August Barbeque at Ormidale

Our Clyde Summer barbecue on the 11th August was notable for its absence of midges and rain. It a week of generally dreich weather, Saturday proved to be dry & bright, and the crews of 7 boats made ashowing for an evening of sizzle and smoke. It was a relaxed and sociable affair making it a likely fixture again for next year.

Here is a photo of the revellers taken by Séamus Lalor. It was raining pretty convincingly when Séamus and Mike left us on the Sunday heading for Ardrosssan. Their pleasant reach lasted till
Garroch Head from whence it was 22 gusting 28 on the nose for awell reefed beat home thereafter. The forecast had never been encouraging for the Sunday so they showed considerable spirit in
joining us for the party.

Craobh bbq and Shuna race

Firstly, the bit you really want to see:

SHENAVAl.                79 MINS 30 SECONDS
AQUAHOLIC.            80 MINS  4 SECONDS
TROKKA                    82 MINS 58 SECONDS
ATARAXIA                 85 MINS 1 SECOND 
PONDSKATER          86 MINS 54 SECS
EXODY                      89 MINS 38 SECS
KATYA                       90 MINS 24 SECS
SILVERJACK             91 MINS 18 SECS
CAMBUS BOSTA.     97 MINS 18 SECS

Congratulations to Douglas Gray and his crew on Shenaval (assisted by ace race helm Scott Chalmers who worked his passage helping to drive the barbeque) on a well-deserved win. Despite the persistent soaking drizzle and dreich overcast conditions there was nontheless a light 10knts-ish breeze and after a little hesitation the fleet of nine Serpent yachts gathered at the start line with Steve on Ataraxia running the proceedings.  Off the line Shenaval, Troikka and Aquaholic led the fleet and so it continued on the dead run up the west side of the island where Shenaval with poled out headsail easily overtook Troikka where they were too lazy to bother with such refinements. Most were happy to get back into the marina for lunch and an opportunity to start drying off.

The previous night was well up to the usual standard with Marcus and Jackie Stone in charge of the fire and the boatshed tidied and decorated in the accustomed fashion. The Commodore welcomed Val & Dugald Glen newly back from their WARC circumnavigation as well as other guests and with longtime members still coming along, there was every indication of a club in reasonable health. And as usual there was eventually an outbreak of dancing with the partying continuing well into the night for some hardy participants. Many thanks as ever to the Craobh marina staff for making the club so welcome.

Sunday was not much of a day for photography and no photos of the bbq are available at time of writing.  The present writer on Troikka is off cruising for a few weeks as are many others of the weekend's attendees and we are all hoping that this year's remarkable run of weather will resume and contine for a little longer.

Autumn Muster

Reminder. We'll be on the same patch too....

Tarbert Race & Muster 2018

 Seen here is the glassy calm off Kip Marina at 10am on 19th May and also the tail of our new Flag AP. Tom Hutchison on committee boat Aquaholic having chosen Course 1 around Garroch Head wisely made the choice to postpone and shepherd the 9 strong fleet to the north end of of the Cumbrae where a start was called at 11.20 using a couple of the HUN can buoys as the start line  As can be seen in the next photo sails were filled for an enjoyable beat in around 10kts of breeze and welcome bright sunshine.

 Close hauled on port tack the best that could be done was head for the Bute shore around Kilchattan where some short tacking through calm patches eventually allowed a rounding of Garroch Head where we were treated to the magnificent spectacle of the Arran ridges.

 Troikka having pulled away somewhat lost sight of the following fleet and continued broad reaching towards Skipness.  The benign conditions seen below eventually livened considerably as the wind veered substantially to the west with gusts up to 25kts or so giving a fast passage onwards.

The Commodore accompanied by Marge on Black Pepper was on hand in Tarbert to welcome arrivals and in the wind whistling through the pontoons there were several less than tidy coming alongsides.  All however were in good spirits having enjoyed a splendid sail and it was good to have Robert and Audrey Yule back afloat and out for the first time on their new Moody 36 'Sulaire' . Once they have figured it all out they should be real contenders in Class 3. There was plenty of time for some conviviality and drinks on board before the gathering in the Scottish Series marquee which conveniently had been erected in time.  We were pleased to welcome Geoff and Jackie Orr on their Hallberg Rassy, 'Jackanory' and hope that we will see them again as members at subsequent events. 

After that it was on to the Starfish as per usual where the meal, some thought, exceeded previous efforts and also as usual the reading out of the results.  The corrected times in some instances are startlingly close.

Boatyard blue

Early bird that catches the wotsit

Plastic

When you start thinking about it, avoiding plastic altogether seems almost impossible. Shampoo, cleaning stuff etc.. However small water bottles and other drinks bottles are easily avoided or re-used. We all need to take this seriously and I think especially those of us who go out on the sea should have it in mind. I often end a sailing weekend with a huge mass of crushed single use water bottles for disposal. Next season I am going to ban them from our boat. What about you?

BBC article on plastic waste

Frostbite Race

Jack Frost was definitely not in contention for this the last race of the season for the Serpents.
A fine mixture of conditions was to prevail throughout the race with the only condition not experienced being snow.

Seven yachts lined up for an exciting start with Katya as the committee boat.

Camus Bosta considering tactics

Pondskater whipping the crew into performance mode

There was the odd shout of 'starboard' as Solus approached the line on port, but no other incidents reported.

Solus making life more interesting

Whilst gusting 24 knots in the main channel, the shelter of the Largs Channel gave a false sense of calm and any reefs were shaken out as the fleet headed through the Tan to complete a figure of eight course leaving Little Cumbrae to port.

Full steam ahead

All was comfortable until the full force of the wind hit the fleet as they progressed down the west side of Little Cumbrae. At this point, I believe, questions were being asked on a few yachts as to who's idea was it to shake out the reefs. A few classic broaches ensued providing classic entertainment for others.

Tom in Aquaholic took an early lead and whilst claiming he was sailing with a badly ripped main this did not prevent him from leading the fleet to the finish line. Thanks goes to Tom for then acting as finish boat and taking times. Results to follow.

Stewart Toy