Force 5 winds present challenge for sailors

Jul 1 2008

BLUSTERY conditions on the Tay at the weekend made for lively general sailing on Saturday at Perth Sailing Club, and a tricky but entertaining race to Newburgh on Sunday.

The start of the school holidays affected the fleet numbers, but the three Albacores and two Fevas that went down river had to fight most of the way to either fend of the opposition or just stay upright in a westerly gusting up to force 5.

The albacore crews Robin MacArthur with Paula Pike, Bill Inches with Rachel Morrison and Sandy Rodger with Mike Warren took turns in the lead for the first mile, until Robin and Sandy pulled a little ahead of Bill.

Behind them, the Fevas of Patrick Dalgety with Rachel Pike and John Ferguson on his own (who started a couple of minutes behind after his late entry) fought manfully with the conditions, Patrick abandoning his spinnaker after running over it at one point.

John was making good progress when upright, but three capsizes didn't help, though he did manage to keep his spinnaker to the end, helping him to pass Patrick yards from the line.

Robin and Sandy were jockeying for position from Inchyra on and with the wind going into the south, and had some spectacularly fast planing, one of which saw Robin pull out a lead of 25 yards as they approached Newburgh.

Meanwhile, Sandy was not ready to throw in the towel, and managed to claw the yards back, cutting inside Robin to cross the line first by one second, astonishing for a seven mile race. Bill and Rachel came home shortly after, followed some time later by the slower Fevas, who's more favourable handicap gave them third and fourth respectively. All very exciting.

Results: Newburgh Cup – 1 Sandy Rodger/Mike Warren, 2 Robin MacArthur/Paula Pike, 3 John Ferguson, 4 Patrick Dalgety/Rachel Pyke, 5 Bill Inches/Rachel Morrison.