Sailors in brush with killer whales
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YACHT club sailors had a thrilling encounter with a pod of killer whales while racing in the Pentland Firth.
The orcas swam through the fleet and took a turn around the bay near the beach at Scrabster, giving the sailors more excitement than usual in their event.
The encounter took place during the Pentland Firth Yacht Club’s "Topper" race day earlier this year.
Also memorable was the Thurso Town Improvements Association race, when a receding tide left at least one boat stranded on rocks near the harbour wall.
The sailors have now started their "Frostbite" series of races after a varied programme of activities through the summer.
Along with normal racing on Sundays and weekday evenings, the club also ran a number of special events such as pursuit races, development stints, and "come and try" sessions for others interested in getting involved in the sport.
Guy and Barbara Newson went on to join more than 100 other crews from 11 countries at the Fireball European Championships held at Lake Bracciano, near Rome.
The central location led to one of the largest Fireball fleets in the past 10 years assembling for the event, travelling from as far afield as Canada and Namibia.
After two warm-up days, the weather decided not to play ball on the first scheduled day of racing, when the fleet of 106 boats was greeted by grey skies and strong winds, being kept on shore until winds dropped to 25 knots.
As soon as racing started, winds increased above 30 knots and a number of sailors went swimming.
The change in wind speed also brought a major wind shift, eventually forcing the race committee to hoist the ‘Abandon’ flag. Most sailors were moving too fast to notice and carried on sailing around the course for some time.
Conditions improved on the second day and the first race was started in a good breeze but this eventually faded.
After multiple false starts, the second race started under black flag conditions (when anyone crossing the line early was disqualified to avoid further recalls). The fleet finally sailed ashore after nearly seven hours on the water.
Day three proved to be another long day of racing, with multiple recalls and more than 20 boats disqualified from the first race.
By the end of the second race, most sailors had spent another seven hours on the water.
Conditions on day four turned out to be the best of the week, with warm wind and water and a breeze that built for the second race.
This turned out to be the final day of racing as the wind did not build in time to start a race on the final day of the regatta.
However, most sailors went out for a blast on the lake, getting a chance to look around the shore for the first time.
The regatta was won by a British team, with their representatives taking a total of five of the top ten places.
The Fireball fleet then moved to Penzance for the UK national championships.
This event turned out to be as wet and windy as always, with big waves in Mount’s Bay that would rival those at Thurso East on an exceptional day.
Most of the sailors revelled in the wild conditions, using the surf to help them around the course.
Closer to home, veteran PFYC sailor Roy Donn sailed in the Scottish Mirror championships at St Mary’s Loch Sailing Club. Roy won two races to finish second place overall and winner of the ‘single-handed’ trophy.
He will sail one of the two boats representing the Mirror class at the 50th Scottish Champion of Champions event at East Lothian Yacht Club next month.
At PFYC, the ‘Frostbite’ series is currently being led by Malcolm Lord, sailing a Laser, who has won five of the races held in the series to date. Racing on Sunday was held in glorious sunshine, with winds of 20 knots and big gusts blowing across Thurso Bay from the east.
The shifty, strong winds resulted in most sailors taking a swim but also provided some exciting reaches, with visibility reduced to zero in the cold spray produced by boats planing across the waves.
Anyone interested in getting involved in the club activities, whether it is dinghy sailing, powerboat driving or just becoming part of the sailing club, can contact the PFYC at info@pentlandfirthyachtclub.org.uk.
