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

Who heard about this?

25-26th Feb at the SportScotland National Centre, Burnside Road, Largs. "It will be bigger and better in 2012. It is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to catch up with everything sailing, windsurfing and powerboating. There will be a number of workshops, conferences and talks taking place over the weekend as well as the new 'RYA Scotland Boat Show'."
Click the logo for more info on the RYA Scotland site.

"One of the major attractions that will be at the RYA Scotland Boat Show is the RYA's 'Our Sporting Life - Sail for Gold' Olympic heritage exhibition. It will be a celebration of our British Olympic and Paralympic sailing heritage. You can immerse yourself in 112 years of triumph and glory at an extraordinary exhibition celebrating Britain’s unique Olympic and Paralympic sailing legacy. "
Entry to the RYA Scotland Boat Show is free whereas the Big Weekend workshop/conference thing is £25 per day. There are some interesting looking sessions in the programme.

There is also an RYA Regional Race Management seminar being held at RGYC on 4/5th Feb. (subject to demand /£75) but Regional Race Managers probably knew about that anyway.

Ouch!

This is another of those yachts ashore at Connel. You do have to wonder about leaving a yacht out on a somewhat exposed mooring over the depths of winter with sails and a big cockpit canopy on. The wee notice on the bow says it's not for salvage. It was pretty bad everywhere but from what we hear, over at Rhu they'll be rhu-ing the rhu-inn of not a few.

This is from our newest sponsor. I had a smartphone myself for a week but took it back because it was so annoying. Anyway our friend Hurrel tells us the following and it may be useful for those of you who can be bothered with all that twittering and stuff.

Marine Blast Multimedia has launched the first of its kind, a series of 'one stop' Marine Directory Apps for iPhone and Android platforms that enable individuals, businesses and event organisers operating within the leisure marine market to connect smoothly, and for free, to thousands of contacts within the industry.

The Marine Blast Directories,currently with over 2,700 marine companies listed covering England, Scotland and Wales, and with Ireland coming on stream shortly, also include listings for major global yachting events as well as links to sailing news sites and regional sailing events, with fresh content being added and updated regularly..

Feature-packed Apps

The Marine Blast Multimedia Directory App listings allow companiesor organisations,events or Marine brands to be shared by anyone with the App downloaded on their phone. They can then share any listing details via Facebook,Twitter, e-mail or text to business colleagues, friends and followers. These particular attributes introduce your listing to a potentially massive audienceat the tap of the screen. Additional touch screen connectivity includes Call Now, View Location (on map), and Visit Website, all of which give your potential customers the easiest and often the fastest routes to contact you. The best thing to do is download one of the Apps, have a browse through it and if there is a event or listing you would like us to include, visit our web site and fill in the free Directory Listing form and submit.

It goes without saying that you should check us, and our news and views, out on Facebook- and hit the LIKE button and we're on Twitter @MarineBlastM or visit our website and join our email list to keep up with all the news about sailing apps. We have a whole section dedicated to bringing you some of the best sailing apps around for you to download. Feel free to submit ones you find and like.

Search "Marine Blast Directories” on iTunes or the Android Market. There are currently two Directory Apps, so make sure you download the right one. England & Wales Directory are rolled into one Directory and Scotland has a stand-alone Directory.

Winter Sailing

In the Caribbean. Apparently this is two ex-Sigma sailors who have been slumming it on Sojana and were 2nd, by 1 point in the Superyachts Challenge. The first prize is a cask of rum (since if you're on a Superyacht I imagine you have more Rolexes than you know what to do with) and one would conclude that 2nd prize must be two casks of rum as seen here. Now these here Superyachts. Why don't more of us do this kind of thing? You can charter Sojana (pictured below) for a mere 53,000 euros a week. Between 8 guests that should be ok, no? Incidentally she's a Farr 35m (115ft) owned by Peter Harrison. Do your own google to see more pictures.

photo credit: Christophe Jounay

FFs 2012

The Holy Loch Flying Fifteens had one of the the best regular turnouts of any racing group on the Clyde last year and are at it again. The 2012 Travellers Series is more or less organised and details can be found on www.flyingfifteenscotland.co.uk. John Orr hopes to get confirmation soon of a May event over on the east coast (wherever that is !). The series will also extend into Englandshire with a visit to Derwent Reservoir in July and Helensburgh Regatta is also on the agenda. In adition to these new venues the word is that there will be more new faces this year.Hyde Sails will be the headline sponsor again and Samteq, web developers based at Holy Loch, continue to assist with provision of the website.

Breaking The Ice

FYC in conjunction with main sponsors Clyde Marina, and Geronimo Sailing School announce the 2012 Ice Breaker Regatta and Training Weekend to be held at Clyde Marina, Ardrossan with the assistance of the RYA.
The main aim of this event is to help you get your boat and crew in shape before the race season on the Clyde and as before some of the best coaches around have been enlisted, namely Barry Dunning, RYA Keelboat Coach and the irrepressible John Highcock of Saturn Sails along with sail gurus from North Sails and Hyde.

It's a two day event with the same format http://www.ryascotland.org.uk/aboutus/bigweekend/Pages/default.aspxboth days with a Barry Dunning briefing at 9am in Cecchinis bistro and a series of short sharp practice races, run by Pete Wright starting at 10.30. There is coaching on the water followed by debriefing and video analysis of the day at 4pm and finally a prizegiving on Sunday.

FYC has noted the rise of an SB3 fleet on the Clyde and would like to invite these boats to get in touch and they will try to organise separate starts and class coaching if numbers permit.

Berthing for the weekend will be free. For additional berthing requirements, please contact the Marina.
The official entry form and race instructions will be on the FYC website soon.

Additionally: On 7th or 8th April, an IRC weigh in will help optimize your IRC handicap rating before the season starts. Please let Chris Dodgshon at Clyde Marina know if you wish to attend so he can finalize numbers and cost per boat.

Chas adds- This has been a really enjoyable and helpful event in the past and if you haven't tried it you should. I know it's a long way from the hallowed waters of the East Patch but it's worth the trip.

Helensburgh Winter Series

HSC once again invites sailors of anything from Oppies to Cats to their Open Winter Series 2012. Enter on the day and entry includes temporary HSC membership and boat storage for the duration. It's fortnightly - Feb 5th , 19th, March 4th , 18th. 2 races pers day first start 12.45. Entry for the whole thing £35 or £25 for HSC members. Bargain!

click the pic of HSC's cool new clubhouse for more info

Chas, the author of this site, is owner of Troikka an Elan 37 which along with his family and mates he races and cruises from the Clyde. I'd be interested in any comments on the site and will respond to any questions. If you are new to sailing on the Clyde and have any questions or interest please email me. I'll either try to answer them myself or point you to someone who can. You can use the reply page to email me.