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| Old hands and newcomers take to the water at Forfar |
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| Written by Graeme Knox | |
| Monday, 02 June 2008 | |
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The club was open early on Sunday 1st June to allow open sailing for newcomers who enjoyed bright sunshine and a breezy easterly wind during the morning. Many regulars were away but numbers were boosted by several newer members keen to try racing in the afternoon.
In the first race, with no Enterprises or Solos present, the weather played into the hands of the two Laser sailors, Peter Tait and Graeme Knox, who paced each other and took 1st and 2nd places. Garry Rucklidge in his classic Firefly held his own against a Wayfarer (Jim Green), Laser Radial (Charlie Wintle) and Mirror Miracle (John Main) to take a well deserved third. Peter was unable to make the second race but numbers were kept up by the inclusion of a 470, another unusual boat for the loch, sailed by David Wintle. Again Lasers led the fleet. Graeme Knox got a good start and managed to hold on for a first place. Some were unlucky and sailed into calm spots and the fleet was quite separated at the finish. Charlie Wintle, Laser Radial, stayed ahead of his dad in the 470 for almost the entire race until an untimely moment, seconds from the end, saw him stall and let the larger boat past. Charlie’s misfortune led to tricky calculator work for race officer Graham Topping to work out corrected time. Without going into tenths of seconds the Radial had tied with the Wayfarer of Jim Green, thus the unusual declaration of joint 2nd was made. This was the end of the first Sunday series which was was won by Graeme Knox with Garry Rucklidge in second. On Tuesday 27th May after a strong and gusty easterly wind through the day 5 boats launched but only three brave (or foolhardy depending on viewpoint) sailors actually started the evening race. Malcolm Heron and Graeme Knox, the club heavyweight Laser sailors, rounded the windward mark ahead of lighter but very capable Brian Finnie in his Europe. In a race where mistakes were to count, Brian first misjudged a tack in front of Malcolm shortly after the start and had to do a set of two penalty turns. Then it was Malcolm's turn to be unlucky when he hit the next mark and needed to sail clear to complete a fast, scary 360 which allowed Graeme through to the lead. The course included a long run and Graeme caught some exceptional gusts to plane almost continuously away while Brian remained relatively close to Malcolm but then Graeme failed to capitalise to extend his lead over Malcolm as both Lasers gradually pulled away from Brian. All three battled increasing winds and inevitably the elements claimed a victim. While planing fast downwind Graeme was hit by a swirling gust which literally came without warning and he went over on the wrong side forcing a double righting manoeuvre. Malcolm cannily stayed the right way up and sailed past Graeme to win by less than one second on corrected time over Brian, who had also stayed upright throughout, in second place. In a very light easterly breeze, the pursuit series on Thursday 29th May had many of the usual participants moving slowly alongside a less frequently seen Laser 2000 helmed by Robin Porter. The race was relatively uneventful and fluky winds made tactical decisions a bit of a lottery. However the first three places went to experienced sailors, showing that planning, anticipation, local knowledge and sheer cunning pays off as yet unbeaten Graham Topping (Heron) was first, Brian Finnie (Europe) second and Malcolm Heron (Laser) third. |
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