Holm 60th Anniversary Regatta at Holm Sailing Yacht

Racing at the 60th Anniversary Holm Regatta © Andrew Leslie

Racing at the 60th Anniversary Holm Regatta © Andrew Leslie

Racing at the 60th Anniversary Holm Regatta © Andrew Leslie

The 60th Anniversary Holm Regatta was held on Saturday 22nd August 2009. The fresh Westerly breeze provided fine conditions for the various races. The bright sunny weather made the sailing a fine spectacle for those watching as well as the competitors. Among the spectators were Alfie Flett and Ally Kirkpatrick, both of whom competed in the first Holm Regatta in 1949.

Mixed Centreboards

The mixed centreboards were made up of a wide range of different sailing craft, from the fast Catamaran to the more sedate Wayfarer. Nine boats took part in three races. The catamaran Plum Crazy finished all three races first, but the handicap system gave the fist places to Peter mills’ Albacore Ginger Nuts in the first race, David Sabiston’s 505 Evil Edna in the second race and Michael Millers’ Wayfarer Andante in the third race. The overall win went to Andante.

Snipe

The Snipe Class racing is always the most important event at Holm Regatta and this year was no exception. Each year the standard of competition improves, it becomes more and more difficult to get hold of the coveted Snipe Trophy. This year 18 boats took part in three back to back races.

The first race was won by Neil Foubister’s No Fear. Mark Taylor’s Wild Goose of Stromness was close behind. Wild Goose won the second and third races to get the overall trophy. Second place went to James Burgon’s Bonxie and third was Malcolm Tipler in Go Quickly Red.

Old Wood

Three old wooden snipes were launched to take part in the racing. Unfortunately Jim MacDonald’s Margarita was taking in considerable quantities of water so was unable to compete. Fleetwing was sailed by Freddy Johnston with his son Bruce as crew. The Johnston family has been involved with the Holm Club since the very early days. Valhalla was sailed by Alan Aim. Valhalla finished ahead of Fleetwing, so was awarded a bottle of whisky.

Both Fleetwing and Valhalla were built in Burray at Duncan’s boatyard, in the 1950s and 1960s. Margarita was home built in the 60s. It is impressive to see the old wooden boats competing against the modern fibreglass boats.

Allcomers

The Allcomers race was held after a lunch break, this was a longer course and included all the competing boats. Amongst the usual dinghies was a catamaran and a yole. After handicap the first three places all went to Snipe; Neil Foubister’s No Fear won the race with Malcolm Tipler’s Go Quickly Red a few seconds behind. Andrew Leslie’s Moonstone finished third. The first non-snipe finisher was David Sabiston’s 505 Best Ken’s which came in second across the line, but 6th on handicap.

Full results from the regatta can be seen on the Holm Sailing Club website.