Scottish Solos Travellers' Series at Clyde Cruising Club's Bardowie Loch

Scottish Solos Travellers at Bardowie Loch © Bob Balmer

The Scottish Solo fleet gathered at Bardowie on April 13-14 for the first event of the 2019 HD Sails Scottish Travellers Series. Bardowie is a small loch just outside Glasgow which sits in a bit of a bowl in the hills which means it is shifty. And gusty! On Saturday we had a training day run by Kevan Gibb who put everyone through their paces on a blustery day with the gusts claiming several boats. Sunday dawned with three races scheduled back to back for the series.

There was a decent entry of 17 boats with half a dozen from the home club. In the changing room the talk was how wetsuits seemed to have shrunk over the winter and how unfit we all felt! Outside it was definitely chilly with ice on the puddles in covers. As usual people were a bit tardy in arriving with John Colegrave from Aberdeen & Stonehaven just making it in time. Patrick Burns was hoisting a borrowed dacron sail as his sailmaker had apparently forgotten to put a window in his new one. Meanwhile David Whyte and Ross Watson discovered that their new forestays were far too long and were contemplating how to squeeze under the boom. No problem for Kevan Gibb to sort, he opened the door of his Coast to Coast Rigging van and brought out his hydraulic press and wire cutters. Job done in five minutes! It was good to see Katie Masterton back in her boat after missing last season due to a knee injury.

On the water the wind varied between 8-18 knots all day with lots of shifts and gusts to catch the unwary. Malcolm Worsley capsized just off the beach and Ross Watson was spotted christening his new boat, claiming he was checking the fitting of the slot gasket! The course was set with a very short beat to the first mark near the shore hence being able to tack early for the lay line was important. Scott Cleary, sailing the newly acquired club boat, made the best of the start and was first round. Down the run he was passed by Ross Watson & Tony King who almost had a coming together part way down the run. Thinking he was on the inside he sailed down onto Ross only to be told the mark was being left the other side and Ross was on the inside! The two had a good battle with Tony getting through on the third round to take the win. Gary MacFarlane had an excellent third in this race.

After a clean start in race 1 the fleet was a bit more aggressive for race 2 and the first start ended in a general recall. Away the second time with a slightly different course Stuart Gibson led followed by Ross Watson. Up the second beat Stuart, a local, missed out a mark and had to return dropping the leading two behind several boats. Willie Todd didn't seem to relish finding himself in front and soon capsized to windward on a big heading gust. Down the next run Keith Milroy got caught by a big gust and went in to windward as well. Stuart pulled through extremely well in this race despite the earlier detour to take the win and Willie recovered from his capsize to hang onto second. Malcolm Worsley sailed consistently to take third, benefiting from the practise the day before.

On to race 3 and it was clearly going to be between Stuart and Tony for the event. The wind was a little lighter for this race to the relief of many. After another general recall the two event leaders had a good race at the front with Tony King coming out on top. Keith Milroy improved as the day went on and took third ahead of another big improver Paul McCombie. This meant that Tony King took the event making the drive up from Bassenthwaite worthwhile. Stuart Gibson was second with Willie Todd third just ahead of Keith Milroy.

As well as prizes from series sponsor HD Sails, which included prizes for class newcomers and improvers Scott Cleary and David Sparkes, there were some welcome bottles for the first three courtesy of club sponsor Bardowie Gin. They even had some set up for tasting!

It was a good day's sailing to start the season, ably hosted at Bardowie by the CCC Dinghy Section.

The next event is the Scottish Championships at Largo Bay on May 18-19. The club are sure to put on a great event and we can look forward to some excellent sea sailing followed by a few beers in the Railway Inn!

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