HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Loch Tummel Sailing Club

HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Loch Tummel © Graham Logan

As the class has done many times in the past the Scottish Solo fleet travelled to Loch Tummel SC as part of the HD Sails Travellers Series. All week the airstream had been from the North which is definitely not a direction anyone would want at Loch Tummel as the wind comes straight over the hills.

As it turned out we were lucky to get a westerly breeze blowing right down the loch. The wind varied in strength but was mostly F 2-3 shifting about 20 degrees either side of the mean direction so plenty of opportunities to work the shifts. It was not very warm!

Chatting to race officer Colin Scott when I arrived he was keen to get as many short races completed on Saturday and with four classes to start was aiming for the same number of races. At the briefing there was a discussion about whether the classes wanted windward leeward courses of triangles. In the Solo fleet there was no clear consensus so we had a mixture.

Loch Tummel SC are lucky to have some very long standing members who are involved in every event the club runs. As well as Colin and Douglas on the committee boat there were Nicky, Denise and Di in the galley with Graham and Neil in the rescue boats.

HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Loch Tummel - photo © Graham Logan

The Solos were third start meaning we could watch the lowrider Moths and the Lasers go ahead of us and have a good look at the line bias. As it turned out the committee boat end was favoured most of the time.

In the first race it was Stuart Gibson who was the early leader followed by Ross Watson although this pair were soon caught. Down the first run David Sword sailed past your scribe who realised why David had been so keen on a windward leeward course. By the finish, after two laps, it was Keith Milroy in front followed by Malcolm Worsley and Stuart Gibson.

The second race started quickly and this was led throughout by Stuart Gibson. With Keith second and Malcolm third. The start and finish lines were set either side of the committee boat meaning a slight detour on the downwind leg to avoid sailing through them. In the first race everyone went outside the starting line on this leg but in race 2 Ross went down the other side and picked up a place. Others tried it on different rounds but it did not always pay.

For race 3 we had a triangle course with the gybe mark set close to the club but there was not enough wind to give the spectators any excitement. Keith Milroy was the winner with Malcolm getting another second and Ross third.

HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Loch Tummel - photo © Graham Logan

For the last race we had another windward leeward course. The wind had shifted slightly to the south at the start but a port tack start by Ross did not quite come off. At the first windward mark Stuart realised he could not lay it and Keith was right behind. Despite a valiant effort to luff and scull his way past it he drifted onto the mark and, as it turned out later, did Keith.

Malcolm and Keith had a very close race with plenty of luffing and gybing down the run with Keith coming out ahead.

On the same leg Stuart on port decided to cross Ross on starboard to get to the inside, only to discover too late that the boats were overlapped! There was some interesting manoeuvrers by both boats to avoid a collision. Donald Aitken from Largo Bay in his first travellers event had his best result with second in this race.

Once ashore and after some welcome refreshment it was time for the prize-giving. The overall results of the HD Sails Scottish Solo travellers were Keith Milroy being the winner followed by Malcolm Worsley and Stuart Gibson. The next, and final event of the series, is at Loch Ard on October 9th so hopefully we will have a good turnout.

Colin Scott leads the race team at Loch Tummel - photo © Graham Logan

Overall Results:

HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Loch Tummel - photo © Graham Logan