Category Archives: Race Reports

No wind therefore no race.

On the Water Race Officer Peter Proctor was faced with a problem.  It was low tide and there was insufficient navigable water between the starting mark (Z) and the shore.  As an experienced sailor once said, ‘it looks like water, but it isn’t’.  Peter’s pragmatic solution was to designate the starting line as being between the Z and Y marks.  An unintended consequence was to introduce severe bias, the Y end was the only place to be and it was hard to fetch the mark from the pre-start side.  Teal was the one to be there, followed by Catriona.  Thalia was extremely unlucky, being forced to tack on to port in order to cross the line she found herself in the way of the starboard tack, right of way Zephyrus.  As she took her penalty turns, there was a local lull in the wind.  She never recovered.

Teal and Catriona see themselves as competitors for first place in this points series, so that they were racing each other and ignoring the rest.  Hermes and Halcyone took advantage.  As the first two took each other far too far across to the Clynder shore and in to lighter air, Hermes and Halcyone went where the wind was blowing and were first to B, the windward mark.  Halcyone not by a large margin.  Next, a run downwind back across the loch.  Lack of slickness with the spinnaker on Halcyone allowed Catriona past.  Teal was more polished and maintained her lead over Catriona to the mark.  The next leg was upwind again, to C, off Clynder.  Teal was able to open the gap here.  Halcyone again benefited from the ‘match racing’, Hermes was out of sight by now.

Approaching the leeward mark from C, to begin another round, Teal was a little early dropping her spinnaker.  That put Catriona close enough to achieve an inside overlap at the mark and to take the place.  Halcyone had lost out with the spinnaker and was now fourth.

In the battle of tacking and covering upwind to B again, Teal got her place back just before the mark.  The next leg, a reach up the Clynder shore, was a bit fine for spinnakers.  That did not stop the two pugilists.  Teal had more trouble keeping hers full and avoiding broaches, so that she elected to drop.  That cost her the place once more.  Hermes, who did not have to overtax her spinnaker, finished 3 1/2 minutes in front of the second placed boat.

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

On the water Race Officer Peter Proctor set a course beginning with a leg to windward to A, off the Club.  Thence to G, up the Shandon shore and back.   As we were rigging, a strong squall came through, bringing rain with it.  By the time of the start, air was light.

Catriona got away best at the favoured shore end.  The rest were blanketing each other at the pin end.  On the way to A, wind veered and strengthened so that the course now comprised reaches.  Catriona rounded first followed by Halcyone and Hermes.  Teal and Thalia (with guest Helm Jonny Burke) had suffered badly at the start and were well back.  With good wind on the beam, there was little scope for passing.  The Gareloch, however, had not finished teasing.  On the second round, travelling up the loch from A, wind died away and before filling in again, held no firm view  regarding direction.  Halcyone suffered by being close inshore so that currents of air eluded her.  Thalia and Teal found themselves further out in the loch (probably the result of a luffing match rather than tactics) and in a streak of pressure.  Their optimism was not to last, wind reached Catriona, who benefited from setting a spinnaker.

Wind was more consistent to the finish, although still variable by the standards of anywhere outwith the Gareloch.

Thalia could count herself lucky.  Halcyone and Zephyrus unlucky.

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

Report by Carol Rowe

The evening was a tale of 2 halves with strong winds from the north west backing and eventually dying and thus two rounds with very different conditions.
The course zig zagged the loch. Hermes benefited from Catriona’s absence in having her crew providing a much needed third crew member for the extra weight and skill with the spinnaker. Hermes was in a good position at the start but tacked to avoid Thalia which proved a benefit as when she tacked back across the loch she was up wind of the close fleet. Zoe was ahead of the fleet short on weight and with the extra weight on Hermes it was Hermes that was ahead at the C mark at Clynder. Thia was performing well with her new jib. The run back across the loch was a reach followed by a beat to the D mark. There the rest of the fleet passed as Hermes dropped the jib to hoist the spinnaker. At the end of the run Zoe being first and Hermes by then second at what might have been the finish but clearly was not failure to know that the next mark was C and not A to which the spinnaker would have been flown meant that the spinnaker came down too quickly and the fleet passed. Some head way was made on the tack back to the C mark but Hermes was last to round that mark. It was clear that close inshore was not the place to be so Hermes headed out to pick up better wind and soon passed the fleet. At the B mark off Silvers minds were concentrating on taking down (unnecessary)the spinnaker smoothly before rounding the mark when it had to be put back up again with Zoe by then ahead but by the time the finishing line was passed Hermes was in front followed by Thalia then Zoe and the rest of the fleet close behind.

1 Hermes, 2 Thalia, 3 Zoe, 4 Thia, 5 Ceres

The Gareloch was at its most attractive.  Scenically at least, a little more wind would have been perfect.

On the water Race Officer Peter Proctor was faced with a direction of wind which made it difficult to find a leg to windward.  He selected a course which began with a fetch to A, off the club.  Catriona chose the shore end of the starting line.  Teal chose the pin end which was to leeward, thinking to benefit from slightly better wind and advantageous tide.  She was right and rounded first with Thalia, who had followed her, second.

Catriona drew level with Thalia offwind to C but could make no impression on Teal.  Thalia was caught by the fleet following a penalty arising from not giving Mark room to Catriona.  This group suffered from dying wind on the Clynder shore and dropped back.

On the fetch back to the starting area, lightening air at the front gave encouragement to Catriona, but it was not to be.  At the beginning of the second round, Gareloch air reverted to form.  It was possible to do well or badly by sailing inshore or by staying out. At the start of the second round, Thalia lost several places on the leg to A for no particular reason.  Zephyrus and Ceres prospered in the loch, Hermes on the shore.   We finished at A.

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

Report kindly provided by Jens Sutter

It was a blustery afternoon.  The Qualifier for the British Keelboat League, sailed in Sonars on the east patch, had been canned at lunch time because of high wind.

Three boats turned out, Halcyone, Teal and Catriona.  One of the longer courses was set, zig-zagging across the loch to E, near Rahane.  With wind from the Shandon shore, the start was downwind.  Lack of practice and very changeable wind led to no one starting well.  Teal was the best of the bunch.  Catriona tried all she knew to get a favourable inside overlap at the next mark, ready for the beat back across the loch.  None of it was fruitful but she did make a fair rounding and steadily worked to windward of Teal thereafter.  By the windward mark both Halcyone and Teal had had enough and retired.  Catriona, benefiting from a crew of three, carried on and finished the round.

1 Catriona, Teal and Halcyone DNF

An evening when events conspired against us.  At the key moment when people wanted to get out to the boats, it was low water of a large spring tide so that we had to wait before the launch could come in to the jetty.  Meanwhile, the rowing dinghy used to get to the launch had been swamped in the large waves being blown down the Gareloch.  The upshot, everyone was late.  Hermes, Thalia and Zoe all suffered from those teething problems which characterise the start of the season and did not race.  That left Halcyone and Catriona with guest helm Thad Burr.

A fitting end to the season. The Gareloch class flew to Germany to compete against the Freundeskreis Klassische Yachten. The Friday flight to Hamburg is well known for stag parties. For once, the Garelochs were not the worst behaved.

There was team racing on the Schlei in Nordic Folkboats. The Folkboats had been chartered by our hosts. In the past we have raced in Knarrs but one has been sold and a fleet of six was not available.

The two owners of the Folkboats watched the racing with interest. It is not clear whether of not our hosts had mentioned that the boats were to be used for racing. Let alone team racing. Despite a few anxious moments, the owners must have enjoyed the event, photographs are to appear in one of their calendars.

There were four races on the Saturday, which were split between the two teams. Crack German helm Sven Foerst taught us how to make the best of the starting line and then sailed into the distance. We were left to concentrate on his team mates.

Three shorter races were planned for Sunday morning so as to break the tie and allow time for a fleet race where crews could helm. We have come, over the years, to realise that the stereotype of ruthless German efficiency is not necessarily accurate. Different instructions had been given to the two teams regarding the course. It was only fair to abandon the first race and we shared the other two. The match was declared a tie.

The fleet race was sailed in dying air. Eventually a result was declared at a rounding mark. Race Officer Klaus Birkhoff (who had no hand in the dichotomy of sailing instructions) awarded the prize of a bottle of rather over proof rum to Eric Boinard. A surprise to Iain Macfarlane who led the race. After some of the rum, he was past caring.

It would be remiss not to mention the entertainment of Saturday evening. Oliver Berking of top line Silversmiths Robbe and Berking opened the Yachting Heritage Centre in Flensburg which bears their name. The opening exhibition was of Royal Yachting. The Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club has lent various exhibits, including our fine silver model of Britannia and one of her racing flags. One of three thought to exist. We were able to swing an invitation.

Wow.

It is not possible to list all the delights of the exhibition and of the Heritage Centre. Curator Eva Nielsen has done superb work. The workshop, where 12 metres can be built, had treasures wherever you looked. A 6 metre and a 12 with immaculate varnish. Charming clinker dinghies. My favourite, a Skerry Cruiser. Out of the water, her ends look unfeasibly slender.

The star of the evening, for me, the 6 metre which had belonged to the King of Norway. Her keel was set into a pit in the floor so the deck was at a convenient height. Champagne was served from the cockpit.

The last race in the Series of the Ancient Mariner.  There was an autumnal feel to the air.  It had been blowing hard during the day which put off some.