 – Teal, 4 – Circe, 5 – Zephyrus, 6 – Ceres, 7 – Halcyone
Hermes DNF
President: