Sailing and Yacht Racing On The Clyde and West Coast Of Scotland   

Royal Gourock Yacht Club is holding its Annual Open Regatta on Saturday 1st June 2013. The Regatta is also
supported by a shoreside programme, which includes live music and a barbeque after racing (on the balcony weather permitting).
So why not come along and do a bit of racing and enjoy a relaxing drink and a bit of chat afterwards. Alternatively, if you are not
an active sailor, just sit on the balcony and watch the racing while availing yourself of the non sailing activities.

Entry to the Regatta is free to all RGYC members and only £5 to non-members. The first start is at 13.00 and racing will be provided
for the following classes.
 
ETCHELLS, RESTRICTED SAIL CLASS,  PIPER OD,
HANDICAP YACHTS CLASS and LOCH LONG OD

Instructions are included in the RGYC General Sailing Instructions. Entries can be made on the day

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Etchells again 

Here is the latest addition to the Clyde Etchells fleet on its way from Howth to Gourock. Formerly Who Cares and renamed as Penny Arcade
 its owner is Keith Lawrence who used to own the BH 36 Playback and was previously runner up in the Etchells European Championship held on the
Clyde in the early 90's so it's a welcome return for him.

The boat has been launched and this brings the RGYC fleet to seven boats but there are a few more available for anyone else wishing to join in with some good sailing and social.

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Savills Kip Regatta

Paul Graham

Wet and windy.  But good close racing enjoyed by all once they had dried out and collected their thoughts.  Saturday was on the Kip-Inellan patch and started with a triangle - you'll notice asymmetrics at large in some of the photos - which are all kindly supplied by Paul Graham of Jaggypixels.  There rest were windward leewards but PRO Johnny Watson ensured a full diet of 3 races was run.   Results here



jaggypixels imaging

On Sunday the start moved to the Cloch area with a long course down to the Inverkip pier.  Only the IRC classes stuck it out in full for the two Sunday races.  Top scorer continuing her winning form with just one race off a clean scoresheet was Zephyr and with Absolutely 2 and Elf Too in 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Fortuna, Jim Dick's new Grand Soleil 39 was the only other boat to score in the top three places but through DNS on Sunday didn't make the rankings.  On Saturday at least, the finish times are all pretty close so on the water it must have been quite tight.

Paul Graham Jaggypixels

With eight participants IRC2 had just one less contender than IRC1 and was taken, somewhat predictably, by Sloop John T with Carmen second and Animal finding form to attain 3rd. Not sure what was going on with Now or Never who only started 2 races.



In the sportboats it was close between Colin MacDonalds venerable 1720  and Steve Cowie's Diablo, the only one of three E22s entered to actually venture out.   
Class 3 CYCA had just 6 showing up, including Applecore, the Holy Loch MGRS34 which had intended to sail restricted, and did to her obvious disadvantage. Enigma was the fairly comfortable winner of that class although the kenspeckle (to borrow a Yachting Life adjective)  First by Farr and Ian MacDonalds Sigma 36 were significant players also. 
Of the four Sigma 33s, top place was taken by well known Sonar exponent Dr Griogair Whyte in Close Encounters with Mayrise, Leaky Roof 2 and Sigmatic following in that order.  Class 4 is a bit complicated by having Sigmas mixed in but the main point to note is that Farr E Nuff didn't win.



This flagship event of the Royal Western Yacht Club event continues to offer excellent racing of a high order and has done so for years with the hugely appreciated sponsorship of Savills.  The Clyde would be much diminished without it so on behalf of all participants much gratitude is herewith expressed to Savills and the RWYC organising team.  



Now it's time to get sorted for Scottish Series.....

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Savills Kip Regatta

Here's the provisional entry list for tomorrow.  No doubt there will be updates over the course of the day as various crews wake up. IRC is holding up well and that should lead to some excellent racing.  As we have noticed in the past, IRC below 1.000 is a bit of a lonely place that that will be a slight  headache for class splits. Sportboats, despite all the hot air,are looking thin but  we commend  the name of the SB20 from Aberdeen. And with the help of Sigma 33s, CYCA is looking entirely viable.  Bring on some wind and sunshine then.

Boat Name	Sail No	Boat Type	Race	Type	Class	CYCA	IRC	PYN	Home Port	Owner
Jacob	8611	J111	A	IRC	1		1.093		Kip	John Stamp
Zephyr	8140	Beneteau First 40	A	IRC	1		1.089		Kip	Steve Cowie
Elf Too		Beneteau First 40	A	IRC	1		1.084
Roxstar	8038	XP38	A	IRC	1		1.082		Inverkip	Findlay & Anderson
The Black Prince	2569	Beneteau First 40	A	IRC	1		1.075		Port Edgar	Terry Kirchin
Eos	9192	Elan 40	A	IRC	1		1.07		James Watt	Rod Stuart
Absolutely 2	4334	Mumm36	A	IRC	1		1.065		Port Edgar	Kenneth Kelly & Mike Bramhall
Fortuna	4939	Grand Soliel 39	A	IRC	1		1.06		KIP	Jim Dick
Grand Cru II	6969	First 40.7	A	IRC	1		1.057		Rhu	Jamie McGarry
Sunrise	4754	Sigma 400	B	IRC	2	9.00	1.027		Inverkip	Scott Chalmers
Animal	1952	Elan 380	B	IRC	2		1.037		Rhu	Debbie Aitken
Now or Never 3	7667	MAT1010	B	IRC	2		1.029		James Watt	Neill Sandford
Sloop John T	9740	Swan 40	B	IRC	2		1.028		Lamlash	Ian & Graham Thomson
Carmen II	1666	First 36.7	B	IRC	2		1.023		Helensburgh	Paul Scott & Alan Jeffrey
Salamander XXI	37296	First 35	B	IRC	2		1.023		KIP	John Corson
Enigma	8272	Sigma 38	C	IRC	3	12.25	0.983		Helensburgh	Howard & Margaret Morrison
Mojo	117	J70	C	IRC	3	13.25	0.971		Kip	Donald Syme
More Misjif	5030	Jeanneau SF 37	C	IRC	3		0.997		Inverkip	Roddy Angus & Alastair Tear
Jaywalker	97	J97	C	IRC	3		0.979		Kip	Iain Laidlaw
Dwarf Shortage	3038	SB20	D	OD	OD			911	Aberdeen	Allan Lennox
Blu	1006	Etchells	D	OD	OD			880	Holy Loch	Robert Patterson
Penny Arcade	972	Etchells	D	OD	OD					Keith Lawrence
Water Tiger	1735	1720 Sports Boat	D	OD	OD			836	Kip Marina	Colin MacDonald
Farr E Nuff	7029	Farr 727	E	IRC	4	17.50	0.860		Largs	John Kent
Pure Magic	3355	MG335	E	IRC	4		0.944		Colintraive	D & E Balmforth
First by Farr	9960	First 45	E	CYCA	4	8.25			Tarbert	Ian McNair
Elektra	2438	First Class 7.5	E	CYCA	4	13.00			Troon	Alastair Dean
Leaky Roof II	4607	Sigma 33	E	CYCA	4	15.25	0.912		Rosneath	Alan Harper & Kirsty Robertson
Mayrise	8856	Sigma 33	E	CYCA	4	15.25			Helensburgh	James Miller
Sigmatic	4270	Sigma 33	E	CYCA	4	15.25			Helensburgh	Donald & Anita McLaren
Close Encounters	584	Sigma 33	E	CYCA	4	15.25			Greenock	Griogair Whyte
Ubiquity	3841	Moody 336	E	CYCA	4	15.50			Fairlie	Henry Reid
Stargazer	4203	Grand Soliel 34	E	CYCA	4	16.25			Lamlash	Alastair Bilsland
Ceol Beag	1642	Elan 40	E	CYCA	4	10.48			Inverness	Donald MacKenzie
Zebedee	6731	GK24	F	CYCA	5	19.75			Fairlie Bay	Lucy Downie/Garth Wilson
Applecore	4425	MGRS34	G	CYCA	RS	13.25			Holy Loch	Richard Murton
Significant	3892		G	CYCA	RS	14.07			Largs	Ian Macdonald

Updates will show on the Kip marina website so no point looking here.  Hopefully someone will send some photos and a few words soon (ie immediately) after the event.  
PS Just noticed the lone GK24 in CYCA 5.  What we need is more little boats like this. A few more of them and they'd all have just as much fun as the big boys.

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CCC Opening Muster

If nothing else, this event provides some start of season reassurance for the East Patch based members that they can still find their way back home. This was a first Opening Muster attempt for us, the final destination never having held massive appeal but then I suppose we're getting old.  Nevertheless it turned into a most enjoyable day on the water. With a forecast correctly predicting very light and fickle breeze and a spring ebb tide, the day called for our biggest lightest genoa which unfortunately took a pasting later in the afternoon as some more serious breeze filled in the last hour of the race.  Some of those making theri way down to the Kip start had noticed that the RGYC race marks were not yet laid and since one of those was a mark of the course the fleet had to be informed of the last moment course change. Not unexpectedly, Class 4 Restricted had the biggest entry and with the patchy wind being what it was for most of the afternoon, the results not too surprisingly are more or less in descending order of handicap. Lyrebird won from behind with Mark and Sandy Homer in Leumadair III second.  On Troikka we worked hard to keep ahead of first finisher Micky Finn IV but when the breeze filled in and she displayed her rocketship properties we knew our number was up.  



The MacLaughlan-Harvey partnership on Polaris once again demonstrated the success of their asymmetric only strategy to win Class 1 ahead of Roxstar - which must have been a good feeling. At the other end, Grand Cru fell into a very deep hole. Class 2-3 was hotly contested with close finishing times and with Good Craic continuing their winning form in IRC and Lemarac demonstrating her very fast reaching ability to take CYCA.



You don't want to get close to this beast - we enjoyed their close company from the last mark all the way up the reach to the Gareloch.  At least we managed to stay on the sunny side.



In the RNCYC bar afterwards the average age must have been considerable so it was good recall  seeing some young people getting a chance to play on Animal.  I assume that's the young rising star of dinghy on the wheel.  



It looked a lot different on the Sunday morning.  We went along to the lifeboat shed for the bacon butties and where Patrick Trust was promoting the CCC Blue Water Race to Benodet but the present writer at least declined the Bucks Fizz, the night before having been what it was.  On the way back to Kip after some pretty fierce squalls up to 35kt TWS we decided enough was enough and put the engine on.  So another good weekend and thanks to all those who made it work, right down to the bacon fryers.
 
Next up is Kip Regatta, that essential warm up for the for the CCC Scottish Series and next weekend Fairlie YC do their opening muster to the Holy Loch.  

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Savills Kip Regatta 2013

Time to start thinking about getting organised for this must-do Scottish Series warm up. Entry forms and NOR are on the
Kip Marina website and the Royal Western Yacht Club site.


It's also worth noting that if you survive Scottish Series there's the Old Pulteney Mudhook Regatta including the IRC Scottish Championship. It's on 8/9th June and this year is based out of Kip Marina also.  Entry forms will be in May Yachting Life and the Mudhook YC website

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CCC Bute Weekend

Prior to the introduction of the Icebreaker Regatta, this was the traditional opener to the Clyde regatta season.  Entries were down on the usual, (8 starters in IRC1, 7 combined between 2 & 3 and just 3 in Class 4)  partly perhaps because some potential entrants are not yet ready due to the weather and partly perhaps because of the quite brisk forecast. On Troikka it was our first sail of the season and there is certainly not a cobweb left anywhere on deck.  Sailing relatively shorthanded with a partly beginner crew we opted for restricted sail and in the fresh S/SW breeze didn't have much opportunity to regret that. We had a beat to Toward in 20kts + and then a period of relative calm in the East Kyle where spinnakers sprouted behind us and soon overtook before rounding the corner into gusts of up to 30kts TWS. Bute seemed such a long island that afternoon. Anyway it was a good shakedown with plenty of shaking to be had and it didn't rain at all.  We had two crew who had never sailed in the West if Scotland before and they were much impressed with the scenery which we all too easily take for granted. We managed a few photos but there were numerous asymmetric broaches which unfortunately we mised on the camera.  Jacob 2 the new J111 looks very good and is clearly very fast offwind.  Another new boat, which pulled 2nd in IRC1  is Fortuna, a Grand Soleil 39 which appears to have a quite good IRC rating but being of the current design fashion is not, to my mind, much of a looker.  Once again it all all goes to show show that you can't go far wrong with a well oiled crew on board an old Swan.  The superb CCC results service is here.

photo Alan Anderson

The pink one was a bit big so they got it down and put up a red one



Which went ok for a while as Jacob creeps up to leeward of Roxstar, the relative calm belying what was to come until...  






Possibly a fore and aft trim message EOS had forgotten from the Icebreaker?  Still fast though.




Choppy down Inchmarnock Sound.  Carmen II about to pass Salamander.  



Here's Iain Laidlaw in Jaywalker recovering from an impressive wipeout just beyond the Portachur buoy. Pity we didn't manage to snap the best bit. But our crew did....Pity the poor fellow hanging on to leeward.

photo Amy Anderson

 Not so good for  Roy Summers when Rajah's mast went in 2 places on the same part of the course. The good news is nobody hurt and he'll have a new mast in time for the Nationals in June.

At that point, and being unaware of the mast trauma that was later to ensue, I missed not having a spinnaker to put up for ourselves but we didn't have the crew to do it safely and we were pleased not to disqualify ourselves and to manage a win in Class 4. Hats off to Clive and Flora Reeves who appeared to be 2 handed on Lyrebird and despite finishing about an hour behind us were only 9 mins behind on corrected time having sailed for 7 hours.  

photo:Mike Forbes
 
Sunday started cold and dreich at Largs with very little wind and only 5 IRC class 1 diehards.  So not such ideal practice for Scottish Series where there will be loads of entrants, great wind and sunshine. However 8-10kts developed and the first race ran for 3 rounds. Following some postponements and an abandoned start the second race got under way and the sun came out. Once again the old Swan did the business with EOS second in race 1 and Roxstar second in race 2.

Next week is CCC Opening Muster which will hopefully get the cruising types out in force and is merely a race from Kip to Rhu where the catering facilities of RNCYC will be put to the test.  According to Cruising Secretary Clive Reeves 'This will be followed the next morning in the R.N.L.I boathouse at the Marina by the not to be missed Commodore's Bacon Butty Breakfast accompanied by Buck's Fizz.'  I thought that group had disbanded but hopefully we'll be walking on sunshine anyway. Wait a minute, that wasn't Bucks Fizz was it. Same kinda thing though.

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Icebreaker Regatta

Troikka having, having previously attended every one of these excellent training events since their commencement in 2009 was not present this year. Not because we have been demoted from the remedial class into hopelessly untrainable but because we have decided to retire from round the cans racing,  at least in playing with the big boys in IRC.  I was able to tick quite a few of the why don't you boxes in the IRC questionnaire.  Anyway I had hoped to be sent some photos of the event but nothing has been forthcoming so there it is, or was. I heard Zephyr was absolutely smoking round the course and won, possibly equal with EOS. Was close anyway while the school report on Roxstar was -needs work harder.  I finally found a report with placings on the fairlieyachtclub website under their News section but not under the racing link. The forecast for the Sunday was dreadful so Barry Dunning conducted indoor training instead. 

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Sailing Soon

Problem free launch on Wednesday.  Peter, Iain and the rest of the yard team were, as ever, immensely helpful in getting me a slot in their crowded programme.  I was thankful for a useful rise in temperature once the sun came out.  Now it only remains to clear out all the detritus and dead rats from the interior and sort out the rig.  
So what about the Icebreaker?  Do I have crew?  Do I ever?