Jura Scottish Series Day 1 - Favourites don't have it easy
by Andi Robertson 22 May 21:13 BST
22-25 May 2026
IRC 1 leader Mocking J on day 1 of Jura Scottish Series 2026 © Andrew Wallace Photography
An excellent first day of racing at the 2026 Jura Scottish Series saw competition at its most open for some years, many of 2025's winners discovering how hard they will need to push if they are to retain their class titles.
Operational efficiency on the water was complemented by solid 10-15kts SW'ly breezes across the Loch Fyne race areas which meant three fast, tight windward-leeward races had been completed even before 1445hrs for the One Design and IRC 1 classes. This left ample time to recover before enjoying Tarbert's shoreside offerings.
Shelleys shine
While the One Design classes all saw different teams win each of the three races, in IRC Class 1 Ben Shelley's Clyde based J/109 Mocking J won two races out of three to lead the class ahead of last year's Scottish Series Trophy winner, the Irish J/109 Something Else of Brian Hall.
Mocking J is very much a family team based out of Fairlie. Owner Ben's daughter Kate and son Jamie sail on board and brother Jono a noted Musto Skiff and VXOne sailor steers. Musto Skiff ace Jamie Hilton calls tactics.
Ben Shelley enthused, "We are going quick so today it was a combination of good decisions and good boatspeed today. There were a few rusty corners which we got away with. We hope to do well here but at our last regatta two weeks ago we were last, I mean completely last at the Kip regatta. We had three really good races, perfect Tarbert, Loch Fyne races 10-15 knots, it was fantastic racing. There were some tricky shifts, lots of streaky bands it was a lot about joining the dots. And we sail with a symmetrical spinnaker and that really paid today no doubt about it. We were pointing the mark and the others were zipping around."
They lead Something Else by four points, Robin Young's Jings is third.
Confused.com?
The Etchells class saw a measure of navigational confusion on Race 1 as the lead boat went to the wrong first mark. Colin MacDonald's Eccentric read the course correctly and went on to win the first contest. Peter Judd's Lock N Load took the victory in the second and the defending champions, Allan Manuel's 2024 Scottish Series Trophy winning triumphed in the third race and lead the class by a single point from long time rival Judd who reported, "The racing for the Etchells was fantastic today, it was close and all the boats are well tuned up and going well, even the younger students. Bounce Back pulled away in the first race then in the second race all the top places changed around again and we got away off the start line better and got the win and in the third race the wind was dropping and we retuned the rig and we had to fight a bit of traffic and we got a second place, credit to Bounce Back who were also stuck in the traffic but they managed to work their way through to win. The Etchells class is in really good shape in Scotland, we have 18 boats in Scotland but not all are being campaigned and so we need to work to get more and more here each year and get some of the big guns up here too. It is relatively cheap and very competitive, close racing."
Tsunami jump the gun, Po on point
Last year's Hunter 707 winners, Eddie Batchelor's Tsunami 2 jumped the first start gun and had to re-cross the line pulling back through the 12 boat fleet to third - actually their best result of the day. Guy and Ruth Neville's Po leads the class by a clear 7 points after the three windward-leewards winning the middle race which they add to two second places. Winners of Race 3 were Dara O'Malley's SeaWORD, helmsman Andy Marshall recalling, "We saw the pin end bias on the last race and got away and that was it we managed to stretch from there, we were really going well. And we had three different boats winning a race each which really shows how competitive this fleet is. More T Vicar are new to the fleet last year and are going well, winning the first race, then Po won the second race and they are also new to the fleet. It is brilliant racing, nip and tuck all the time. So it is very competitive all the way through the fleet, every place is fought for. The benefit is the standard of the whole fleet is going up."
Second to sixth places are separated by just one point in the 707s. In the six boat Sigma 33 class James Millar's Mayrise have a two points lead after a 2,1,2 opening day.
The IRC Coastal fleet enjoyed a marathon four and a half hours race all the way to south to start with and back up Loch Fyne to Otter Ferry. Arran's Thomson brothers. Iain and Graham, and their crew on Sloop John T won by just over two minutes.
Donald Mackenzie's Ceol Beg leads the CYCA 1 class counting a 2,1. In CYCA Rory Chalmers and his crew on Sleipner are one point ahead of 2025 champions Finn Aitken's Impala Arcade. Cameron Smith won both CYCA Restricted Sail races whilst the redoubtable Ian Nicoloson leads the Two Handed Restricted Sail class also winning both races.