Category Archives: Race Reports

We were fortunate to get a race in the light air.  There was a little more pressure than forecast.

On the water race officer Peter Proctor set a course down and then up the Shandon shore.  A good choice, The winward legs were true beats and downwind it was necessary to gybe.

With a flooding tide, the back eddy near to the shore between the starting area and mark A, off the club, was attractive.  There was, however, little wind in there.  It was better further out in the stronger adverse tide.  Catriona went out and, after starting behind several others, she eventually got ahead of Dione who was further in.  After the windward mark, Dione had spinnaker trouble, which put her amongst Hermes, Thalia and Halcyone and let Catriona away.    On the approach to the downwind mark, Dione was obliged to give mark room to Hermes, which set Hermes up for the beat back to the line.

There was time for a second round.  Approaching the finish Catriona had stood out into the loch leaving Hermes further inshore.  Wind veered so that Hermes was able to lay the finish and was travelling faster than Catriona.  Excitement on Hermes was misplaced.

1 Catriona, 2 Hermes, 3 Halcyone, 4 Dione, 5 Thalia, 6 Athene.  Thia DNF.

The Championship is always a highlight of the sailing calendar.  Intense sailing and social events leave even the hardy feeling tired.  We began with a lift off party on Friday evening, held by Carol Rowe.  Superb hors-d’œuvre, Cremant de Loire and live music on the piano.  Those who like to win tried not to over indulge, with limited success.

Race Officer John Campbell, aboard Donald Ross’s Northern Wind, was able to make best use of the breeze on Saturday.  It was good wind but there were flat spots and variability.  It seemed like one of those days when you had to grind away.  Take no fliers, sit in the occasional dead patches and allow for headers towards the Clynder shore so as to limit damage.  Catriona, Halcyone and Dione made the best job of that.  Equal on points after 2 races in the morning.  Catriona crept ahead in the afternoon but the other two had no bad scores and were in contention as we savoured the barbecue hosted by Barrie Choules and John Campbell or more accurately Arlene and Claire respectively.  Hounds Rio and Rosie were pleased to be there but the humans were not giving up their food easily.

The highlight of Sunday morning was Thalia’s crew falling into the loch.  It certainly wasn’t the wind.  We ghosted to a starting area just north of the moorings and began to think we might not get a race.  John Campbell started us as some ripples appeared on the water with a course up and down the Shandon shore.  It was a matter of finding currents of air, which turned out to be better away from the shore but in more (adverse) ebb tide.  The first two or three rounded the windward mark in relatively clear air after which a peloton approached the mark with inevitable congestion and discussion of mark room.  Dione, who had been close to Catriona for most of the leg, came a cropper here.

Off wind back to a finish, with a shortened course, there was insufficient wind to fill spinnakers.  A few tried but to no avail.  Catriona had got clear to take the race and series.  Halcyone second pulled ahead of Dione in the championship.  Hermes a strong fourth.

Lunch and prize giving at the Club, the first such event after the easing of restrictions, very pleasantly reminded us what it was like a couple of years ago.  The Race Officer announced the results as follows:

1 Catriona, 2 Halcyone, 3 Dione, 4 Hermes, 5 Thalia, 6 Teal, 7 Zephyrus, 8 Ceres, 9 Athene, 10 Luna.

Guest report from Paul Blackburn, skipper of Ceres

Should I take a jacket? – the glorious weather of late seemed threatened but we still had 9 motivated Garelochs who had no trouble reaching the start line in the robust 10 knot breeze.  Zephyrus again lay beautiful on her mooring and remained so.  There were a few brightly coloured swimmers taking their chances with the 2 massive seals that had chosen the Blairvadach platform to bask.

Race Officer Shane Rankin had some tough decisions to make – with the wind shifting between North West and West.  He decided on L8 and then adjusted to L7, which was noticed by most of the Garelochs…..

There was plenty of water at the Flag-Y start-line with Ceres being almost pushed over by the more experienced Teal with 10 seconds to go.  7 boats opted to continue along the Shandon shoreline en route to C with only Ceres and Teal taking the starboard dart over the loch.  However it became evident that a couple of very experienced boats, namely Thia and Hermes had not completely noticed the course change and were having a 2 boat unofficial race in the direction of D (L8).  Ceres had played it well and was just pipped to the mark by Catriona on starboard who was aided again by puppy power (6 month old Rosie the spaniel).  The boats rounded in reasonably quick succession with Luna and Athene not too far behind.  For the first spinnaker leg there was a fairly constant breeze that brought G in quickly with Ceres and Catriona both trying to keep their spinnaker up for the longest.  Ceres managed the mark first but found their spinnaker lines significantly fankled which meant the beat over to D was then spent unwrapping, blaming, and losing places.

The D mark was made first by Teal – who came speeding in while the others who had gone in shore earlier contended with the tide which was making it as hard as possible to make the mark – then Thalia, Catriona and Dione.  Dione touched the mark and dutifully did her turn which, although it didn’t affect the order, did lose her ground to the front-runners. Luna and Athene also gained some speed and found D not long after.

For last spinnaker leg back to the finish line Teal lead from Thalia and Catriona. Catriona got past Thalia with a gybe and luff. But then Teal, Catriona and Thalia raced into a hole, with Dione following.  The wind now almost disappeared – at least in the hole –  and then first became a very light easterly before eventually settling back as a northerly! Ceres crept around the windward side (guided by the fuller sails towards the Shandon shore on Thia who was now spectating) and just managed to keep her spinnaker full enough to make up 3 places to follow Thalia through the line followed by Teal.

No jacket was needed after all.

Results: 1 Thalia, 2 Ceres, 3 Teal, 4 Catriona, 5 Dione, 6 Luna, 7 Athene.

Thia and Hermes DNF.

On the water Race Officer Peter Proctor was undone by the weather forecast, which was for wind.  There was cause for optimism as we sailed to the starting area but pressure lessened soon after the starting sequence began.  We were all caught out and late at the favoured shore end of the start line.  Catriona made a poor start but the rest were worse.  Halcyone and Thalia, further down the line, began with boatspeed to  leeward. The rest were struggling to find forward motion in the light air.

Sometimes the Shandon shore is the place to be when beating up the loch against the tide. Teal, Dione, Hermes and Luna found this was not one of those times.

It took the leader an hour to reach what ought to have been the windward mark. Wind had veered to the extent that it became downwind. Pressure built so that the back markers set spinnakers.  Teal recovered to take fourth place at the mark but could not improve on that.

A fetch across the loch and a beat to the finish held no drama.

1 Catriona, 2 Halcyone, 3 Thalia, 4 Teal, 5 Hermes, 6 Dione, 7 Luna.

Guest report from Julian Forrester on Luna.

Lovely summer winds blow up and down the Gareloch except on Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Then they waft away after the start to return only once the boats are back on their moorings. Where is Zephyrus on these occasions? 

Nine boats started on L6 in sunshine and, with a fine but traitorous breeze, set off for B. All returned, the last of them just within the time limit – with those four at the back of the fleet suffering worst from the windless black hole that is C – Athene compounding her difficulties by an unsuccessful try-out of new system for her spinnaker.  All four were towed home just as a lovely evening breeze set in across a darkening loch.

Of the leaders on the last leg, glimpsed by your correspondent in the gathering dusk, reports indicate that Teal found a vacuum across the middle of the loch, with Halcyone and Thalia doing better on either side, on opposite tacks. Thalia emerged victor among the three of them but looking, as ever, at Catriona’s stern as she crossed the line ahead of them.

Result: Catriona, Thalia, Halycone, Teal, Ceres, Hermes, Luna, Athene, Thia.

Weather was overcast with a north-westerly light – gentle breeze. The race officer opted for course H8, taking the form of a triangle north of the start line.

Most seemed to have a decent start, before beating across to the first mark (E) off the east shore of the Rosneath peninsula, with Catriona leading. Dione emerged to take second position on the approach to the first mark; however, by the time this was rounded, Catriona had improved her lead under white sails only, on the reach back across the Gareloch, towards the second mark (F).

Dione, still in second, rounded the first mark, with Ceres, Thalia and others not far behind, rounding the mark shortly after. Dione was first to raise the spinnaker for a tight reach across the loch, with Ceres following shortly after. However, Dione managed to increase the gap by the second mark. Catriona was first to cross the finish line, where a shortened course was signalled. Next Dione, and then Thalia and Ceres.

Results: 1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Thalia, 4 Ceres, 5 Hermes, 6 Luna, 7 Thia

Brief guest report from Thalia

Wind ran out before the start – hence the short course S6 – yDY.
Took an hour to get to D with Halcyone holding a good lead whilst the other five Garelochs varied their positions.  However, wind returned for the second and final leg back to Y.

Result: 1 Halcyone, 2 Thalia, 3 Hermes, 4 Dione, 5 Ceres, 6 Thia.

Report from Wendy Jones on Hermes

With age comes wisdom. It would be churlish and might involve major feats of arithmetic to compute the total or even average age of the crews on this beautiful summer evening. Even using a rough estimate it may be recorded that the boat with the greatest years of wisdom used this to advantage from the start and proceeded up the Shandon shore while the rest of the fleet battled the receding tide to head across the loch and thence northwards to the rarely visited E mark.  This strategy paid off, and Hermes (for so it was) rounded the mark first, followed by Catriona and then Luna. Thalia followed from Ceres and Halcyone. (Catriona and Halcyone both being sailed singlehandedly it should be noted).

There was a lively WNW breeze, and Hermes decided against a spinnaker launch.  Catriona deployed her spinnaker on the run back to Blairvadach and sneaked past Hermes – and of course once past was not going to allow further interlopers on first position, although she was observed taking a scenic route to the A mark on the second round.  Thalia tried an alternative orientation for the spinnaker on the first lap, but Luna failed to get mark room at the F mark and lost a place or two.

On the second lap, all except Luna followed the leaders up the east side of the loch before crossing over to the D mark against less tide than the previous lap  and then back to the finish line in lessening wind. Halcyone dropped from 3^rd to 5^th on the second lap, swapping positions with Ceres, while Thalia maintained 4^th place between them. 

A well selected course, and thanks to the race officers who had the excitement of a collision on the start line among the Sonars but did not allow this to distract them.  

Results:  1 Catriona, 2 Hermes, 3 Ceres, 4 Thalia, 5 Halcyone, 6 Luna, 7 Thia.  

No wind, no race.