The Largs Regatta is one of those not to be missed events of the year. This year I was racing with John Corson on "Salamander XVIII" a Bavaria Match 38 in IRC class 1 with 17 entries. Our race area was off the north end of the Great Cumbrae using a laid windward leeward coarse.

Race 1

The morning started slightly overcast, however this was soon burnt off by the sun. The only problem with this, other than having to sail in T-shirt and shorts, was the breeze for the first race was very patchy with the direction fluctuating from west to north-west (wind speed from 4-9kts). The tide was on the flood all day but with the amount of rain fall during previous weeks this meant there was a lot of brown water on the move. As we had 3 new crew members on board and the rest of us had not sailed the boat for at least 2 months, we decided to get some practice in before the 1st start. We were perhaps a little over zealous in this respect as we ended up having to motor to the start line arriving some 4 minutes late for our start. We picked the pin end of the line, did our turns, and headed off after the fleet. We used our light No1 and some pretty powerful settings to drive off from one patch of breeze to the next. We found that we had pace up wind in this breeze but were a little sluggish downwind. To compensate we had to sail at hotter angles than most. We managed to pull back from our start to finish 6th.

In class 2, Mark Allen with Eland finished 3rd in the testing conditions. He was using a Maxx laminate headsail we made last October to help Contender sailcloth develop the product for this season. The Maxx laminate is designed for the Racer/Cruiser market and allows us to design and develop cross cut panel sails in a laminate fabric. The laminate is soft to handle and is asymmetric in yarn layout.

Class 3 saw Ken McLelland and Tom MacFadyen in Mallie a Fulmar and Gordon Aikman with Scanne a Maxi 1100 finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Good results for yachts that prefer slightly more breeze.

Race 2

The second race on Saturday saw the breeze increase to 9 -14kts and become less patchy and with rows of Cumulus coming down from the Kyles the future was looking bright. We started with the Heavy No1 working the left of centre up the 1st beat. Our speed and height was good, especially when the breeze was nearer the 11 kts and above. The increase of breeze made it a lot easier for most on the 1st downwind leg to hold or gain our time against the faster yachts. As we neared the leeward mark the pressure dropped to its lowest and looking like it would stay that way for a while we moved back to the Light No1 for the next beat. We worked the shifts up the whole leg and found we had pace and height compared to yachts around us. As the breeze increased to its highest yet on the 3rd quarter of the leg we had to work hard at finding new gears to make the Light No1 perform out with its normal wind range. We found them and lost nothing over our bench mark numbers for the Heavy No1. As the breeze lightened again towards the windward mark, we powered things back up and gained. We gained our time on the next 2 legs compared to the faster yachts and finished with a 1st.

Class 2 saw Mark Allen tied 1st with Enigma and finish 2nd overall for the Saturday.

In Class 3 Gordon Aikman, using this year's Kevlar Lt No1, sailed well to finish 2nd and Ken McLelland and Tom MacFadyen with Mallie 3rd, which is how they finished overall for the Saturday.

Class 5 (res. sail) saw John and Hilary Connolly in "Aztec", a Sunfast 40, using this years Carbon sails to win convincingly with two 1st places. Alistair and Aleen Dennis in "Coyaba", a Moody 336, using a fully battened Dacron mainsail and cruising laminate reefing headsail we made in 2001, sailed well to finish 3rd overall for the Saturday.

Sunday

Sunday's forecast was for rain and wind from the south-east later on in the day. So when we were milling around before the start in a patchy north westerly 2-5kts we knew we were in for another round Cumbraes classic. The coarse was a northward figure of 8 round the islands and the line bias was towards the committee boat end. We were using the Light No1 with our power settings to be able to tack and keep the boat speed up from one patch of wind to the next. Our start was good and allowed us to make our initial break to the right. Then we worked the shifts and the increasing breeze towards Tomont buoy. In the last quarter to the buoy, the breeze was back up to around 14kts and above and still from the north-west. The gears we found on Saturday to push the Light No1 proved very useful. We rounded Tomont 2nd boat over the water just behind the X43 "Seanachmaidh". We headed out towards Bute and Mount Stewart with the sheets slightly cracked. "Playing Ft$e", a First 47.7, overhauled us by the next mark .We bore away, hoisted the .75oz spinnaker, heading south to sail down the west side of the Great Cumbrae toward the Tan spit buoy. We made good speed on the 1st quarter of the leg but the breeze gradually died as we made our way towards the Tan. We ended up having to heat the angles up again to keep the boat moving well. By the time we reached the Tan spit buoy "Bateleur 96", a BH36, had caught us up.

An all-familiar sight emerged with the boats ahead having sails looking very limp and the Tan looking like glass. We dropped the spinnaker and kept over towards the Little Cumbrae shore and ghosted along very nicely using the Light No1. We then met a south easterly 5-8kts coming across from the mainland. At this time we thought that this was the start of the forecasted breeze and tacked along the Little Cumbrae shore.

As we cleared Little Cumbraes south-east headland and bore away, "Tundra", a Seaquest 36, was along side. We hoisted our .75oz spinnaker again and gave chase to the faster boats ahead. As we neared the Garroch head we were met by the north-westerly. We dropped the spinnaker and hoisted the light No1 again deciding to keep close to the lighthouse and when we crossed tacks with "Bateleur 96" and "Tundra" we had gained. As the Tan opened up to view it looked just the same as before but with more boats heading in every direction. "Bateleur 96" and "Tundra" headed over towards Millport Bay, where as we decided to hold closer to the rhum line. To begin with it looked like a big mistake as they shot away.

By the time we were opposite Millport we started to pick up the first zephyrs of the south-easterly and began to claw back. By the time we reached Farland point and the next buoy HUN 7, "Bateleur 96" was along side with "Tundra" slightly ahead but caught on handicap. It should have been a nice reach to the finish but this was the Round Cumbraes race.

The new breeze was in transition and having trouble establishing itself. Leaving patches of swirling easterly joined together with large holes of dead air. This phenomena only happens at this time of year and only in the Largs channel! As we made our way down towards the finish, "Tundra" fell into a hole and parked up just in front of us. A group of us made a sharp exit towards the shoreline. This just leaves a quick change to the spinnaker then headsail and back to the spinnaker all with in a half a mile to finish.

We were very lucky compared to the slightly slower boats and dinghies behind us. The breeze for them shut off which allowed all the boats to bunch up and then drifted down to a finish from hell for the committee boat with all boats from different classes crossing together.

We were happy to keep the boat moving at all times through stop and start areas of the coarse and were all ways in contact with the faster boats of our class on time. There are still areas in this boat we can improve on speed but overall we were pretty happy. We finished 1st and ended up winning the Rose bowl for best performance over the weekend.

John Highcock.