Race Officer Round-Up: The Polaris Regatta had testing wind direction conditions, minimal rain, and positive feedback from the participants. Fleet 1, in the confines of the Loch, managed 5 races. Handicap Fleet 3 completed both scheduled races, and the Cadets in Fleet 2 in Ardnadam Bay had thrills and spills in completing their programme.
Big thanks are again due to Alison Currie overseeing Fleet 2, assisted by Parents, Toward Rib, and Swordfish Rib. To Bob and Rowena Donaldson, Brian Tester, Alisdair and Lesley Clements for their invaluable assistance with Fleets 1 & 3, sincere thanks.
All the seasonally laid racing marks have been brought ashore, ground tackle dropped to the sea bed, buoyed off, and marked accordingly. With the sterling efforts of Jim Maclean and Iain Sinclair, this was accomplished extremely efficiently. Considerable thanks. All ropes and equipment have been stowed, and where appropriate, labelled.
Full Polaris Report (as in the newspaper): The Polaris Regatta 2024, held on September 15-16, 2024, was a great display of competitive sailing, hosted by the Holy Loch Sailing Club a venue renowned for its excellent facilities and picturesque location. The regatta was sponsored by Shearwater Marine and attracted top sailors from both the local area and visitors from the Clyde region and from as far afield as Plockton.
The weekend started on Friday with a Commodores welcome in the club house where all the competitors had a chance to socialise and catch up with Prosecco and nibbles. After sailing on Saturday everyone was entertained by the excellent local band ‘The Urban Folkers’.
The races were sailed on three separate courses. The Dinghies, Flying Fifteens and Pipers were scheduled three races each day on courses within the Holy Loch. The white sail fleet consisting of yachts had one race each day, starting and finishing in the Holy Loch, but they spent much of the day out in the Clyde. The juniors in the Cadet fleet had many short races set on a small course in the relative shelter of the bay at Lazaretto Point.
Dinghies, Flying Fifteens and Pipers - the forecast for the weekend was for moderate to strong gusty winds. However, on Saturday the fleets launched into flat calm water and drifted to the start area. The first race started off in a very light and patchy breeze, but by end of the first lap the wind had built in strength and was blowing from the southeast with viscous gusts often reaching 30 knots, making for very challenging sailing with quite a few capsizes. By the end of the third race on Saturday most competitors were glad to make their way back ashore.
The forecast for Sunday was similar to that of Saturday, but with slightly less strength in the gusts. However, the strong wind never really materialised. The first race stared in a light breeze the gradually built to around 10 knots before fading away. The wind died away completely by the end of the second race and race office Bill ‘God’ Aitchison rightly decided to abandon the final race.
White Sail – On Saturday the race started in light winds, but by the time the fleet had made their way out into the Clyde the wind had increased with gusts of around 40 knots reported and the yachts were having to reef. A great sail was had by all competitors with the leading yachts taking about two and a quarter hours to complete the course. On Sunday with the lighter breeze there was no need to reef and the leading yacht finished in about two and three quarter hours.
Cadets – The Holy Loch Sailing Club takes great pride in promoting sailing for the youngsters of Dunoon and the surrounding area. The Polaris Regatta is an opportunity for the Holy Loch Sailing Club Cadets to get together with the cadet sections from other local clubs and enjoy a weekend of sailing. The racing was run by Alison Currie with rescue cover and coaching provided by Neil Towart, both assisted by an enthusiastic group of volunteers. An excellent time was had by all, both on and off the water. At the prize giving Alison noted that it was great to see that the standard of sailing of all of the cadets had improved vastly during the weekend.
Overall it was a very successful weekend, which wouldn’t have happened without the help of a great team of volunteers, in the galley, behind the bar and on the water. Special thanks must go to the Commodore Jim Maclean for leading the event, Lady Commodore Frances Maclean for organising Jim, Bill Aitchison, Alison Currie and Neil Towart for organising the racing, and to Alison Chalmers and her team in the galley.
Overall Results -Pipers
1st Tamarind – Dougie Campbell – Royal Gourock Yacht Club
2nd Tom Piper – Fergus Campbell – Holy Loch Sailing Club
3rd Billie Piper – Iain Hurrel – Holy Loch Sailing Club
Overall Results - Flying Fifteens
1st More Mischieff – Chris and Marion Bowen – Holy Loch Sailing Club
2nd Gilmac – Graham and Alastair Sharp – Plockton Sailing Club
3rd Nae Ffear – Iain Sinclair and Kirsty Brown
Overall Results -Dinghies
1st Merlin Rocket - ‘Stomper’ – Alastair and Bernadette McMillan – Isle of Bute Sailing Club
2nd Albacore - ‘Bill is God’ – John Fitzgerald and Fin Hurrel – Cove Sailing Club and Holy Loch Sailing Club
3rd Albacore – ‘Home Brew’ – Peter McWhinney – Holy Loch Sailing Club
Overall Results -White Sail
1st X332 – ‘Madog’ – Neil Rosie
2nd J30 – ‘Judicious’ – Jim Huey – Holy Loch Sailing Club
3rd Laser 28 – ‘Farr Out’ – Jonathon Dickie
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