The entry was down (what's new?) for this year's Bute Regatta but that didn't spoil the enjoyment for those who made the effort to show up for a race rather than go poncing around at the Southampton Boat Show. Always an event favoured by Sigma 33s, only 5 were in evidence. The IRC class was match racing between Sigma 38s Fortitude and Enigma while in CYCA by dint of active persuasion and promises of crew sharing we also had 5 competitors. The sportboat class was a no show.

The grey start to Saturday soon cleared to glorious sunshine with light flukey breezes under 10knots. With constantly varying directions the race committee had a difficult job setting a square line but set the first race away on time. It was most useful for those of us following to see Blues and Razzmatazz stuck in a deep hole on the north shore and picking a way through the always moving bands of wind seemed the only way to go. In mid afternoon it looked like the wind was going to fail completely but not to be fazed, the race officer just upped sticks and moved the whole course out to the Toward area where the breeze was persisting. With this no- messing approach the prescribed 3 races were completed even if some comprised only 2 short beats.
The Sigma 33s were enjoying their close processional racing. In the last race the White Tub was OCS, went back, was still OCS and restarted a third time well behind the others. Much to everyone's astonishment the Tubs pulled it all back and won.
In CYCA we were pleased to see Ian McLaughlan's Mustang 30 Rockin' Horse finally sailing as she should. This is a specimen that has never performed properly ever since new and now suddenly, with a new 150% genoa, she has all the pointing and boatspeed that the design is renowned for and that, it has to be admitted, came as a bit of a fright to us on Troy. Chris Harvey's unusual Norwegian Grinde half tonner was out, showing that she is a lot faster than the double ended looks might suggest to the casual observer and the class was completed with the Impala 'Fly' visiting from Oban and the Etchells 'Out of the Blue'.



Regrettably, some of the CYCA crews had gone over to Rothesay on the Friday night and as a consequence of their exertions then, followed by a busy day's racing, were unable to enjoy the full extent of the entertainment that Rothesay has to offer on a Saturday night.
As Sunday did not look at all promising with dense mist and invisible ferries the committee wisely decide to keep everyone in the harbour until the clag lifted. This it did about 11am and racing got underway with the windward mark off the Port Bannatyne shore. The breeze filled in a bit better than on Saturday and again 3 short sharp races were the order of the day. The short courses made starts vital and one wrong move could be fatal. Although the corrrected times might suggest that the races were too short to be worthwhile it was as close as handicap racing gets and we all enjoyed it immensely. Handicap results in full are below. Troy wrested the CYCA prize from Rockin' Horse by just one point and White Tub took it for the Sigmas. I think Howard Morrison in Enigma beat Fortitude in all races except the last.

Our thanks to CCC Race Secretary Alan Rennie and his team for making the most of the conditions and giving us all an excellent regatta and also to Boyd Tunnock who had Lemarac on duty and who sent round packs of his excellent product in the mark laying RIB.

I don't have the Sigma 33 results for Suturday but here are Sunday's placings with the weekend overall.

Sigma 33 R4	R5	R6	Sigma33 overall
White Tub	White Tub	White Tub	White Tub
Razzmatazz	Razz	Razzmatazz	Misbehavin
Blues	Blues	Rajah	Rajah
Misbehavin	Misbehavin	Misbehavin	Blues
Rajah	Rajah	Blues (OCS)	Razzmatazz