Report from John Campbell (Circe).
Mid August….Days of strong winds, days of rain and then Tuesday evening came along…the rain stopped (for a short period) and the wind disappeared. 6 boats started from their moorings, anticipating a drift, but the wind did pick up a bit from the south west and the boats managed a respectable pace, if somewhat patchy. Sympathise with the RO Michael Knox (Thia) who had to work out which direction and how far to go, but in the end settled on an S course, from Z to A.
Boats were split on the start position on the line, but the bulk of the fleet headed along the shore whilst a couple took an early tack to try and get some benefit from the falling tide. In the end, going out was the right way, and Circe benefitted most, getting to A first, followed by Catriona. There was then a bit of a gap to Dione and Hermes.
Spinnakers up for the short downwind run to Z, although Hermes elected not to hoist and did lose out ground as a result. At Z, Circe anticipated that Catriona would try and sneak inside as they rounded so maybe went a bit too close to the mark, just as the wind died a bit, and could only sit quietly as the tide brought her down onto the mark. So she had to do her turn, allowing Catriona past and into the lead.
The second round. Up to A again and back to Z, Circe all the time catching up with Catriona but failed to steal first place on the line, maybe a 3rd round would have worked but the RO shortened course and finished after 2.
1 Catriona, 2 Circe, 3 Dione, 4 Thalia, 5 Hermes, 6 Athene
President: