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Day Two
Well, for day two we had the long distance race, which in turn means that I get the opportunity to describe the course, albeit somewhat second hand as I didn't get to do all of it… We started with a beat up the side of the island of Inchfad – which I'm told translates as Long Island and between Inchfad and Inchcruin, a passage which locals told us, with perhaps unnecessary relish, they call hell's gate due to the presence of a long reef which blocks about half the channel, with a narrow but well marked passage to starboard and a broader but less well marked passage to port. To windward of the passage was laid a windward mark which was rounded to port, followed by a spectacular high speed reach to the the Island of Creinch, leaving that to starboard which meant a beat round the back and another high speed reach back to the *same* windward mark, this time to be left to starboard. From there was a long downwind leg round the other side of Inchfad, emerging between it and Inchcailloch, with the course tightening up into a long too shy for AC kites reach to a leeward mark off the club. From there a second lap took us up through the gate of hell back to the windward mark, leaving it to port this time, and then running straight back down the far side of Inchfad, round the leeward mark and back up to the finish.
The wind: well I suppose it wasn't really more than force 4 most of the time, but it must have been gusting a good F5 when a big one came through, and there seemed to be an awful lot of meat in the wind. Loads of white horses and plenty of drama. It was no race for the faint hearted, and a couple of us fainthearts – or at least less healthy or with less well tried boats – bailed out at various stages. There were also some minor breakages, but nothing much worse than tiller extensions and string, with the possible exception of the AC that tripped over a rock at speed and whose daggerboard took a bit of extracting. Chris Hampe lost the clew of his mainsail, and was later to be seen learning how to rig a sewing machine… Back to the race - there seemed to be a hell of a scrap going on for the lead, and as they came down to the leeward mark for the second time after some 20 plus miles of racing Alistair Warren and Robin Wood were just feet apart in clouds of spray. Technically they were in different races, and racing each other just for pride, and on the last beat the pride of place went to Alistair who just crossed the line ahead.
With any luck there ought to be some pretty spectacular photos, and there were plenty of war stories on the beach: "Honest, the top of the Morrison's bow was level with the water and it still didn't pitchpole" was just one of them. Some happy boat mending in the afternoon for some, and then the day rounded off with that traditional Scottish entertainment, the visit to the distillery. We gratefully acknowledge Glengoyne's sponsorship of the event, and also enjoyed their products… In amongst the sailing photos another image of the day was when Rob took his ex Robin Wood boat (280) out for an early evening sail. That boat has a pearl/metallic finish blue, and a break in the clouds had the low sun reflecting off the boat and off the waves around it for the most stunning visual effect on a boat I think I have ever seen…
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