After two years of seriously restricted activities, Solway Yacht Club launched the new season with a packed Easter programme.
From craning-in the larger cruising yachts and two days of racing in the firth to a novelty Easter egg hunt on the water for the cadets, even the Kippford RNLI seemed to join in the fun with their own Easter egg training hunt.
Several weeks behind the scenes preparation that included a first aid course, a safety boat crews’ refresher day and working parties to prepare the club boats and facilities, led to Easter Saturday and craning-in day.
With favourable weather and a big tide, several of the larger yachts were lifted off their winter berths and gently lowered into the creek beside the pier before cautiously motoring down the narrow channel and out onto their moorings.
By the evening it was time for a relaxed and socially-distanced time in the clubhouse but sadly Covid hadn’t done with the club yet. Social secretary Duncan Gillespie had gone down with the virus and while much preparation had been done in advance, it was left to the reserve galley team to do the cooking. It was still a great evening with a substantial collection with Marie Curie.
The pier was a hive of activity on Easter Sunday. Despite light winds, the first competitive event, the Easter race series, got under way. With fast and medium handicap entries, the two groups sailed three races under race officer John Broadbent.
The Finn of Stewart Mitchell led the fleet with the Flying Fifteen of Colin Filer and Jamie Gascoigne giving chase. The RS400 of Scott and Nicola McColm plus the second Flying Fifteen of Scott Train and Anne Stewart weren’t far behind.
In the medium group, Ian Purkis and his first-time racing crew, 11-year-old grandson Oliver, in their Firefly, were in a close race with two Laser Radials of Finlay Train and Simon Wilson but at the line the Purkis Firefly was ahead, finishing fourth overall.
The longer course for race two saw a similar pattern and at the end of day one, it was the ever-consistent Mitchell who led the fleet with a first, a second and a first overall.
At the same time, the cadets’ Easter egg hunt, led by cadet officer Joanne Harris and her team, was in full swing. Fourteen cadets, including four who’d never been afloat before, had a great time in five club boats under sail, hunting for eggs and miscellaneous novelties on the water and ashore up and down the estuary.
The second day of racing on Easter Monday brought a significantly stronger but chilly wind. Now in the experienced hands of race officer Lindsay Tosh, the fleet, less a couple of non-starters from day one but with several additions, got away to a clean start out on a longer course, south of Rough Island.
The wind strength suited the powerful Vortex single-hander of Alec Glendinning who stormed round to take line honours by a big margin but was just pipped to first place after handicap time corrections by the Mitchell Finn followed by the Train/Stewart Flying Fifteen that only just made the line with a broken main sheet pulley block, meaning they couldn’t start race two.
Results: 1 Stewart Mitchell (Finn); 2 Scott Train and Anne Stewart (Flying Fifteen); 3 Finlay Train (Laser Radial ILCA 6); 4 Colin Filer and Jamie Gascoigne (Flying Fifteen); 5 Alec Glendinning (Vortex); 6 Ian and Oliver Purkis (Firefly); 7 Scott and Nicola McColm (RS400); 8 Simon Wilson (Laser Radial ILCA 6); 9 James Bishop (Laser ILCA 7); 10 Keith Veasey (Finn); 11 Chris Nurney and Steve Gaughan (Dart 18); 12 Katie Bishop and Nicola McColm (RS400).
