Kippford, the Urr estuary and Rough Firth saw one of its busiest, most colourful weekends ever, with great Solway Yacht Club activities on and off the water.
Things started on Thursday with the spring pursuit race, run over 100 minutes with a nail-biting photo finish.
There were a variety of entrants from Cadets through to the highly experienced, all with handicaps set by boat rating.
Pursuit racing has the slower rated boats starting first, with the faster rated starting later and once all have started, it’s a chase down to the final seconds, with the winner being the leading boat when the timing gun sounds.
Young James Colbeck in his Topper who was first to start but was unlucky to get stuck against the incoming tide, losing time in the process. Next away were Ian and Margaret Purkis in their Firefly followed by the rest, the powerful Flying Fifteen of Colin Filer and Jamie Gascoigne being one of the last to start.
The Purkis Firefly built a big lead as the fleet headed out to a mark set off White Port Bay before turning to Castle Point. With the chasing fleet closing in, it seemed John and Val Broadbent in their GP14 or Keith Veasey in his Finn posed the biggest threat to the Firefly’s lead, but still leading as they headed back to Rough Island, the Firefly was holding on by 50 yards; the Filer/Gascoigne crew heading the chasing pack.
Back out towards Horse Isles Bay the minutes were ticking down with the Flying Fifteen closing in. At 99 minutes, 50 seconds the Firefly held on, but it wasn’t to be. In this David and Goliath battle, Goliath won, just, with only five seconds to spare the Filer/Gascoigne Flying Fifteen took the lead. Race timing and safety boat crews hadn’t seen a closer finish in years, but it was full compliments to Duncan Gillespie, the race officer who had set the perfect handicap times.
After the Jubilee water pageant on Friday, it was back to the racing on Saturday. In beautiful sunshine and a strong Easterly wind funnelling down off and between the Galloway hills, a challenging time was to be expected.
The fleet was split into the experienced, racing way out in the bay while race officer Simon Wilson also set a short inshore course for the younger Cadets in their RS Feva dinghies.
Once afloat the strength of the gusts was quickly apparent, and it wasn’t long after the start that Finlay Train in his Laser Radial was the first to capsize. Recovering quickly, he was back in the race, but it was Scott Train and Anne Stewart in their Flying Fifteen who were contesting the lead with Stewart Mitchell in his Finn.
Confusion at the second mark saw several boats take the wrong course but it presented the Train/Stewart crew with a big lead, followed by the Filer/Gascoigne crew, earlier held up briefly running aground. Mitchell recovered from his course error by completing an extra lap.
The gusts were becoming even more vicious for race two but with only one retirement the fleet was enjoying great sailing. Special highlight was the performance of cadets Katie Bishop and Nicola McColm, graduated into the main fleet, sailing the powerful RS400 who kept the boat upright and sailing fast throughout.
The junior Cadets had their own races inshore, coached by Cadet officer Joanne Harris and her team. Given the conditions they all did amazingly well to get round the course. Rounding G buoy at the same time as the main fleet added an extra bit of drama and experience for the Cadets.
Combining the Cadets’ two races a four-way tie was declared, recognising all the young sailors’ achievements.
