Category Archives: Race Reports ’22

Race report from Teal

The wind was good, strong and gusty. But east-ish which prevents upwind starts. Sundays require an on-the-water race officer and there was negotiation about who would take it on. Ceres stated they were “just coping” given the wind so Teal stepped in. Tempted by a special S course to C or D but in the end plonked for a long classic Gareloch course starting with a downwind leg to C.

Teal lead over the line with Catriona behind and lower. Catriona and Dione stayed further left. Catriona raised her kite – boldly given wind and doubly so given she was single-handed. Dione and Teal goose-winged their jibs which seemed to work nearly as well. Halcyone meanwhile – defending her wind – looked like she was sailing Ceres up to Faslane. In the end the wind had perhaps been a bit better further left and Catriona rounded C first followed by Dione and Teal. And sailing towards Faslane had not been the way to go. Especially since Ceres managed to get ahead of Halcyone anyway.

The beat from C across to F was ‘full conditions’. Trim and feathering needed to prevent excessive heeling and weather helm. Catriona’s experience paying dividends. Teal keeping up and managing to sail higher than Dione. When Dione tacked Teal crossed easily. Catriona led at the F mark. Followed by Teal then Dione having lost some ground.

Teal closed the gap on Catriona on a gusty reach to B (perhaps weight on the boat helping?). Teal rounded tight behind Catriona – and wary of an immediate tack and trap by Catriona – immediately tacked. And did so more smartly that Catriona with her nose in front. Catriona tacked off again.

Up across to Z off Blairvadach and then a loop back to F and then B again and back to Z. Dione also getting past Catriona on the windward leg from B to Z. Having completed this second round lap, the race would often have ended at Z. But we were a minute inside the hour mark and so, as per the class rules, another round was required! No places changed but it was fun if a little tiring!

1 Teal, 2 Dione, 3 Catriona, 4 Ceres, 5 Halcyone

(^date corrected to 15th May)

No race report.

1 Catriona, 2 Teal, 3 Circe, 4 Thia, 5 Hermes (RO Dione)

Report from John Campbell on Circe

Sunday morning was ominously quiet on the loch, an echo maybe of the 2021 season but by lunchtime there was a nice breeze which had set in from west / south west, and the sun was out. The afternoon was set for some “champagne sailing” (as one skipper quipped with his peaked cap and sunglasses on!).

No RO, so Mr Choules took on the mobile RO duties and set course H6. Unfortunately Hermes (mainsail hoisting problems) and Halcyone (jib clew block shattered) were late to the line so had their own race independent of the main fleet.

On the start line it wasn’t too congested, however Teal was forced upwind of the Z mark so ended up tacking round and following on having dropped a number of places.

Up to B, and Zephyrus was going very well, she had the edge at the windward mark, ahead of Catriona and then it was a broad reach down to F. The considerate skipper of the naval destroyer managed to avoid the fleet meaning that no one was compromised as she sailed up to Faslane. Most of the boats had their spinnakers up, although Circe (sailing single handed) stayed with white sails only – surprisingly not losing that much distance. Round F, and Catriona had taken the lead from Zephyrus, followed by Dione and Teal.

There was a good beat over to C, back to Y, and then back to B for the second round by which time Dione had moved into second place. At the windward mark, Teal had Zephyrus on starboard, and snuck past into 3^rd, Circe followed behind and Zephyrus dropped back into 5^th place.

The reach down to C had some potential for errors as there were some quiet holes in close to the shore, however those positions held as the fleet crossed back to Y to finish the race. A really lovely afternoon to be out on the loch.

It was also good to see our Convenor Prof. John Blackie out crewing in Halcyone after the sad death of Jane, his wife, earlier that week.

1 – Catriona, 2 – Dione, 3 – Teal, 4 – Circe, 5 – Zephyrus, 6 – Ceres, 7 – Halcyone

Hermes DNF

No race report.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Halcyone, 4 Circe, 5 Ceres, 6 Thia

No race report.

1 Catriona, 2 Dione, 3 Hermes, 4 Circe