Category Archives: Race Reports

Although despite the forecast obvious lack of wind, a race was still attempted. When your correspondent asked whether there had been a race the replies were that “it was started but only 2 boats managed to cross the line before it was abandoned”. To which someone added that “they took about 20 mins from bow crossing the line to the stern getting there🤣🤣”.

(Report from the Secretary on Arke)

Arke volunteered to be race officer given others seemed to have new crew or be sailing solo. A good wind from the WNW allowed a classic course to the D mark followed by running reaches to G and then back to the start. Catriona was aggressively early and Arke chased her in. Arke slowed enough to be able to start well at the shore end but Catriona had to cross the line early. Dione looked to be well over oddly early and seemed to need to be told in order to realise it. It later became clear she was looking at the wrong buoy which explained the uncharacteristic error!

Arke thought she was well in control heading across the loch to get out of any remaining tide. Meanwhile – perhaps forced by being OCS – both Catriona and Dione tacked up the Shandon shore. Was it just being forced? Or did they correctly realise there might be even better tide and/or wind on that shore? Or perhaps it was just faster sailing? Probably some combination of all of the above! Because when Catriona crossed she was 10 boat-lengths ahead of Arke!

At the D mark there were more lessons to be learnt, Gareloch style! Arke thought she had laid the mark – especially since Thalia was pointing up higher beneath her. As they headed in however they were both headed and the wind conspired to somewhat disappear. Catriona was more cautious and made it. Meanwhile Thalia and Arke both watched as Dione now waltzed in on some excellent wind, followed by Ceres. Going backwards: Catriona leading from D, followed by Dione, Thalia, Ceres then Arke.

Across to G, Catriona had established a solid lead and Dione pretty well clear of the chasing pack too. Arke headed a bit higher and at least managed to roll over both Ceres and then Thalia to retake third. From Y back up to D now – on a simple ‘sausage’ course (so called because of the shape of the simple loop) – Catriona and Dione made no mistakes in a now much stronger, if still very streaky, wind.

Further back, others had also been caught in the earlier patchy doldrums at D. Hermes had tacked on to port to round the mark and had promptly parked. There was nothing she could do to avoid Iris coming in on starboard. Iris – rightly – protested. Hermes gracefully retired later after a polite post-race discussion in the car park. Everyone recognised it was entirely unintentional and there was nothing Hermes could have done… Worse things happen at sea.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Arke, 4 Athene, 5 Thalia, 6 Ceres, 7 Iris, 8 Zephyrus. RET Hermes.

(Report from Charles Darley on Catriona)

A good turnout of Garelochs.  Race Officer Stewart Gibb, assisted by Ollie Thompson, Reay and Jean Mackay had not just Gareloch wind to struggle with but also the absence of the Z mark.  The pin end of tonight’s favoured starting line.  The mooring buoy of a yacht was nominated instead.  Not ideal because the yacht was there too but needs must.

There was the added novelty of instructing Garelochs to sail the Sonar course.  Sonar courses are designed to avoid reaching legs, so not a bad idea.  

Three Garelochs were over anxious at the start and obliged to return.  Ceres took some time to realise and suffered in the returning, Catriona knew at once.  By the time she had started correctly, Catriona was in air so bad, (as Dave Perry puts it in Winning in One Designs) that oxygen masks dropped automatically from the boom.  She had to wait to be rolled by Thalia before she could tack away.

The first leg to B, off Silvers.  The B mark has been out of position.  Lately next to the port hand channel marker.  It was replaced in position at the weekend.  Those who knew were at an advantage.

Catriona found good air away from the rest and was behind only Circe at B, after her appalling start.  Off wind to G, near Gully Bridge, it was a bit fine for spinnakers.  Circe thought to start high so that she could bear away and hoist.  It did not pay.  Catriona, on the rhumb line, was at G first. A curiosity, G would logically be left to starboard for the reach back to the starting area.  The course card had G left to port (the Gareloch course added a visit to C at Clynder so port rounding would be natural) which meant boats leaving crossing the path of boats approaching and a tack instead of a gybe.  Dione was the only one to manage a spinnaker tack at the mark.

There was time for a second round, but it was not ideal.  Wind had veered, so that B was now a fetch, and lightened.  Those towards the back got the worst of it.  A final leg from Clynder to the finish was fine, but called for spinnakers.  Circe had new crew (Mairi McLean).  She was on the helm whilst the skipper operated her complex arrangement for the spinnaker.  He did not do well and let Dione pass.  Similar trouble on Athene promoted Ceres.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Circe, 4 Ceres, 5 Athene, 6 Thalia, 7 Zephyrus.  Arke DNF.

(Report from Ollie Thompson on Iris)

The Z mark has decided to go travelling, whilst some thought they saw it against the Shandon shore, subsequent race reports may say that it managed out through the narrows and was heading towards Ardmore point.

Improvisation was called for by the on the water RO in Circe, using the mooring buoy on which a blue cruiser was sitting.

Memory doesn’t serve too well, as this race report slipped away with no volunteer to write it, but the wind was a SW, with the first mark being a beat to B. Most boats stuck on the Shandon shore for the first beat, except Circe who went out. The fleet crossed and Circe gained ground whilst the remainder seemed to slow, with Catriona making the best course. The last time I saw B was that it, also, had been wondering, and it was last seen hard against the port navigation mark off Silvers, and that is where Circe headed. However, Mr Darley had been out that week and re-located the mark, some distance up the loch on the Clynder shore. Surprise therefore on Circe to find that Catriona was going round a mark well downwind of the red Nav mark and after confirming, had to reach for an extra leg to get back downwind to (new location) B. Surprisingly, and thanks to a decent wind, she rounded B 2nd, with Dione following on behind. 

A reach down to C and then across the loch for a second round. Not much changed on the second round and on the final leg, it was a run dead downwind back to the finish line. Dione made good progress, and Circe was too pre-occupied with the sound of the water passing Dione’s bow (rather than concentrating on boat speed) with the result that Dione took 2nd place just on the line.

Further down the field, two separate duels were taking place. Hermes and Iris on the first beat chose opposite routes, with Iris heading out into the channel and Hermes tacking onto port. Each time the boats crossed paths, they had alternated the position, with Hermes ultimately coming out ahead round B and consolidating the position into lap 2.

Ceres and Thalia, meanwhile, were engaged in their own close race. After getting the slight advantage from the start, Ceres rounded the windward mark ahead of Thalia and kept the order intact into the second round. Thalia, however, was able to stay close enough to cause Ceres trouble with dirty air on the final run, completing the overtake with approximately half a leg to go. 

An honourable mention must also go to Zephyrus: her first race under new owners Bill and Wendy

Results – 1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Circe, 4 Hermes, 5 Iris, 6 Thalia, 7 Ceres, 8 Zephyrus

(Report from the Secretary on Arke)

Ashore it was warm. On the water it was blowy and, with a NW-erly blowing down the loch and a good fetch, choppy on the moorings. A good turnout given midsummer and with both the usual holidays and West Highland Week taking some away.

On the water RO Charles Darley (assisted by James on the whistle) selected H8 to take advantage of the wind and less hurried Sunday afternoon. A long beat to the E mark (the furthest NW mark), then a reach across to F (the furthest NE mark), then another reachy leg back down to the start. Time permitting a simple sausage leg back up to D and back.

At the start Catriona and Dione (being helmed by the Convenor while its usual skipper is away at WHW) were on it. Catriona a little behind but much higher. Arke was a little slow and behind Catriona. All headed across the loch – perhaps all thinking to get out of the strong running ebb tide. Dione dropped a little and when she tacked she had to duck Arke. And that cemented the positions for the rest of the race: Catriona, Arke, Dione. Catriona covered Arke like a hawk. No-one made any errors. Just solid racing in good fun conditions. Sometimes strong, sometimes sidedecks under, but dry and warm. After over an hour of hard racing Arke finished perhaps 10 seconds after Catriona (which was probably how long after she started!), and Dione 10 seconds after her.

Of the rest, Hermes took Iris in some close racing, and Athene spotted boats ahead take a huge header at one point and tacked on it which she reported gave her a huge overtaking gain over Thalia.

1 Catriona, 2 Arke, 3 Dione, 4 Hermes, 5 Iris, 6 Athene, 7 Thalia

(Report from the Convenor on Circe)

The good weather continues,but this evening, down at the pier, there was a good 20 knot wind coming straight down the loch. The water was quite swelly (not smelly – as original draft – but swelly), and on the moorings the boats were plunging up and down, leading to a few crews deciding not to go out. RO Charles Darley set course H1, and 4 boats took the start.

Circe took the shore end with Dione a bit lower down the line, Thalia seemed to sail out into the loch just below the pin mark, with Ceres stuck below her. Ceres had to gybe round to get to the line and both boats had a slow start.

Upwind to F, Circe stuck to the Shandon shore which paid off, all boats heeling right over, but the wind was constant and true, which makes a change. Ceres did a superb job in catching up with Dione by the time they got to F and the two boats remained close for the remainder of the race.

A reach over to C, all boats surfing the waves, Dione and Ceres closed slightly on Circe, with the wind relaxing a bit as the Clynder shore was approached. Round C, Circe hoisted her spinnaker quite quickly which pulled her away again, Dione and Ceres were slow hoisting, with some problems getting them up.

Down to A, and back to Z, the RO sent the boats on a second round, ZGAZ. All boats held their position for the second round, and Thalia valiantly managed the course, where others had feared to go.

1. Circe, 2. Dione, 3. Ceres, 4. Thalia

(Report from Barrie Choules on Dione)

For those of us arriving for the race, we were met by the rare sight of Sonars on the water doing some team race training – but barely moving in the centre of the loch.  Most of us persevered and after a bit of scrubbing made it out to the start area in a gentle W/NW breeze.  Dione was co-opted race officer and opted for one of the light wind courses across to Clynder and back.

There were mixed opinions as to which end of the rather long line was best.  Dione started at the southerly end and did OK at the start.  The beat across to Clynder demonstrated that there was more wind in some areas than others (as is so often the case in the Gareloch) and its direction was not constant.  There was some close quarters action as Athene came through the fleet after which the fleet was spread across the loch with no clear favoured side.  Dione led from Circe & Catriona at the C mark for the run back to the start area with few changes on the second upwind leg.  Dione again rounded first but the wind went light allowing Catriona to close the gap and come out on top as the wind filled in from a more northerly direction.  Dione had to defend all the way to the finish to prevent Catriona from rolling over the top of her.  Places were also tight further back with Athene & Thalia unable to be separated at the finish.

1 Dione, 2 Catriona, 3 Circe, 4 Hermes, 5= Athene & Thalia

An afternoon of sun and good wind.  Direction was variable but you cannot have everything.  Blowing (mostly) from the east, an offwind start was required.  On the water Race Officer John Blackie set a course to D, north of Clynder, with a Boinard start.  It should have been a run on starboard to start but wind changing direction caused some to gybe, with the spinnaker pole now on the wrong side.  Anyway, it settled down to a starboard leg with Circe and Catriona leading.  Everyone changing places in the variable air.  

Back across the loch to G, off Gully bridge, Catriona lost her lead and was fifth from Dione, Arke, Circe and Ceres on the fetch to the starting area for another round. Arke got to windward of Dione on the reach and pulled clear to lead at the end of the round. Which meant that Dione had no mark room and her subsequent bail out and rounding cost her places.

However the fleet had not read their sailing instructions, and set off back towards D, returning the lead to Catriona for the downwind leg to B.  Which used to be off Silvers but is now alarmingly close to the port hand channel buoy.  Catriona and Circe, back in second, gybed their spinnakers for the reach to C, off Clynder.  It became a little fine with strengthening wind.  All but Catriona dropped their spinnakers.  She would have been no slower if she had done the same.  

Meanwhile Athene suffered failure of the turning block on the spinnaker guy.  A strong gust with wind already fine.  She lost her competitive position in the sorting out.

For the beat back to the finish, with wind shifts to frustrate or delight depending on your tack, Catriona covered Circe and kept her at bay.  Dione, meanwhile, went further out into the loch earlier and found better wind.  On the approach to the finish she was just ahead of starboard tack Catriona but could not cross.  Having tacked, she was rolled.

Thalia took a place from Ceres, benefitting from a gust which gave boatspeed right at the end.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Circe, 4 Arke, 5 Thalia, 6 Ceres, 7 Hermes, 8 Halcyone, 9 Athene

(Report from the Secretary on board Arke)

The wind was deceptive. The forecast was for a westerly breeze but, at least in central Helensburgh, it was almost calm. However in the Gareloch it became clear that the wind was coming from much further N and being channelled down the Gareloch from the NW. Reasonably consistent and the fetch was creating some waves too. The Race Officer opted – perhaps at first sight boldly for a Tuesday evening – for an H course. But the logic was obvious and it set up a good long true beat to E.

The start line was heavily biased as usual. Shore end favoured. Thalia – being helmed by experienced campaigner Reay MacKay – approached just below and tacked to cross the line with almost perfect timing. Arke ducked and tacked closer to the shore. Behind but higher. Circe made a good start too. Other boats seemed late.

Thalia tacked back to the Shandon shore and crossed Arke. Arke saw the sense in heading up the R shore out of the tide and tacked to follow. Most others – with the exception of Athene who decided to get across – followed more or less. Arke climbed above Thalia and then, spotting dark cloud to the west, tacked to cross the loch. Catriona and Dione – both always fast – doing likewise. Arke crossed Catriona and tacked to head up the loch to E. Rounding first followed by Catriona and then Dione. Athene had made good ground too and in fourth.

Across to F off Shandon church. Reaching in patchy lightening wind. No changes. Round F to the – given the long H course – probable shortened course finish. Reaching again with wind (at least apparent wind) roughly from the W (from starboard on this leg). Now if the race was going to continue to a second round the lead boat would defend against attackers trying to get to windward in order to keep inside rights at the next mark. But with an almost certainly shortened course, Arke was immediately conscious of the biased line – hugely favouring a boat keeping left in to the shore. At this juncture the key word is the German chess term: ‘zugzwang’ – any move you make will worsen your position. Stay high to protect wind: the attacker behind simply heads left to leeward and wins due to the biased line. Stay low to protect the left for the biased line and the attacker behind will get on your wind and either roll you completely (before still being able to head left!) or use the advantage to catch up and dive left. Additionally luffing too far in a fight with Catriona would simply let Dione through!

Arke attempted to protect her wind enough without getting dragged high but it still didn’t work and Catriona got to leeward. To add insult to injury the westerly wind seemed to swing back to come more directly down the loch so Catriona wasn’t even in her wind shadow! Some you win, some you lose! Luck? Maybe but I think it is worth highlighting that Catriona made her ‘luck’ by being in contention and with the experience and skills to execute perfectly to take advantage. The better you are the more luck you might seem to get…

1 Catriona, 2 Arke, 3 Dione, 4 Athene, 5 Thalia, 6 Circe, 7 Hermes