Clyde Cru
ising Club
Tidelines
OCTOBER 2013 Scottish Series. Photo: Marc Turner
COMMODORE’S REPORT
A
nother summer draws to a close and one of the best for many years for weather. There have been many reports of terrific cruising on our beautiful West Coast – long sunny days and starry nights! Please share your experiences (wherever you have sailed this year) with logs and photographs for the forthcoming competitions and for publication in the Journal. (See page 7.) Nevertheless a good few of our events coincided with inclement weather – just ask the crew of Sloop John T who were swamped by a large wave breaking over the yacht during the race to Troon putting gallons of water down below and leaving the floor boards swimming in the bilges. Or ask those who braved the high seas and 30/40 knots winds to make the Loch Spelve Mussel Supper. Nevertheless I am glad to say that the parties at both destinations were a great success and well worth the effort. Blue Water to Brittany On the other hand the small group of yachts who sailed to Benodet via Dublin on the Blue Water had a great time with continuously superb weather and mostly fast and relatively easy sailing - port tack all the way from Dublin to Benodet! The Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire is celebrating its 175th Anniversary and we are extremely grateful to Commodore Liam O’Rourke, his members and staff for the warm welcome they gave us. Commodore O’Rourke welcomed 45 CCC members (with a good number of our Irish members) and guests to dinner in his magnificent clubhouse. Our numbers in Benodet were swollen by more CCC members arriving either from Brittany or the South Coast and boosted further by another 20 yachts from the Royal Southern and Royal Air Force Yacht Clubs from the Hamble who last autumn had eagerly asked to join our Muster. Consequently the Mairie’s (Mayor’s) reception went like a fair aided by a superb whisky and gin tasting kindly provided by Bruichladdich with Donald MacKenzie as their excellent host.
Scottish Series 2013 Scottish Series was a great success again this year made possible by funding Commodore John Watson from Malin Waters (for the ‘on the water Photo by Adby Creative activities’), Event Scotland celebrating the Year of Natural Scotland and Tunnock’s along with a good number of support sponsors. At 87 entries numbers were down (from last year’s 93) but not as far as some have reported and largely as a result of the collapse of the SB20 Class on the Clyde – they had 11 boats in 2012. The much more positive view is that IRC and CYCA entries held up well – although it would have been better if 2 yachts had not pulled out after suffering damage on their way to Tarbert. We received 76 Series feedback forms from 31 owners plus crew and helpers which was an excellent response and extremely helpful. This confirmed there was a great deal to be happy with but a few lessons to be learned and improvements perhaps to be made. Next year sees the 40th Anniversary of the Series and given the clear interest shown there will be a day race from Royal Gourock Yacht Club to Tarbert on Friday 23rd May. This race will be named after new support sponsor ‘Clyde Challenger’ - more information will be released shortly as plans are well under way. Scottish Series is a very important event for the Club and there has been much discussion (some well informed, some obviously not!) about ‘what to do’ with the event. The Scottish Series Committee listens hard to constructive comment but it can’t wave a wand to increase numbers, nor can it (nor in my view should it) stop owners berthing outwith Tarbert if they wish to do so. My personal conclusion is that if there are 80 yachts racing in Loch Fyne with crews all enjoying themselves, if there are sufficient members and friends willing to come and man the shore side and committee vessels AND crucially, so long as the event is not a drain on the Club’s balance sheet then the Club should continue to run the event and indeed annually. 1