Tuesday 15th May

It seemed as if it would be one of those Gareloch evenings as we stood on the jetty waiting to go out to our boats. Wind dying away and its direction becoming very variable. As it turned out, it was a workout with moments of inattention resulting in water over the cockpit coaming. Athene was on her mooring but there was rigging still to be done so she did not join us.
Race officer Peter Proctor was obliged to change the course just before he went into the starting sequence so as to provide a true beat. A good decision.
Iris caught Catriona napping at the start and got the favoured position close to the pin end of the line. Thereafter, she climbed high and forced Catriona to tack away towards the Shandon shore. Wind in there was better than expected, or perhaps it was the flatter water, because when the two next crossed, Catriona was ahead. Just. Zoe had her name on third place. Hermes and Thia fought for fourth.
The first of the offwind legs was across the loch to Clynder. In lighter air, spinnakers would have gone up. A gybe at C mark and a run downwind to A, off the club. Spinnakers were feasible on this leg but Iris didn't attack for first by setting one so neither did Catriona.
The two leaders diverged a little on the next beat, beginning the second round, with Iris getting closer than Catriona would have liked. Hermes got the better of Thia.
Spinnakers downwind this time, but no places changed. The beat back to the finish needed nerve. The shore end of the line was the only place to finish but one had to avoid going aground. It was nip and tuck with Iris skilfully trying to get her nose across in the minimum depth of water.

1 Catriona, 2 Iris, 3 Zoe, 4 Hermes, 5 Thia.

Sunday 13th May

The forecast was for 20 knots of wind, gusting 40. That is more than the old ladies would like and presumably it kept most crews away.
Representatives of only Circe and Catriona were at the club. The wind was nowhere near the forecast strength and eminently sailable. It was cold and wet, though, which sapped enthusiasm. Despite the best efforts of one skipper, there was no race.

Tuesday 8th May

The first leg of the race this evening was across the Loch to D, north of Clynder. This was complicated by a submarine coming up the loch so that the tack across had to wait until it had passed.
Catriona got the best start at the inshore end of the line. Iris and Thalia fought each other which did Catriona no harm. Zoe was there too.
Catriona was the first to be approached by an MOD rib, keen to ensure she kept out of the way. Iris and Thalia went further out which seemed to put them in better air, both as regards strength and direction. The Gareloch was inconsistent, though, so that Zoe and Catriona began to prosper closer to the Shandon shore. Delaying the tack out so as to take the heavy wash on the counter helped. Submarines have an entourage.
There was an element of luck in the rounding order at D. Thalia was first, Ceres next then Zoe. Catriona got her spinnaker drawing to pass Ceres and Zoe. Every time Thalia gybed, there was a spinnaker air brake but she still rounded G, on the Shandon shore, in the lead. The last gybe did for her, though, and Catriona took the lead. Thalia tired of her third sail, took it down and made a determined luff on Zoe. It only delayed the inevitable and Zoe eventually used the superior speed from her spinnaker to pass. Ceres had trouble with a spinnaker sheet which let Iris up to fourth. Still not good enough to satisfy her helm.

1 Catriona, 2 Zoe, 3 Thalia, 4 Iris, 5 Ceres, 6 Hermes, 7 Thia.

5th/6th May - McGruer Classic Regatta

Gordon Drysdale lives in the south of England. His parents, though, have the McGruer designed and built gaff cutter Rowan IV. He arranged this magnificent regatta from the south. The amount of work needed does not bear thinking about.
There was one design racing for the Garelochs. On Saturday, it was to have been on the east patch but the lack of wind defeated us. Iris and Catriona returned to Rhu marina and were admired. No mean compliment in light of the company they were keeping.
The lack of wind did not bode well because Sunday's forecast was for even lighter air. The programme was for a sail past at Clynder (George McGruer taking the salute) and then a race in the Gareloch. There were holes in the wind, but all in all it was much better than we might have hoped. Race Officer Hugh Normand sent us on a beat across the loch to Clynder with a run downwind to get back.
Iris and Catriona were, as usual, preoccupied with each other at the start. A lull in the wind left Catriona better placed than Iris. Thia and Thalia, though got the best of the start and crossed in front of the other two several times. They went right whilst Iris and Catriona covered each other on the left. After a while, it was obvious left was better. Thia and particularly Thalia were stranded on the Shandon shore.
There were a few moments when it seemed Iris might have her own streak of wind to pass Catriona but it never sufficiently constant. Catriona led round the windward mark. Her spinnaker expertly played by Dudley Isaac, who is rebuilding the McGruer Al Malika in South Africa and visited especially for this regatta, kept Catriona in the lead downwind. There followed a leg on the wind back to the starting line. Catriona was headed a little, Iris lifted. Catriona tried in vain to stay in front. Iris came up on a puff and broke through to leeward. She was first across the line, but not the finish. As the wind left us for a while, Hugh took the Committee boat to Clynder to finish us there.
Iris and Catriona, meanwhile, diverged on opposite tacks in the merest breath of air. It was Catriona who felt meaningful pressure first and this time she made sure of keeping Iris behind. It was still close at the finish though.

1 Catriona, 2 Iris, 3 Thia, 4 Thalia.

The prize, donated by one of the event sponsors, McRoberts, was a bottle of MacKinlays Highland Malt Whisky. A replica of the whisky taken by Earnest Shackleton to the Antarctic in 1907.

Tuesday 1st May

Its the McGruer Regatta at the weekend. Dudley Isaac, from South Africa, is rebuilding a McGruer boat and so thought to come to the regatta. Having toured the highlands, he arrived at Rhu to look at boats and was standing at the end of the jetty this evening. Fortuitously, because Catriona was without crew.
A biased starting line with the shore end so favoured sailing along the line was a little above close hauled. Zoe got the inshore position. Catriona forced Iris over so as to get the better start. As the fleet set off down the loch for A, off the club, it was not clear the tactic had paid. Anyway Catriona was second round the mark behind Zoe.
Offwind to C, next to the old McGruer yard at Clynder (houses there now) there were holes in the wind. Dudley knew what he was about with the spinnaker and he kept Catriona's second place. Shortly after, she crept past Zoe to take the lead. Thalia third, then Iris. On the leg back across the loch to the starting area, the Gareloch became extremely variable in both strength and direction. Iris, Zoe and later Thalia passed Catriona on a streak of wind. It seemed everywhere Catriona tried to go, the wind left. Boats passed on either side to put her last. Approaching the finish, she found some pressure and was optimistic until headed. Thia, meanwhile, had appeared to be stranded in a hole but finished on line of pressure all her own to beat the pack. Iris and Zoe having finished some time earlier.
Bad news for Zoe in the bar. Three boats had been over early at the start. Iris and Catriona returned. Zoe did not.

1 Iris, 2 Thia, 3 Thalia, 4 Hermes, 5 Catriona. Zoe OCS.

Dudley Isaac enjoyed the evening, despite the result.

Sunday 29th April

Zoe is newly afloat and was at the starting area. Her fit out was not complete though, so she declined to race.
Many of the Garelochs had listened to Luke Patience, who is to sail for Great Britain in the 470 class at the Olympics, talking on Friday evening about his journey to selection. He and crew Stuart Bithell were leading an important regatta. They were winning one of the later races in heavy air, which would have put them in an unassailable position, when the rudder ripped away from the boat. They were unable to repair it and so slipped from first to nowhere. Luke told us how he was very careful to prepare his boat so as to ensure that would never, ever, happen again. Iris's helm listened, but did not absorb. A little before the start, a shroud came away from a spreader. The retaining tie having parted. Iris was obliged to return to her mooring.
It is said by football pundits, discussing two famous Glasgow teams, that Celtic needs Rangers. So Catriona needs Iris. She was late at the start but Thalia and Hermes were later. By the first mark, they struggled to read Catriona's sail number. Catriona was a leg in front for the second round. The gap between Thalia and Hermes was big too.

1 Catriona, 2 Thalia, 3 Hermes. Iris DNS.

Tuesday 24th April

Five Garelochs were afloat for the first race. They had that faint disinfectant smell of fresh varnish. Floating on the bilge water, a layer of fine dust from the sanding.
Race officer Reay Mackay chose a short course up and down the Shandon shore. Rightly so.
Catriona got the best of the start, Thalia next with Iris below and avoiding contact with the mark at the end of the line by a whisker as tide swept her onto it.
The tide was ebbing so that some were tempted into the shore to avoid the worst of it. No wind there though. Catriona stayed out and whilst she was headed, she had boatspeed on the rest. Thalia learned from example and the two were in line together approaching G, the windward mark. Iris was fourth, which encouraged Hermes in third.
Thalia snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (well second place anyway) by rounding the mark on the wrong hand. Unwinding and then rounding correctly was slow near to the airless Shandon shore. The rest came in on a puff.
There was sufficient wind for spinnakers on the run to A, off the club. Iris muscled her way past Hermes.
For the beat back to the line, wind had become very variable. In both strength and direction. Catriona went out into the Loch again. Iris tried the shore which looked good for a while. The shore end of the line was favoured geometrically too. Catriona was able to breathe again when Iris came to a near standstill and had to tack out.
Approaching the line, Thalia found a breath which eluded Hermes and took third.

1 Catriona, 2 Iris, 3 Thalia, 4 Hermes, 5 Thia.

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