Jura Scottish Series Day 2 - Hat trick of race wins for Living on the Etch at Tarbert
by Andi Robertson 23 May 22:48 BST
22-25 May 2026
Etchells Living on the Edge on day 2 of Jura Scottish Series 2026 © Andrew Wallace Photography
Winds were lighter as sunshine blessed the second day of racing at the 2026 Jura Scottish Series on Loch Fyne. Changing gears, that is to say keeping powered up through the changes in wind pressure, was important but picking the favoured side of the first upwind was very often the foundation for success.
In the competitive, closely fought Etchells 22 class it was a perfect day for Katy Wedderburn, Kirsty Coupland and crew of Living on the Etch. They won all three races to move up to second overall just two points behind Allan Manuel and crew on Bounce Back, winners of the class in 2024 and 2025.
Helm Coupland smiled, "It really was super Saturday for us, we managed to get clean starts, we got a good lanes and Katy's brother Dougie found us some good windshifts but mostly we are going quite fast. The winds were up and down and bit but generally quite light which is good for us as we are quite a lightweight crew. We had good trimming upwind and especially downwind when we managed to pull out a little distance. I think we are getting better after so many hours in the boat, we have learned more and more."
Bowman Dougie Watson who has flown back from Adelaide to race with his sister and the crew on Living on the Etch, "It is such a good fleet here but we managed to get to the right each time and the boat was going fast. It was nice to be able to sail away at times."
IRC Class 1 is super tight at the top and it is not just the J/109s which are dominating the podium.
Something Else on the up
After three more races today the 2025 Scottish Series Trophy winner Something Else, Brian Hall's J/109 has squeezed their way into the lead after victories in Races 5 and 6 of the series. The Irish team are tied on points with the Clyde crew of Mocking J (Ben Shelley) whilst Michael Browne's beautifully restored Dubois designed 33 footer Victric 3 won the first race today and sits in third.
Victric 3 was built in Cowes in 1993 by John Corby for NE of England owner Tony De Mulder and making her debut on Loch Fyne.
"It is great to have the boat back in Tarbert. She is very quick downwind which was one of the appeals of the boat. I bought the boat to race against the J/109s, it is the best class with the best sailors, that is who we want to be racing with." Reported Browne who has been many times to Tarbert over the years, notably with Toucan a Beneteau 40.7, No Naked Flames a J/109 and the Dubois 40 footer Azure and First 40, Forty Licks.
Something Else's tactician Mark Mansfield explained, "The breeze today probably favoured us more against Mocking J which has a big symmetric spinnaker. We did not have a good first race but then won the next two. But it is such good racing, all the races are competitive. No one is running away with races, compared to last year when we kind of ran away with races. I think the fleet level has come up. Some of the boats we did not have trouble with are going well this year. It is good racing with just a couple of points between the top three boats right now."
Slender margin
After two and a half hours of racing on the IRC Coastal class course the winning margin of Bruce Douglas' Spirit of Jacana was a matter of 32 seconds. The J/133 from Carrickfergus took the win today ahead of Ian and Graham Thomson's Sloop John T, the Swan 40 from Arran. Sloop John still leads the class by a single point.
The 12 boat Hunter 707 fleet saw Dara O'Malley's crew of SeaWord led by Hugh Watson and Andy Marshall, who won the Scottish Series Trophy together ten years ago, won the first two races but still lie second overall behind Ruth Neville's PO which scored two second places today.
The Sigma 33 fleet is led by last year's winners Mayrise (James MIllar) which also won two out of three races today.
The points table for CYCA 1 is close with only two points separating the top three crews, John Conlon's SunFast 37 Humdinger from Arklow leads overall, whilst in CYCA 2 Rory Chalmers and crew maintain their lead on Sleipner, the Mustang 30