We enjoyed a season of close racing in 2014 and this is summarised throughout this report. Generally we had an increase in participation from last year but are seeking more so don’t be afraid to give it a go. There are plenty of boats and skippers only too willing to assist in getting others racing together with the club’s sail training initiatives so don’t miss out.

Wednesday Wackies

As most of you will be aware we tried a new handicap format for the Wacky races this year that instead of simply penalising the fastest boat from the previous month, it actually adjusted all handicaps based on results to bring the finish of the fleet closer together. We believe most would agree that this worked well and encouraged a higher turn-out of boats, with 9 in one race and 23 different boats competing throughout the season.

The Wackies did have a further challenge this year with the Beecham’s buoy ending up on the shore at Irvine in the spring storms. We laid a temporary mark which managed to last for months, this being smaller and white provided much amusement trying to locate whilst racing! A new Beecham’s buoy is now on station.

We introduced a monthly medal prize giving and bbq on the last race of the month and these nights were well attended, my thanks to Jane for helping out in the kitchen for these.

Thanks to Stuart Powrie for working out the monthly handicap adjustments and Jimmy Short for ensuring we always had an OOD.

Weekend Racing

We managed to run 10 races from the 14 on the programme for weekend destinations with only one abandoned mid race due to lack of wind. We also managed 6 boats in one race but as ever would like to see more.

For the Spring and Autumn Series events, following suggestions from the boat owners meeting at the start of the season we ran several on Saturdays but these resulted in even less of a turnout so we will be reverting to full Sundays again next year.

The Frostbite Series was scheduled but unfortunately we had too few boats in the water post lift out for this to be run.

Other Racing

Away from Club Racing, three of our boats also competed on the Clyde and beyond.

Firstly at Scottish Series where Argento competed in CYCA5 and finished mid-table, recording a best result of 3rd. Hoodlum competed in CYCA7 restricted sail and won her class as well as enjoying some match racing against a sister X332 from Campbeltown.

Argento also took part in West Highland week and recorded a 4th in CYCA3.

Both boats competed in the CCC Rothesay-Troon race with Argento placing 4th and Hoodlum placing 3rd in a gusty race resulting in several boats being storm bound in Troon for several days.

Finally Hydra took part in some of Largs Regatta Week, and managed to recover from some gear / crew failure during the 100 Guineas series to take 2nd out of 9 in the Scottish Two-Handed Race Class 4.

Fast Cruising

As a stepping stone towards racing or at least to spark a bit of fun we developed a Fast Cruising Award this season. This allowed boats to complete the course when it suited and was raced on 3 muster occasions with a total of 10 boats recording times. This caused some interesting discussion especially when trying to determine a handicap for Bill on Sahona! To show how close matters were, should the winning boat for the Largs Muster have entered the full race it would have won!

Season Awards

Wacky Series

1. Green Kestrel

Spring Series

1. Argento [3]
2. Green Kestrel [6]
3. Incitatus [11]

Autumn Series

1. Argento [3]
2. Incitatus [6]
3. Hydra [8]

Offshore Championship

1. Argento [9]
2. Hoodlum [21]
3. Green Kestrel [31]

Club Champion

This was closely fought, with the outcome for 2nd not determined until the end of the Autumn Series racing, with only 1 point separating 2nd and 3rd…

1. Argento
2. Green Kestrel
3. Hoodlum

Individual Race Results

Fast Cruising
Largs Opening – Sassy
Ardrossan – Revel
Largs Closing – Escape

Wackies
April/May – Green Kestrel
June – Hoodlum
July – Green Kestrel
August – Eliza
September – Hydra

Blue Peter (Largs)
3rd Gannet, 2nd Green Kestrel, 1st Hoodlum

RNLI Lady Isle
3rd Hydra, 2nd Hoodlum, 1st Green Kestrel

50th Anniversary Cup (Irvine Bay)
3rd Hoodlum, 2nd Argento, 1st Green Kestrel

Mullach Mhor (Kingscross)
3rd Green Kestrel, 2nd Hoodlum, 1st Argento

Warden & Bell (Ayr Bay)
3rd Incitatus, 2nd Green Kestrel, 1st Argento

Tarbert Trophy
3rd Hydra, 2nd Argento, 1st Hoodlum

Thistle Trophy (Largs)
3rd Incitatus, 2nd Argento, 1st Eliza

I would like to thank Doug Lamont for efficient posting of notices and results on the club website and the racing sub-committee of Robin Ferguson, Jonathan Dickie, Jimmy Short and Stuart Powrie for their efforts through the season and look forward to racing again in 2015.

Arran Cameron
Hon Racing Secretary