Pentland Firth Yacht Club sailors face choppy sea in final races of season
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After a delayed start to the 2020 Pentland Firth Yacht Club season because of the Covid-19 restrictions, the sailing continued throughout the summer until last weekend. The final races of the year were held on Saturday afternoon before the club rescue boat was removed from the harbour on Sunday morning, taking advantage of the very high tide.
The racing on the Saturday had the problem of very low tide and the presence of a deep canyon carved out by the stream at the bottom of the ramp down to the beach at Scrabster. This meant that the boats had to be carried across the canyon to the safety of the sand and access to the sea.
The rescue boat crew of Martin Lord and Ian Grant were out in good time and must have wondered what the sailors were doing on the beach, lifting boats and seemingly not making much progress.
Finally the two Lasers of Marjory and Dave Lord were heading out across the bay, followed by the four Topper dinghies with Steve and Janee Foster, Malcolm Lord and Thomas McAlonan on board.
All six boats started the first race in a northerly wind of about 12 mph but the wind began to increase and made the conditions challenging with lots of salt-water spray and an increasingly choppy sea.
It was the Toppers of Steve, Janee and Malcolm that fared best in the conditions as the boats attempted to sail round the buoys which formed a triangle in the bay. Thomas found the conditions tough and had a swim after he failed to anticipate a gust in the wind.
Marjory and Dave managed to forget which buoy they were heading for next and Marjory finally joined Thomas in the swimming club. After four laps of the course the guard boat crew finally blew the finishing whistle and the order was Steve, Malcolm, Janee, Dave and Marjory with Thomas bringing up the rear.
After a quick moving of the course further out to sea because of the receding tide, the second race got under way with the wind having reduced a little but it was still strong enough to make exciting racing.
This time the guard boat crew had decided to make it a shorter race and Marjory in her Laser was determined to make up for her mistakes in the first one. This she did and ended up taking first place, followed by Malcolm, Dave, Steve, Thomas and Janee.
The final race was similar to the second but this time it was Malcolm who took first place followed by Steve, Dave, Marjory, Thomas and Janee.
The boats quickly returned to the beach and the sailors were grateful that the tide conditions were now suitable for retrieving the boats using the long concrete slip, avoiding the need to carry the boats over the canyon.
Sunday morning saw the sailors return, with the addition of Maja Redlowska and new member Joe Garnet, to pull the rescue boat from the harbour, prepare it for the winter and move club boats inside for their winter home.
The club is always looking for new members. If you have an interest in sailing or would like to become involved for 2021 and beyond, contact pentlandfirthyc@gmail.com
