Tag: regatta

TSC Regatta 2015 – Race Report

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TSC Regatta 2015It was a wild and windy weekend at Toward for the Club’s annual regatta. With the forecast for Saturday being particularly poor the decision was taken to abandon any thoughts of trying to run the first race of the weekend, while fingers were firmly crossed that Sunday would be better. Luck was in and, although it was still fairly windy, a welcome appearance by the sun tempted out a hardy bunch of sailors. With discretion being the better part of valour several competitors decided to down-size, abandoning their own boats and jumping into the club’s training boats.

DSCN4003In the race for keelboats and Flying Fifteens it was Roddy McTaggart from IOBSC that had the outstanding sail of the morning keeping pace with both Alasdair Finlay in his Moody 336, Saorsa and Ruairidh Campbell’s Voila. These three boats led the way throughout, extending their lead as the race went on. In the end the morning’s race was won by Saorsa by a fairly narrow margin over Voila.

In the dinghy class, of the seven starters only four recorded a finish. With two premature starters and one failing to finish it was Alasdair McLean in a club Topper who picked up the points with Bute’s Yasmin Price sailing a stormer to finish second in her Oppi, Wave Dancer.

Toward Sailing Club SCIO Regatta 2015Conditions changed little in the afternoon and once again the battle for the lead amongst the keelboats was between Saorsa and Voila. On this occasion the places were reversed which, when the last race rule was applied, saw the silverware go to Voila despite being on equal points with Saorsa. There was a similar situation between Simon Howard’s Serendipity and Douglas Hillhous’s Gimcrack with third place going to Serendipity.

The dingy fleet again battled the conditions with Fiona Mackay in a club Pico showing everyone how it should be done.

TSC Regatta 2015She and her crew took the lead from the start and by the end of the course had a massive lead over her nearest rival. At the end of the day it was consistency that paid off, and with a first and a second it was Alasdair McLean who claimed the silverware.

This year the Club also hosted one leg of the Skiff Travellers Series. In this event the conditions proved too much for some while being a delight for others. This class also went to countback for third place while Jonno Shelley finished first.

 

RESULTS

Inaugural Trophy for Handicap Keelboats

Position Name
1st Voila, R. Campbell TSC
2nd Saorsa, A. Finlay TSC
3rd Serendipity, S. Howard TSC

Piper Trophy for Flying Fifteens

Position Name
1st Gentle Maid, R. McTaggart IOBSC
2nd Effortless, A. Marshall, IOBSC

Royal Bar Trophy for slow handicap dinghies

Position Name
1st Topper, A. McLean TSC
2nd Cosmic Debris, K. Baird-Dean TSC
3rd Wave Dancer, Y. Price IOBSC

Skiff Class

Position Name
1st Jonno Shelley IOBSC
2nd N. Towart HLSC
3rd K. Holliday

Royal Bar Shield for the best overall performance by a senior

Position Name
1st R. McTaggart IOBSC

Gleaner Quaich for the best overall performance by a junior

Position Name
1st Y. Price IOBSC

TSC Regatta Winners 2015

Regatta 2015 Update

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****** UPDATE on TSC(SCIO) 45th Annual Regatta 2015 ******

“As a result of an extremely bad forecast for Saturday, the decision has been taken to cancel Saturday’s race. However it is hoped to race on Sunday as planned. Entries will be accepted up until 9.00am on the Sunday morning and there will be no late entry fee.
Hope to see you there.”

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Regatta 2014 – Results and News

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Saturday and Sunday marked Toward sailing Club’s 44th annual regatta. With classes catering for everything from keelboats to Oppies there was a fine mixture of boats on show throughout the weekend. Saturday’s race began with plenty of wind, in fact a little too much for some, however shortly after the start of the Keelboat class it vanished completely. Just when the Race Officer was beginning to tear his hair out it filled in again and held steady for the rest of the race. A spell of spectacularly heavy rain arrived towards the end of the race but at least the sailors could come ashore to burgers and hotdogs provided by the hard working kitchen crew. Sunday dawned brighter and drier than the previous day but with even more wind. This time it blew from the south adding waves to further test the already challenged dinghy sailors. What proved to be a cracking sail for the keelboats turned into a war of attrition for the dinghies with less than half the starters making it to the finish. In all the classes consistency proved to be the key factor. In the keelboat class Ruairidh Campbell in his First 29, Voila notched up three firsts to secure first overall. Similar results were achieved by Neil Towart in the Fast Handicap class, Alasdair Ireland in the Flying Fifteens and Yasmin Price in the Oppies. It was only among the slow handicap dinghies that wins were shared around. The weekend ended with a splendid spread of baking provided by the members, followed by the prize giving.

RESULTS

Class1 – Keelboats

1st          Voila (First 29), R. Campbell, TSC

2nd        Saorsa (Moody 336), G. Finlay, TSC

3rd         Gimcrack (GK 24), D. Hillhouse, TSC

Class 2 – Flying Fifteens

1st          Ragamuffin, A. Ireland, HLSC

2nd        Gentle Maid ,R. McTaggart, IOBSC

3rd         Effortless, A. Marshall, IOBSC

Class 3 – fast Handicap Dinghies

1st          Stubborn Tart (ISO), N. Towart, HLSC

2nd        Dr Feelgood (Contender), J. Orr, TSC

3rd         Nae Loser (Laser), A. McLean, TSC

Class 4 – Slow Handicap Dinghies

1st          Topper, D. Baird-Dean, TSC

2nd        Lucky (Topper), K. Baird-Dean, TSC

3rd         Topper, N. Campbell, TSC

Best Senior Result – Neil Towart, IOBSC

Best Junior Result – Y. Price, IOBSC

 

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My Regatta 2014

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Regatta 2014

A personal account by Kriss Baird-Dean

Well the day of my first Regatta dawned.  I was up at 6 to look at what the wind was doing – of course I knew it would change but at 6 it was strangely calm.  Too calm!

We headed down to the Club full of trepidation and met up with the other competitors for Class 4 that we knew from the club.  Connor and his sister Beth were there already and equally as nervous as me.  We started to set up our boats and pulled everything tight as we had been taught, ready for the windy conditions.

At around 1.30pm we all started to launch in order to get to the start on time.  It was windy but thankfully the waves were not too big as the East wind had come across land and not had the chance to whip the waves to any height.   Arriving at the start was fine and we were happily reaching up and down when all of a sudden Connor and I got tangled up and my wind burgee got bent in the ensuing chaos.  As Connor tried to free himself, he fell in!   I was sure the final signal would go before we were ready.  All was ok though and he got back into his Pico.  Meanwhile time was passing by; it was getting near to the final signal when Beth said she felt unwell and retired from the race along with Connor.  Dave meanwhile came over and fixed my wind burgee.  Thank goodness as without it I could not tell the wind shifts apart!  Finally the lights extinguished and we were away!  It was very hard going getting up to the first mark and Dave capsized a few times on the way!  I kept going and focused on the most direct route to the mark.  I was sure I would be fine if I could just get round the first mark.  Finally I got round and headed up to the” I” buoy.  After that everything went well and I passed the Mirror from Bute and sailed on into the lead!!!  I was amazed and overjoyed to win the first race of my first regatta!

The second day arrived and we were slightly more confident.  For the first race I decided, on advice from Fiona, to put a reef in.  I’m glad I did as once out there it was manic!  The waves were much bigger than yesterday and again I was nervous as I desperately wanted to at least finish the race.  We all got round the first mark “A” and were headed up to the “I” mark when the wind dropped!  Naomi and I could only watch in horror as Dave took his reef out and stormed ahead.  Naomi was in front of me too and with the reef in I could not catch her.  As we rounded the last but one mark the wind picked up again ad we finished the race at speed!  I recorded 3rd place and Dave won with Naomi coming 2nd.

We all went to the club house for a splendid lunch and then it was back out for the final race.  It was 1 a piece for me and Dave so this was it!!  I got a flying start!  I tried to concentrate and not think of winning!  I kept going in challenging conditions, having opted not to reef this time, my brave little topper Lucky carried me round the first part of the course with no problems.  Going into the last part of the race on the run to mark “A” the water kept coming in over the front and I edged my way further back, round the “A” and onto the I – I knew if I could get round the”I” mark I could win!  But as I got nearer the waves were bigger and bigger and Lucky kept filling up with water.  I pressed on with the self-bailer doing its job.  Finally as I got near the ”I” mark the wind had changed slightly and my tack didn’t work and Naomi and I both ended up in irons unable to tack away from the mark.  I watched in horror as Dave, having realised the wind had changed, took a longer line out and rounded the mark before me.  Finally I righted my wrong and got round the final mark, but too late I had lost my lead at the last mark.  I had an interesting run in as the waves were by now huge and I surfed rather than sailed into the finish line taking 2nd place screaming all the way in!  It was an exhilarating finish!

Even though I lost the last race and therefore didn’t win the class I had a brilliant weekend and still cannot believe that after only a year of sailing I competed in a real Regatta and came 2nd in Class 4!!  Last year, I was helping out at the Regatta on one of the safety boats and had you told me I would be competing the following year I would not have believed you!  Many thanks go to Fiona and Alasdair at the club for the training we received, they have been so encouraging.   If you are reading this wondering whether to come and give it a try, I can’t recommend Toward Sailing club highly enough, it is a great place filled with great people all so encouraging and wanting you to succeed.  If you are an old hand at sailing, I apologise for my suspect terminology!

All in all a great weekend, thanks to all the club members behind the scenes that enabled us to have such a great time, and Dave, I’ll be looking to beat ya next year!!!!…….