Report from John Campbell (on Thalia – confusingly!)
I didn’t use to be a gambling man, but the Scottish summer is making me reconsider.
Saturday the 10th August, roll the dice, a 6! The RNCYC regatta for one-design classes and cruiser-racers was held on the East Patch, or rather it wasn’t as the wind was gusting up to 35 knots and proved too much for the fleets.
Sunday the 11th August, roll the dice, a 1! The Gareloch Sunday afternoon race, and the boats drifted off the moorings at 14.30 and rode the tide down to Blairvadach in no wind.
Roll again, a 2. 14.45, and a bit of wind filled in from the east, and provided a decent wind for a start, even gusting nicely. A random event also occurred, odds of 100-1, the sun was shining!
9 boats were ready for the race, but either the crews didn’t have a stop watch, were single handed, or had no whistle / horn, so Thalia’s crew (well Circe’s crew IN Thalia) selected a course ZAGZ and started the race using an improvised sound signal / radio system. It seemed to work.
The tide seemed to hold the boats up a bit, trying to get over the line, but there were no mishaps. Catriona had the best start, followed by Luna and Thalia, but Dione started last and spent the race playing catch up. Some boats elected to head out into the centre of the loch (and full flood, but probably in the hope of more wind), others hugged the Rhu shore, and round the first mark Catriona led, from Thalia and Luna. Athene had some good speed, and Arke (her helm freshly returned from a Scandinavian road trip) was in the mix.
The run down to G again saw some boats heading out into the middle and covering more ground in the hope of more wind, and others sailed directly. By now the wind was gusty, a little patchy and crews had to read the water to see where to go.
The first round took some 25 minutes, and Catriona was leading (sometimes only just) from Thalia, but they had developed quite a space from the remainder of the fleet. Dione was up to mid fleet and Arke had come to the fore, as Luna dropped back progressively. Athene maintained her good speed, possibly due to her recent sojourn in Costa del Marina, or her new streamlined rudder stock.
Round 2 continued to be a gamble between in shore and centre loch, but it did seem that the inshore option worked a bit better. By the end of the 2nd round, the leading boat (Catriona) was at the line before the hour mark, and therefore a 3rd round was called for. By this time Arke and Dione were in 3rd and 4th, Luna continued to drop back, and Athene maintained her speed and bettered her position. Ceres and Halcyone dropped back, whilst a 3rd round proved too far for Hermes, who decided to abandon the remainder of the race.
Round 3, and on the downwind leg, Thalia sailed into a mysterious wind hole and then sat stationary whilst Catriona sailed into the distance, and Arke and Dione (who were further out in the loch) sailed serenely by. Round the final leeward mark, Catriona was away, but Arke moved to 2nd and Dione to 3rd. A short leg up to finish at Z, Thalia threw the dice, gambled, tacked on a few horrid wind shifts and regained her 2nd position by the finish line.
I think enough allusion to gambling – for now!
1 Catriona, 2 Thalia, 3 Arke, 4 Dione, 5 Athene, 6, Luna, 7 Ceres, 8 Halcyone. DNF Hermes.
President: