The RWYC Kip Regatta was a very breezy and quite arduous affair. By the end of
it I was so knackered that I had no energy left to post anything here on time.
In fact I was so brain dead that I didn't even write down any results but you
can find them all here. As to the hoped for photos we were just working so
hard that there was no opportunity for photography - sorry about that.
Saturday morning dawned with sunshine and with 20-25knots directly up the firth
the windward leeward course was set from just off the marina down to the Wemyss
Bay area. The wind in that direction resulted in quite a heavy chop making things
difficult for short boats like Troy. There were 10 starters in class 2, the slowest
boat being Charity on .967 up to Tundra,Hops, Salamander, Eland, Eauvation, Enigma
38,Jezebel, Miss Tuttles an SJ320 and Running Bear, one of the new 27.7s. It was
a long course and the beats were a slog. With a reef in the new kevlar main and
No3 we survived the first race on Troy but I was not feeling confident being first
time out and in similar conditions to those in which we lost the rig last year.
However we were delighted to welcome on board Nigel Theadom who through his company
Rig Magic, the sole UK agent for Nordic Mast had supplied our new rig and had
very kindly travelled up especially to sail with us. Big Nige as he is known down
on the East Coast for fairly obvious reasons is something of cleaner-up down there
with his series of boats named Crikey, the latest of which is an X332.
There would have been two 1720s out had not Colin McDonald in Incognito broken
a gooseneck shroud just before the start. As it was the sportboat class comprised
King Quick and an RS K6. The only new interest in Class 1 as far as I was concerned
was Absolutely 2 a Mumm 36 from the Forth and it certainly looked the part. There
was also a new Crackerjack big white Swan thing but we paid it no attention
There was a huge and inexplicable delay to starting the second race since the
wind direction seemed pretty constant to us. Lots of boats were lurking in the
the slight shelter afforded by the power station pier. We had been keeping an
eye out for Class 1 sails going up and it was not until Bateleur went past, obviously
racing that we realised we had missed the signals -along with several other Class
1 entries. We just made it across the line in time then suddenly the clew pulled
out of the jib and we were forced to retire. Apparently it blew even harder up
to 30kn with allegedly some even stronger gusts as well as some squally rain.
I heard that Salamander saw some high teens speed in some scary near nosediving
running. Donald Sharp wisely decided not to risk Tundra's rig/kite so close to
the Scottish. Sigma 33 Phoenix lost her mast - I heard a rumour that she had some
kind of structural bulkhead failure. Inevitably Andy Malcolm and his North Sails
loft were busy overnight with repairs. The scene in the Chartroom that night was
much as usual for this regatta. I suspect I was not the only one who was feeling
less energetic than might otherwise have been the case. It was certainly excessively
hot now that opening of windows is forbidden lest residents of the new Kip Village
object that the sound of general merriment prevents them hearing the clanking
of halyards.
It turned out that Ian McLaughlin and other ex Rockin Horse crew had been aboard
Charity and this had clearly made an impression on them. Ian appeared to have
become completely deranged by the (wet) experience as he was claiming that his
next boat was to be not a 27.7 but a Bavaria 32. I was also surprised to see Howard
Morrison in Enigma, previously a consistent top ranker in the Sigma 36, so far
down the field in conditions which I thought would have suited a Sigma 38.
Sunday was a good bit less averaging around 17-20kn and Troy was in much better
form. Our old adversaries in the Cara-van came to play having been unable to take
part the previous day. For the second race the wind dropped off hugely for a time
- the first beat was a horrible hobbyhorsing up the chop with insufficient breeze.
Headsail changes were necessarybut it soon filled in again with accompanying rain/hail.
We were pleased to finish 8 secs on corrected time behind Tundra and to get a
lot of distance on the half tonner Jezebel which had taken us apart on Saturday.
At the handout of the tinware Class 1 was a Swan 1-2 by Sloop John T and Crackerjack,
with Bateleur in 3rd. Class 2 and regatta overall was won by Tundra with 4 1sts.
Charity finished well up the ranking on her remarkable handicap but she did race
around pretty much in isolation. The First 27.7 put in a disappointing showing.
It was not quick upwind and did nothing to retrieve the situation downwind. I
expect they are very new to the boat. There was only a small entry in Class 3
CYCA and that was won by Maegera over Swedish Lady. A few hardy Sonatas were seen
and there was a handful out in Class 4 - a couple of Boleros but that class unsurprisingly
was won by Sambuca, the Moody 33 conservatory. My main complaint was of the Sigma
33s as usual cluttering up the start line when it's not their turn. Our start
in the last race was completely ruined by Carmen who was dithering about dead
on the run-in to the the line without a jib up and we ended up in a barging position
and forced off the pin (quite rightly) by Tundra. No awards for guessing which
Sigma won the half model.
