Category Archives: Race Reports ‘26

Mid May, temperature not yet past the dizzying height of 12 degrees, and a Sunday morning of heavy showers. 4 boats were out, hoisting sails as there was a bit of sun, but no wind – not a breath. Never to be defeated, the boats cast off and dutifully, the wind filled in from the north east (although the forecast had said west). It picked up quickly, so on the water RO in Dione set course L1, ZGCAZ. 

The line favoured a pin start, and all but Circe went that way, but the shore side proved to be the right place to be, and at the first mark, Circe took the lead followed by Catriona, Dione and Athene.

Across to C, it was a tight course for a spinnaker but all boats put them up in what was quite a fresh breeze by now. Strangely, after gybing round C and heading to A, it was still quite tight for the spinnaker, so a bit more north in the wind. 

Dione and Catriona were exchanging places quite a bit this afternoon, and it has to be noted that by the end of the race, Dione had overtaken Catriona 3 times, and Catriona equally overtook Dione twice. There were some spinnaker problems as well, notably that Dione managed to hoist the spinnaker twice with a clew in place of the head, and the spinnaker askew, but she kept catching up despite the problems. On the second round, the wind was easing a bit, and downwind to A Dione made a lot of ground on Circe, leading to some covering and panic in Circe on the final upwind leg, but in the end the finishing order was

1 Circe, 2 Dione, 3 Catriona, 4 Athene.

PS Halcyone followed round the course and it was good to see that the rigging is now sorted.

Sonar sailors were standing around in the car park looking indecisive.  Usually an indication of too little or too much wind.  The risk of too much in this instance.  Walking along the jetty, there were strong gusts.  By the time we got aboard, things had moderated and were quite sailable.  Three Garelochs went out.  Thia’s crew checked the boat and went in.  Three Sonars were moved by example.

Race Officer John Blackie, assisted by Peter Elias and Michael Lapsley, set a course to D, north of Cylinder.  A good beat.  Catriona made the better start and shortly afterwards, Dione sailed in front.  A lead she kept on the second leg to G, just north of Gully Bridge and back to the starting area.  Arke found lighter air on the Shandon shore and was never in front.  She came close to Catriona but not to Dione.

On the second round, after hardening up across the loch,  Catriona saw Dione find a hole combined with an awful header and tacked away.  Dione did not cover and the two battled with the large shifts and variation in strength, each in their different parts of the loch.  When they next crossed tacks, Catriona had the lead and made sure not to be caught out in light air near to the shore at D.  Slick spinnaker handling by Catriona’s crew, Niki Horn, put paid to any hope of Dione overtaking.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Arke.

(Report from guest crew aboard Arke).

Strong gusts from the northwest, accompanied by short lulls, was constant throughout the race with minor impact from the incoming tide.

On the water race officer Charles Darley set a course across the loch to D before reaching back to G. Circe made a great start followed by Catriona and Dione. The leading boats headed to the Clynder shore where good progress was made. Iris, Ceres and Arke selected to beat mid channel to potentially benefit from the incoming tide. Progress close to the Clynder shore proved the more efficient course.

The reach from D to G progressed well for all boats with Circe and Catriona flying the spinnaker. Entering the 2nd round: Circe, Dione, Catriona, Iris, Ceres, Arke.

Arke set a tight exit from D which paid off by beating efficiently to D ahead of Ceres and Iris. Reaching back to finish saw Circe crossing the finish line first. Good competition between Dione and Catriona, with the latter flying the spinnaker to good effect. Catriona finishing second – with the third sail and a smart course to the closer shore end of the line providing the differentiator. Arke, Ceres then Iris. Great to see Iris sailing well.

The blustery conditions enabled a thoroughly entertaining race. All cobwebs blown away!!

1 Circe, 2 Catriona, 3 Dione, 4 Arke, 5 Ceres, 6 Iris

A chilly evening but good wind.  Blowing from the east so that a start to windward was not feasible, the usual variability to further tax Race Officer Craig MacDonald.  

He started us with a fetch to A, off the club.  Most were so late to the line that Catriona, on pole, was worried about having the time wrong and being a minute early.  The Sonars had shown us that a start at the pin was safest, even though the shore end was to windward.  The wind in there was pot luck.

From A, a spinnaker leg to C, off Clynder.  Concentration was needed to keep the spinnaker set to optimum on account of wind shifts.  Back upwind to the starting area, the variability of wind direction was plain.  Catriona hardened up at C to get across the loch and looked back at those rounding later to see she had been substantially headed.  Perhaps that encouraged some to try the Clynder shore.  It did not pay.  

With wind lightening a little, Craig changed the course for the second round, omitting the reach to A.  The leg to C, now more directly downwind, required a gybe as the wind towards the Clynder shore veered.  All good practice early in the season.  

The final leg to the finish required careful attention to the wind.  Not just in sailing but seeing where it was and where it wasn’t.  Ceres played it right.  Circe spent a bit too long on the Clynder shore.  Athene both sailed well and found the better air.  Dione was not at the races.  Miriam Sutter and Mairi McLean in Thia finished ahead of Ed Morris in Halcyone.  Ollie Thompson inn Iris had trouble with a shroud and retired.

1 Catriona, 2 Ceres, 3 Circe, 4 Athene, 5 Dione, 6 Thia, 7 Halcyone, Iris Ret.

The first Sunday race of the season. We knew we would have to run the launch ourselves as the new Boatman was away training, but what we didn’t anticipate was the launch being half full of water, and the battery being dead. After spending 20 minutes emptying it, we brought the rib from the marina and got on with the most important thing, going out sailing! 

A dry day, with a reasonable breeze from the annoying east, so on the water RO in Circe set course S6, a running start down to D and back.

On the start line it was good to welcome Athene and Zephyrus for their first race, whilst Halcyone remained on the mooring, knitting halyards!

All cleanly off the line, spinnakers set down to D, only to be greeted by a loud horn from a warship coming through the narrows. All but Thia and Zephyrus managed to the Clynder shore before the ship, plus two tugs came through. At D Dione, Circe and Arke had a 3 way rounding, with Dione on the inside and first round, Circe second followed by Arke. Rounding up, Circe came to a bit of a slowing, not helped by some massive wash from the big ships, allowing Arke to gently kiss her transom, leading to a penalty turn that dropped Arke back.

Upwind, it was the usual fickle easterly, with the centre of the loch providing most benefit from an ebb tide, but probably there was more ground to be made from crossing closer to the Shandon shore. It was all about who could avoid the serious headers, without tacking only to find yourself being headed on the new tack, and Dione managed to fall foul of that allowing Circe past her and into the lead after round 1. Down to D again, and on the upwind leg Catriona made some good ground by heading over to Shandon causing the leading two boats a bit of concern.

1 Circe, 2 Dione, 3 Catriona, 4 Arke, 5 Athene, 6 Thia, 7 Zephyrus

We had wind. And sun! What more could you want for the first race of the season…?

Well, ok, the wind was from the SE which is always a slightly difficult direction given the fixed starting line and shore-based race officer (RO). And it proved slightly difficult to navigate with a line perpendicular to the wind and which could not be layed. Dione dealt with it best and lead in to the first mark at A in first place, followed by Circe, Catriona and Arke. 

Places did not change on the run. Catriona tacked off early on the beat to try and get ahead. Arke stood longest and then tacked down the loch for the beat back to the start line. It paid and she caught and overtook both Circe and Catriona. Catriona managed ahead of Circe. 

The RO – given the superb conditions – rightly sent us around again. 

Arke could not catch Dione who was sailing superbly and took a great win to start her season. Thia – being sailed as a class training boat – did ok. Back on the moorings Hermes said she needed to sort out her rigging “knitting”! Halcyone seemed to be engaged in craft endeavours too…

1 Dione, 2 Arke, 3 Catriona, 4 Circe, 5 Ceres, 6 Thia, 7 Iris, DNF Hermes