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Testing conditions again at Forfar Loch PDF Print E-mail
Written by Graham Topping & Malcolm Heron   
Monday, 21 July 2008
Despite the blustery conditions four boats took to the water for the first race in the third Tuesday night series on 15th July . The three lasers sailed by Peter Tait, Graeme Knox and Malcolm Heron and the Enterprise sailed by Tony Walker and Laura Geddes kept close together for most of the first beat until a jib sheet jammed during a tack and the Enterprise capsized. The Lasers began to pull away with Graeme taking best advantage until the start of the reach on the next leg when he then capsized ,  allowing Malcolm to pull clear. The Enterprise took some time to get upright and empty the water out, effectively putting an end to Tony and Laura's chances. Peter and Graeme kept up a close battle, each capsizing a couple of times to give the other hope. Malcolm managed to stay upright for the entire race and won by default. At the end Graeme was just ahead of Peter and they finished second and third respectively. All the sailors agreed that while the conditions were challenging it had been a highly enjoyable race.

The third Pursuit Series of the season got under way on Thursday. Five boats took part in a light easterly breeze.  Graham Topping in his Heron started first followed 9 minutes later by Brian Finnie in his Europe and two minutes after that the three Lasers of Craig Knox, Alan Cairns and Malcolm Heron set off in pursuit. Nobody managed to get anywhere close to the Heron and Graham chalked up another victory. Brian managed to stay ahead of the Lasers for much of the race but was eventually caught by Malcolm who powered off to take second place. At the end Brian, Craig and Alan were having a very close fight for third, which finished with Alan in third, Craig in fourth and Brian in fifth.

Sunday sailing started with the morning practice session in a blustery North Westerly. This gave the single handers practice at swimming whilst Graham Topping's Drascombe sailed with jib and mizzen only, the direction of travel largely governed by which sail each gust hit.

The afternoon races saw the wind continuing to give more than enough opportunities for white knuckles and several capsizes. In the first race Brian Finnie (Europe), Tony Cook and Peter Tait (both Lasers) all saw action in the water. Jim Green & Ailie McMin in the Wayfarer had to sort out the knots that a wildly flapping sail had created, which slowed them enough to let the Drascombe beat them on handicap. Tony finally came first, Brian second , the Drascombe third and the Wayfarer fourth. Peter had to forgo completing the race to rescue the safety boat (I'm sure that's not the way round it should be!).

The second race saw no lessening in wind strength - basically a good force 3 come 4 with heavy gusts. The rising ground to the north of the loch caused some interesting variations in wind direction when the gusts touched down on the surface of the water. All points of sailing were available on any leg, often with very little advance warning! After Peter demonstrated his water start, three boats successfully completed the race with Brian first, the Wayfarer second, and the Drascombe third. We also managed to find Tony Cook's tiller extension which had parted from his boat during a hectic tack, forcing Tony's early retiral.

We are hoping for something a little less challenging next week.
Last Updated ( Monday, 21 July 2008 )
 
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