HD Sails Solo Traveller at Royal Tay Yacht Club

Solo Travellers at Royal Tay © Marjory Knowles

The latest round of the HD Sails Scottish travellers' series took place at Royal Tay Yacht Club on June 15th with what was a poor turnout, only seven boats took part.

The forecast for some days had been showing F3 from the West, pleasant sailing conditions and meaning we would be sailing with the tide up the beats so no short tacking up the shore praying the board did not touch. However we were greeted with an Easterly F2 and a low hanging mist which subsequently cleared.

To get to the sea front at Royal Tay you used to have to haul your boat 400 yards along the esplanade which was tough going with a singlehander but now the club use a quad bike - much more civilised! Rigging up I met Ian Hunter, one of the local sailors, who I sailed against in Fireballs back in the 80's. Dave Sturrock (Bear) had borrowed a boat for the day and was seen sawing up a lump of wood to make more chocks!

At the briefing we were told the course would be quite narrow for the first two races due to an oil rig being towed out of the port, hence windward leeward courses. Getting out of the tide meant heading inshore although luckily the tide had risen enough such that we did not need to go right into the beach.

The night before I had been reading all about windward mark roundings in the latest Yachts & Yachting and was trying to remember the best way to approach a starboard hand rounding. Luckily I found an easier way in race one - start in the second row, admittedly not easy in a fleet of seven, and let the others lead the way round. In fact there was a northerly bias up the first beat which meant the wind came off the shore. With houses barely 50 yards away at some points and the wind very fickle it did not feel like sea sailing at all. Hamish Whyte had no problems with the first beat, having a good lead at the first mark and sailing away for a convincing win. Stuart Gibson followed all the way round in second and Ross Watson pulled up to third.

Race two and it was the same three at the front. This time Ross started in the front row and held off Stuart on the tricky approach to the windward mark. The wind had gone more easterly and the lee from the lifeboat pier meant careful judgement was needed. These two kept their positions for the race and Hamish came in third. This meant it was all on the last race with Stuart having two seconds whilst Hamish and Ross each had a first and a third.

With the oil rig now gone we were allowed a wider course so it was triangle/sausage/triangle for the last race. Stuart came off the start best and rounded first with Malcolm Worsely right behind. Up the second beat Malcolm got through but Stuart retook the lead downwind. There seemed to be a crowd around the lifeboat shed and downwind we could just here the sounds of the bagpipes! On the last round it got closer with Hamish trying to get through to windward whilst Ross crept down to leeward. In the event Stuart did just enough on the last reach and finished with Malcolm right behind closely followed by Hamish and Ross. These four finished within 15 seconds.

So after three close races in what was quite a shifty breeze in flat water the three visitors proved fastest with Stuart Gibson winning followed by Hamish Whyte and Ross Watson. Race management was great and we were all ashore by 2.30. The HD tee shirts were handed out to the lucky recipients. There was then a vote of thanks from the rescue crew and committee boat to Malcolm Worsley from the home club for providing the entertainment with a spectacular double capsize at the start of the second race! It will take him some time to live that one down.

The next event in the HD series is on June 29th at Newburgh on the river Tay. The sailing area is narrow and tidal and it will be shifty. With several local boats and fewer fixture clashes there will be a better turnout so see you there.

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