This weekend I was sailing with Ian and Graham Thomson on there Swan 40 "Sloop John T". We were using this regatta as a trial for the Scottish Series in the next couple of weeks. We would be racing in IRC Class 1, which had a good entry of 21 boats.

The morning started dull with a south-westerly 8-15kts. Our course was a laid windward leeward with the start off the power station and the windward mark under the hill near Toward. The tide was going out all day. The start line had a port end bias but the shifts were coming from the right. We decided to go with our new Kevlar Heavy No1 as the breeze at this time was in the teens.

Saturday

Race 1

We got off to a poor start and our first leg was hard work as we were trying to sail around other boats. We rounded the top mark in poor shape. We hoisted the new .75oz designed for angles 140-180 and immediately started to pick up places. The boat was definitely faster with this sail on these angles than previous. At the bottom mark we rounded around mid fleet and after 2 more rounds managed to work our way up to finish 6th with some 2 minutes off the pace. Some work needed to be done here on starts and the balance of shift versus tacking and loss of boat speed.

Salamander was revelling in these conditions and John, Hamish and the boys sailed well through out the race and finished 1st.

Class 2. Donald McKenzie and crew in Gusto a Red Fox 28 sailed well in there first major regatta to finish 1st. With Ian Paterson and his crew on "Bite the Bullet 2" (ex "Salamander XVII") the Elan 333 sailed consistently to finish 2nd.

Race 2

The wind shifted more to the west and this is always bad news in this area. The height of the mountains causes the breeze to become very shifty, as gusts roll down the hillside. Wind speed 0 -10kts. The windward mark was right up against the Innellan shore.

We decided to go with the New Kevlar Light No1, to give us plenty of power off the start line and to keep the boat moving from one patch of breeze to the next. The Committee boat end was the favoured end. We got off to the best start and tacked off on to port on the gun. We had great speed and kept it very simple up the first leg only putting in 2 tacks after the start. When we rounded the top mark, we were the 1st boat over the water. The .5oz spinnaker was necessary to get us away from the shore as quickly as possible. The rest of the race was sailed in a very confused air to say the least. We managed to hold onto our lead and finished the final windward leg with the .5oz spinnaker and finished 1st.

Salamander's team sailed consistently and well to finish 3rd and leading the event overnight.

Sunday

Race 1

The morning started bright and with the breeze at 5-12kts south-westerly. We started with our Heavy No1 looking for the bottom end of its range. We started well, moving with good speed and height in the 10-12kts. The wind dropped to 5-8kts on the last third of the leg, at which point we would have been much quicker with the light. On the downwind leg we used the .75oz and again started to pull back places. The next beat was with the Light No1 and our speed was back up. We never really got back in touch with the leading boats and had our worst result yet and finished 10th.

Salamander sailed very well and showed some exceptional height on the wind at times to finish 2nd.

Class 2 saw Ian and his crew in Bite the Bullet get their first win in the boat with convincing style. They showed great speed all round the race course.

In Class 4, Alistair Orr in Orrkid, an Impala, improved on their Saturday results to finish 1st.

Race 2

The breeze had lightened to 0-7 kts and patchy but generally could be found hiding on the right-hand side of the windward leg. After a general recall, we lined up for another start with a black flag. We started well at the committee boat end, favouring breeze over tide. We immediately tacked over on to port and using the Light No1sailed fast for the Innellan shore and keeping in the breeze. We made only 1 tack slightly low of lay line to allow for tide. We were the 1st boat to the windward mark with Playing Ft$e the First 47.7 very close behind. The breeze died as we neared the spreader mark, did a gybe hoist in to the .5oz and reached over towards the Innellan shore again. We managed pick up some new breeze and sailed to the leeward mark and rounded 2nd boat behind the 47.7. The Light No1 pulled us up the next beat to the finish. Our result for the race was 1st and 2nd overall in class.

Salamander sailed well all weekend and finished 1st overall and best performing yacht over the weekend.

Class 2. Bite the Bullet was pipped by one point into 2nd place overall. This was a good result for Ian and his team in a new boat to them.

Class 4. Orrkid put in another top 3 result that lifted them to 3rd overall in the class.

Congratulations all round and a very good start to the season for many owners using Saturn Sails.

John Highcock.