Chanonry Sailing Club Regatta

Chanonry Regatta 2018 © Richard Evans

Chanonry SC held its annual regatta on the 4th & 5th of August, while also hosting the Scottish Laser and Musto Skiff traveller events.

Chanonry SC is a wee friendly club located on the Black Isle on the North East edge of the Inverness Firth (Wikipedia ref: "Despite its name, the Black Isle is not an island but a peninsula. Gaelic does not make the distinction between 'island' and 'peninsula' that English does. The area is home to a population of Bottlenose dolphins").

Forthcoming Musto Skiff Nationals and Laser events, and possibly Paloma Faith (at the local music festival), meant numbers were slightly down this year. However, quality made up for quantity. Laser stalwart Peter Malcolm from Largo Bay was a sure thing (I believe he has not missed a Laser Scottish championship in 37 years which is one for the Guinness book of records). Jamie Hilton who recently came third in the Musto Skiff worlds made last-minute dash to the event to get in some sneaky practice before heading straight off to Weymouth at the end of racing.

Former Kestrel National champions Stewart & Mhairi Murdoch made their viccenial (20 yr!) trip to Chanonry to join the fast handicap fleet. These sailors dominated their respective classes. However, the visitors did not have it all their own way, with local sailors Kyle Cameron winning the slow handicap and Jack Evans making a clean sweep in the Laser Radial fleet. Special mention also for junior Gairloch and Chanonry based sailor Morven Maclean who took a fine second place in the Laser Radial in testing conditions. Morven has clearly benefited from attending the regular race coaching run by Chanonry SC.

While Jack showed the way in his radial, Evans senior (Richard) was making all the right calls as SRO. Saturday's first race was particularly testing with gusts rising to 30knots at the end of the race - causing multiple wipe-outs which kept the RIB crews very busy. Our SRO made the wise decision to send the fleet ashore to wait for conditions to abate, while sailors refuelled on soup and sandwiches provided by Janet and her kitchen team. Two more races were completed on Saturday in a blustery force five, followed by three more on Sunday in variable conditions (F2-F4). Some sailors then headed down to Chanonry point and were entertained by dolphins, before coming ashore sporting huge grins.

Special thanks to the race team and volunteers who provided safety cover and fine food making this a great event.

Overall Results: