Category Archives: Race Reports

Race Officer Eric Boinard was able to choose one of the longer courses. Wind was blowing towards mark D, north of Clynder. From there back to the starting area was the last leg of the round. The first a fine reach to A, off the club. Starting well was thus essential. Many were over cautious which let Catriona away with Athene showing strongly.

The leading boat finished the first round in a little over half an hour so that Eric sent us round again. By now, Catriona had a large lead over Teal with Athene nor far behind.

It would be uncharacteristic of the Gareloch not to throw a spanner in the works. The wind around D was reducing. On the approach, Catriona kept tripping over her spinnaker. Then she carelessly allowed the tide to sweep her on to the mark. The penalty turn in light air alerted Teal to the danger and allowed her to take the lead. By the time the two were sufficiently far out into the loch for sails to fill again, Teal’s lead was substantial. Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet was suffering at D. Hermes was was pushed sideways onto the mark by the tide.

Wind to the finish was now more variable than usual. Which is very variable. It was unkind to Teal, who was crossed just before the finish line. Hermes recovered from her penalty turn to take third. Athene lost out.

1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Hermes, 4 Thalia, 5 Athene, 6 Thia, 7 Ceres.

Good wind, but blowing from the west.  Those hills on the west shore cause variability of strength and direction.

On the water Race Officer Roger Kinns selected a course zig zagging across the loch.  Beginning with a windward leg to Clynder.  The shore end of the starting line was the place to be  and, predictably, Teal and Catriona fought over it.  Catriona got to the inner end but when she tacked, she had Teal on her lee bow and fell back in disturbed air.

Teal had a good lead by the first mark.  Thalia had been well placed for most of the leg but fell foul of huge headers approaching the mark.

Under spinnaker, back across the loch, the leading boats came close.  There was a stooshie at the leeward mark which ended with a protest.

Wind on the Clynder shore was becoming light.  Catriona managed to ghost round and get away.  The rest of the fleet got the worst of it.  Teal kept her place, Athene could not quite make her challenge on Thalia stick.

1 Catriona (subject to protest), 2 Teal, 3 Thalia, 4 Athene, 5 Hermes, 6 Ceres, 7 Thia.

We began with up to 20 knots of wind. It was blowing down the loch, which always creates a swell. Some crew did not fancy it and some boats did not turn out. On the Water Race Officer Peter Proctor chose a good course, beginning with a long leg to windward to E, the northern most mark on the Clynder shore. The starting line was without bias so that all those who wanted a good start could have one. Teal, Halcyone and Catriona set off across the loch, keen to cover each other. The others went up the Shandon Shore. On the approach to E, Catriona was leading her group, but needed binoculars to see the sail numbers of the other three. Zephyrus leading.

By this time, wind had lightened and spinnakers were perfectly manageable. The leading three, unaccountably, had misplaced the next mark and ventured far too far up the loch. The trailing three sailed straight for it. Catriona benefitted from her spinnaker. Teal less so because she lost a sheet under the boat in a way which cannot be explained. For the third leg, downwind to the starting area, the want of spinnakers on Hermes and Zephyrus and a luffing match between Zephyrus and Thalia brought the leading group back on terms with at least two of the trailing three. There was time for a second, shorter round.

On the next windward leg, Teal and Catriona did not repeat their earlier error of judgement and sailed in a favourable area of the loch. As we rounded the windward mark, the finishing order was mostly set.

1 Catriona, 2 Thalia, 3 Teal, 4 Zephyrus, 5 Hermes, 6 Halcyone.

A wonderful evening for racing. Sunshine and wind.

In the absence of a race officer on shore, Craig MacDonald on board a Sonar selected one of the longer courses, zig-zagging across the Gareloch to the northern most mark near Rahane. The other classes followed suit and we took our timing from him.

With wind off the Shandon shore, the first leg was necessarily downwind. Teal made the best start but was just a cat’s whisker slower under spinnaker than Catriona. There was a couple of boat lengths in it over the length of the leg. That allowed Catriona to get away in clear air on the beat back across the loch. Zoe, meanwhile, had done well without resort to her coloured sail and Halcyone always looked dangerous. After her win on the previous Tuesday, Thia was not satisfied with being towards the back.

The fleet approached E, the mark near Rahane, from an unfamiliar direction. We all went high, Catriona and Teal spotted the mark first but the rest seemed not to believe them and continued towards Faslane. That promoted Teal to second after she had suffered in poor air on the previous windward leg.

There was time for a second, shorter, round. Hermes had had enough, though. Thalia lost places here.

1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Zoe, 4 Halcyone, 5 Thia, 6 Thalia, 7 Ceres. Hermes Rtd.

A slightly adventurous passage race has become an annual event for the class. Seven Garelochs were well looked after by support boats Blue Iris, Full Circle, Kiri and St. Bridget.

We started in the Gareloch at nine, so as to make the most of the ebb tide before it turned at noon. Position in the race was all about finding favourable wind and tide. Large gaps appeared between boats and the order could change the next time they crossed tacks. Zephyrus soon showed ability to call it right by steering a course well away from the Rosneath shore. Others, notably Catriona, called it wrongly by taking a shorter line and suffering from light air in the lee of the shore. Thalia and Hermes had done well here but gave away part of their advantage in a luffing match.

At first, we all struggled in light air with a substantial chop in the water. Making forward progress was frustrating. Selecting the right area of the Clyde in which to sail became important. In general, those who favoured the Gourock shore did better than those drawn to Kilcreggan and Cove. Thalia, who had been on terms with Zephyrus and way ahead of the rest, lost a big lead in this way.

Past the Cloch, wind built so that water broke over the foredecks as we punched through the waves.

Race Officer Tim Henderson had selected navigation marks off Wemyss Point and Knock Castle to be left to starboard so as to corral the fleet and allow him to shorten. It is ironic that Thalia, who made a point of buying a new chart so as to be confident of finding these marks, missed the first of them. Zoe transgressed in this way, too.

Off Knock Castle, the wind left us so that Tim finished us. It was remarkable, after the large gaps which had developed, that the fleet closed here so that conversations could be held between boats.

We enjoyed our dinner in Largs Sailing Club, when Francoise Proctor presented the McGruer Trophy to Iain Macfarlane, crew of Zephyrus. Catriona and Athene collected prizes for second and third places.

We were lucky to get a race.  Wind was failing as we made our way to the boats.  We ghosted to the starting area and drifted.  There was a tantalising area of ripples at the south end of the loch but it never seemed to come closer.

Race Officer Simon Pender had postponed and was able to get us one round of a shorter course (windward-leeward to Silvers and back) when there was enough to fill the sails.  It was Thia’s night.  Michael Knox got her to the starting line at the right moment and, more importantly, with boat speed.  She was on the lee bow of Catriona and forced her to tack away.  She got the approach to the B mark just right, benefiting from wind on the Clynder shore.  The others had tarried on the Shandon shore and were nowhere.  For the run back to the finish, Thia gybed early to go up the loch.  That left her in better air and to windward of her only challenge after she gybed back to head for the finish.

1 Thia, 2 Catriona, 3 Ceres, 4 Thalia, 5 Hermes.

The forecast was for lots of wind and it had been blowing hard in the morning.  That must have put people off because only three boats came to the starting area.

The starting line was true so that all three started well.  Easier when there is no one place where everyone wants to be.  Catriona, with her usual crew Barrie Choules on the helm, made a point of covering Thalia on the initial windward leg. Zephyrus found better air and was first to the mark.   The want of a spinnaker dropped her to third on the next, downwind leg.  Thalia sailed in a band of stronger wind to achieve an inside overlap at the leeward mark but gave back the place soon after.

Again Zephyrus went the right way on the second windward leg and rounded just in front of Catriona.  She dropped back just a little on the reach back to the starting area.  There was time for a second (shorter) round.  On the windward leg, Thalia tacked on top of Zephyrus, seemingly unaware of her presence.  She was the windward boat and required to keep clear.  Zephyrus did not press the point.

The two were close towards the finish.  Thalia achieved a late inside overlap at the finishing mark but with no right to mark room, she was forced to the wrong side of it.  Going back to finish correctly left no doubt about the finishing order.

1 Catriona, 2 Zephyrus, 3 Thalia.

The more conservative members of the class decided that it was too windy to race.  Those who are keener enjoyed crewing on Sonars.

Nine of the ten Garelochs which are afloat turned out for a race in sunshine and good wind.

On the water Race Officer Peter Proctor chose a course beginning with a windward leg to B, off Silvers.  He selected a different starting line to avoid shallow water which had the unintended consequence of being heavily biassed.  Teal and Catriona were both a little early for the favoured end but managed to adjust their starts without much damage.  There began a tacking duel which Teal was winning until she set off across the loch, failing to cover.  She found air so much less good that she dropped more than one place.  Halcyone made hay here and unobtrusively kept her place near the front.

Thalia, with ambitions, was approaching the windward mark on port tack and paid insufficient attention to Ceres, who had right of way on starboard tack.  It was close.

Downwind from Silvers to the Shandon shore Thalia responded to a passing move by Teal which did not delay the two as much as it might have.  They both sailed high but in a streak of wind.  Teal had the favourable inside overlap at the leeward mark and set off in hot pursuit of Catriona on the next windward leg to C off Clynder.

Back to the starting area, it was just a little fine for spinnakers and the gaps closed.  There was time for a second round beginning with another windward leg to B.  Fluky Gareloch wind did for Catriona, from being comfortably in front she was prevented from tacking by Teal, just to windward.  She did, however, manage to climb and force Teal to tack away.  In the tacking duel which was developing, Teal tacked into the wake of a tug, which stopped her.  She next found herself disadvantaged by a sudden shift of wind and she failed to keep clear of a right of way Zephyrus.  The penalty turns were extremely damaging.

After B, there followed two offwind legs where spinnakers could be carried by the enthusiastic.  The others watched the occasionally extreme angles of heel with amusement.

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