Christmas Regatta at Strathclyde Loch Sailing Club
by Crawford Reid 19 Dec 2011 07:13 GMT
18 December 2011
Early arrivals from as far afield as Manchester, Inverness and Argyll were greeted with a cold frost and much of the loch covered with a film of ice, but thanks to the diligent efforts of council staff, the launching area was cleared and an access route was provided to free sailing water.
Having overcome the most obvious hurdle, racing was postponed for one hour in the hope that the breeze would come in and allow some sort of racing, as it happened a fleet of some 53 boats congregated around the start area at the same time as what little wind there was, lifted and disappeared. At this point Principal Race Officer Santa Clause assisted by his snowman and elf helpers set a short course where conventional sailing rules were set aside and “pumping” “ouching” and “tiller wagging” was allowed, much to the delight of the Optimist and Topper fleet, unfortunately, they were not as well versed in this discipline as other classes and the title of “Champion Pumper” went to Andy McDade in his Laser.
After a sprinkle of “fairy dust” the breeze kicked in and allowed two proper races around a very short course, this made for exciting racing but a very stressful time for Mr Clause and his assistants trying to keep track of lap times and positions of all the various classes involved.
Racing concluded as the afternoon breeze blew its last and everyone wrapped up and adjourned for hot soup and rolls in the cafeteria. Prizes were presented by Commodore Bjorn Hanghoj who thanked everyone for their efforts in supporting the event including the staff at Strathclyde Park who helped make the whole event possible.
Overall Results:
Optimist Class
1st Claire Holliday (Loch Tummel SC)
2nd Sandy Simpson (Annandale SC)
3rd Hannah Scott (Loch Venice SC)
Laser Radials
1st Jack Aitkin (Helensburgh SC)
Slow Handicap
1st K and A Mitchell, N12 (Helensburgh SC)
2nd Graham McCubbin, Europe (Strathclyde Loch SC)
3rd Crawford and Malcom, N12 (Strathclyde Loch SC)
Fast Handicap
1st M and S Faulkener, RS200 (Largs SC)
2nd Kevin Gibb, Finn (Largo Bay SC)
3rd Andy McDade, Laser (Largs SC)