One of the key Clyde sailing events, the 2004 Largs Regatta pretty much lived up to expectations with wind and sunshine most of the time and importantly, a complete absence of rain, which, in view of the preceding week was quite remarkable. Largs Sailing Club along with Largs Marina have got this event well sorted and we certainly enjoyed it. The Clydesailing perspective is from the IRC fleet which for Saturday's laid mark racing was sailing on a different course from the CYCA crowd although both were held in the same general area aound the north end of the Cumbrae while the dinghies, as usual, were racing in the Largs channel. The wind was little slow to pick up but fleet 'A' race officer Martin Nichol was on the case and managed to get the starts going with no postponement as the forecast moderate north westerly gradually appeared. Class 1 had an excellent 17 entries, reflecting the general economic prosperity and the consequent popularity of modern yachts of over 37 feet or so. An interesting exception to this would be 'Celtic Fury' the anonymously painted IOR One Tonner of Martin Goodlad of Peterhead. The rumour we heard was that it had been obtained for Sonata type money and it looked quite different (if attractive to this writer's eye) amongst the fleet of big-budget modern cruiser racers. In Class 2 where we were trying to pay attention there were 12 rather more varied entries ranging in size from Warthog, a Beneteau 25 up to Reindeer, an S&S Swan 43 and of all eras from Hops the old Davidson 36 up to the very recent Sunfast 37 Zara of Doom. Anyway it started very light, then picked up a bit to around 12 knots and stayed that way for the 2 races which ran back to back with no problem and that was more or less that. Reindeer did a great bit of spinnaker shredding due more, it seemed to us, to operator error than to wind strength but there was nothing particulaly exciting to report. As I said the sun stayed out and I was so busy trying to keep the new boat on its feet that I had no time to take any photos. Little Bear seemd to go ok but we'll need to find more heavy bodies to line the weather rail.

Howard Morrison has really got his Enigma Sigma 38 flying and went on to take both races possibly making it look easier than it actually was. Mark Allen in Eland and Fergus Crawford in Tartan Revolution were also going extremely well. Here are some results. I failed to note the Saturday Class 1 but you'll be able to see the whole thing on the Largs SC website..

A disappointing turnout from the sportsboats. Were they saving themselves for the 1720 Europeans or is Scottish sportboat interest declining?

Although rain was forecast for later, Sunday's round Cumbraes race started in fine sunshine and an early rather fickle north westerly breeze which dictated the northabout course. Tacking over to the Cumbrae shore proved the way to go and down the west side of the island the fleet enjoyed a pleasant spinnaker run. It all turned a bit messy through the Tan where large holes developed and this persisted all the way back. We were wallowing around very close to the shore at one point but patches of wind filled in here and there allowing continued, if highly frustrating progress to be made. Back at the Tan the Sigma 33 fleet caught up with us and made our lives difficult right up to the finish line. In the patch between the south end of the island and the ore terminal the fleet bunched up along with a lot of hapless dinghies and all arrived at the finish line in such a manner that a machine gun would have been more useful than a cannon. A race officer's nightmare finish and when I viewed the results board there were still some anomalies to be sorted. No results here but if you were to arrange the yachts in order of ascending handicap rating you wouldn't be too far wrong. Instead, hare are a few pictures.

Full results are on the Largs SC website

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