Holm Regatta at Holm Sailing Club

Action from the Holm Regatta © Andrew Leslie

Action from the Holm Regatta © Andrew Leslie

St Mary’s is a small village on the Eastern side of Scapa Flow. It is generally a quiet town in a rural part of Orkney. Holm Sailing Club has been based in St. Mary’s for nearly sixty years. The local sailing club has a small but active fleet of Snipe one design dinghies. Once a year the bunting goes up and the local sailing craft assemble for the Holm Regatta.

This year the regatta was held on Saturday 16th June. Various types of boat were present, some expecting to do well and collect some silverware, others just out for a good day’s sailing. Four Merlin Rockets were on the water, a welcome resurgence in a class with a long history in Orkney. A total of twelve Snipe took to the water. There was good representation from all of the Orkney sailing clubs. It was great to see John Love again, making his annual pilgrimage to Orkney from Budworth Sailing Club.

The wind picked up during the day, giving fast and challenging conditions for most of the boats. An Olympic Triangle course was set, with the snipes and mixed centreboards having two morning races followed by a long Allcomers race in the afternoon. The Yoles had a single race in the morning and a single race in the afternoon.

Morning

Two back to back races were held in the morning. The mixed centreboards went out first, then the snipes. The Yoles had a single race, three laps round a triangular course.

The racing was very close within the Snipe fleet, Neil Foubister’s new No Fear won the first race, finishing ahead of Go Quickly Red. The second race had the same three leading boats, Moonstone came in first, followed by No Fear and then Go Quickly Red. This left No Fear with the win, on 2.75 points.

The Mixed centreboard class was quite different, with a wide range of sailing craft taking part. The fastest boats of the fleet were the two 505s, there were also Merlin Rockets, Lasers, a Fireball and an Albacore. Davy Sabiston’s 505, Best Kens, finished both races well ahead of the fleet. Best Kens was beaten due to handicap in both races by Brian and David Pottinger sailing the Albacore Barbarian.

On corrected time, Best Kens finished second with the Merlin Rocket Ella finishing third. Ella, sailed by Harcus Hutchison and Callum Rendall, won the Merlin Rocket class, finishing well ahead of Brian Kent’s Rural Girl. Souper Trouper, a new Merlin Rocket to Orkney, finished third after having to do some serious bailing in the first race.

Afternoon

The afternoon race was longer, two laps round the same course. The start line was extended to allow space for all the boats to start together. Best Kens completed the course first, nearly six minutes ahead of Barbarian. This was not enough to beat Barbarian, or the Snipe Go Quickly Red and No Fear. Barbarian won the race, with Go Quickly Red second and No Fear third. Best Kens was fourth overall.

Barbarian successfully won both the Mixed Centreboard and Allcomers races, as she did last year.

Yoles

Two Yoles’ races were held, both long triangular courses. It was great to see five of these bonny boats take part in the racing. Steven Flett sailed Lily to win both races. Mohican, sailed by Angus Budge finished both races second. It is always a fine sight to see the traditional wooden boats racing among the faster fibreglass dinghies.

The regatta was a great success, many people helped with the event. Many thanks to all those involved; the ladies, who provided a great spread of food at lunch time, the time keepers, Alfie Flett, Jim MacDonald, all the competitors as well as many others who helped make the event run smoothly.

Overall Results:

Mixed Centreboards
1st Barbarian, Brian Pottinger and David Pottinger
2nd Best Kens, Davy Sabiston and Michael Swanney
3rd Ella, Harcus Hutchison and Callum Rendall

Snipes
1st No Fear, Neil Foubister and Thorfinn Johnstone
2nd Moonstone, Andrew Leslie and Rachel Roberts
3rd Go Quickly Red, Malcolm Tipler and Paula Hemsley

Merlin Rockets
1st Ella, Harcus Hutchison and Callum Rendall
2nd Rural Girl, Brian Kent and Kerry Michie
3rd Souper Trouper, Alaric and Mikhail

Allcomers
1st Barbarian, Brian and David Pottinger
2nd Go Quickly Red, Malcolm Tippler and Paula Hemsley
3rd No Fear, Neil Foubister and Thorfinn Johnstone
1st Snipe in allcomers, Go Quickly Red

Yoles, Morning Race
1st Lily, S. Flett, W. Tulloch and I. Montgomery
2nd Mohican, Angus Budge and crew
3rd Helga, W. Black, P. Tulloch, S. Sinclair

Yoles, Afternoon Race
1st Lily, S. Flett, W. Tulloch and I. Montgomery
2nd Mohican, Angus Budge and crew
3rd Lizzie II, R. Wilson, A. Wilson