Albacore Scottish Travellers at Invergordon Boating Club
by Dave Bilsland 26 May 2011 08:04 BST
21-22 May 2011
The weekend of 21st and 22nd of May saw a first for Invergordon Boating Club. With a growing home fleet, Invergordon held their first Scottish Albacore travellers event. Sponsorship from CS Boats who specialise in fitting out Albacores allowed us to invite Michael McNamara to run a training day.
The high winds and rain on the morning of the training day meant that on the water activities were not possible; so the morning was filled with shore based sessions. Fortunately the wind eased in the afternoon which allowed a full on the water programme to be undertaken.
Sunday saw the first appearance of the sun and a sailable breeze, which was forecast to increase as the day wore on. A rectangular course was set for the first race and after some close racing Crawford Reid emerged as the winner followed by Phil Hermiston and Michael McNamara.
The second race followed the first and a windward leeward course was set in the rising wind. Michael McNamara established an early lead and Phil Hermiston, Neil Cormack and Dave Allen closely contested the minor placings, meanwhile Crawford Reid was working hard to make up for his premature start. Michael McNamara maintained his lead and was followed home by Phil Hermiston. A swim had unfortunately moved Neil Cormack down the field and Crawford Reid managed to fight his way up to third place.
With the steadily increasing wind the race officer decided that this was an opportune moment to take lunch and as the wind continued to increase racing had to be abandoned for the day. This left three boats tied on four points and the tiebreak gave Michael McNamara the CS Boats Quaich. Crawford Reid and Phil Hermiston filled the rest of the podium.
Overall Results:
1st 1924, Michael McNamara, 4pts
2nd 6703, Crawford Reid, 4pts
3rd 6942, Phil Hermiston, 4pts
4th 6696, Dave Allen, 9pts
5th 8156, Neil Cormack, 9pts