British Soling Championship 2025 at Lochaber Yacht Club
by Karen Dean 6 Sep 14:41 UTC
30-31 August 2025
Last weekend Lochaber Yacht Club hosted the National Championship for Soling class yachts. There were entries from Ireland, the north of England, an Australian resident who keeps his boat in the UK, plus 7 local entries based at LYC.
Light winds on Saturday meant close competition in trying conditions for the crews. Four races were completed leaving local sailors Keith Falconer and Hamish Loudon and crews occupying the first two places. However, the Hog Roast supper at the club restored morale and revived the sailors for more breeze on Sunday.
With strong winds forecast later in the day the Race Officer decided to complete three short races before noon. Tight racing in the good breeze followed with constant place changes. Australian Gary Richardson managed to displace Keith from second place by one point. However, Hamish sailing Solaris managed to keep them both at bay and win the championship with crew Victoria Kimber and son Iain.
It was good to see crews with varied ages, ranging from 16 to 83 years, it was also a good year for the ladies, with half the boats having a female crew member and two on the podium, with Victoria Kimber in the winning team and Karen Dean in the third placed crew.
Overall Results: (top three)
1st - Solaris - Hamish Loudon, Vitoria Kimber, Iain Loudon
2nd - Vera May - Gary Richardson, Karl Sloane, Andrew Ryan
3rd - Cheers - Keith Falconer, Karen Dean, Ian Fleming