Irish boats to the fore

Light and shifty conditions for day three of the Bell Lawrie Scottish Series

Two Irish boats remain the prime contenders to lift the Bell Lawrie Scottish Series Trophy after just one race on Loch Fyne today for the IRC Classes.

Sunday mornings can be slow on the picturesque sea loch, but the two - and sometimes it seemed like three - conflicting breezes could not sort themselves out for long enough for a course to be set. Only when the fleet motored north into the northerly breeze, nearly two and a half hours later did a short, one hour race get under way.

Light and shifty, IRC Class 1 jumped the gun en masse and after their general recall, were sent to the back of the sequence.

Jump Juice, Conor Phelan's Ker 37, conspired to win their fourth race from five starts, to lead the Class by four points from Colin Buffin's Swan 42 Uxorious. After an 11th in the first race Uxorious has continually sailed their own race at the front of the fleet and has now scored four second places. Geoff Howison's Local Hero, the BH41, lies third after finishing equal second with Uxorious this afternoon.

Blondie III's string of wins came to an unfortunate end today. They failed to recognise the shortened course signals on the committee boat as pertaining to their class. Their normal set up for a mark rounding, rather than heading to finish by the committee boat proved a costly error. They lost out to their Dublin rivals on Rosie, also a Corby design, by a slender 10 seconds, but their margin over second placed Rosie now extends to nine points.

In IRC Class 3 it is the vintage J/35 Bengal Magic which is keeping the younger J/92Ses at bay with relative ease. The Northern Irish boat leads by two points from Andy Budgen's The Project which finished third this afternoon, while the J/92S of Hamish Mackay - twice winner of the overall Scottish Series Trophy - lies third, ahead of niJinsky, another J/92S.

With no one design class this year, the Impalas are making their presence felt in Class 4. Clyde sailmaker Murray Caldwell increased the lead of his crew on Hooch this afternoon when the won for the second time, ahead of Peter Doig's East Antrim-based Impala Bambi.

Provisional Overall Results after Day 3, Sunday 27 May

IRC Class 1:
1 Jump Juice (C Phelan) 4 points
2 Uxorious 8
3 Local Hero (G Howison) 10

IRC Class 2:
1 Blondie III (E Rohan) 4
2 Rosie (R Dickson) 13
3 A-Crewed-Interest (K Lord) 15

IRC Class 3:
1 Bengal Magic (Moorehead/Ferres) 9
2 The Project (A Budgen) 11
3 True Love (H Mackay) 3

IRC Class 4:
1 Hooch (M Caldwell) 7
2 Bambi (P Doig) 12
Antix (J Allen) 13

CYCA Class 6:
1 Stoirm Mhor (J MacKenzie) 5
2 Respite (C McLachlan) 9
3 Guilty (D Clow) 12

CYCA Class 7:
1 Valhalla of Ashton (A Dunnet) 8
2 Shoki (J McDougall) 9
3 Mallie (McLelland/McFadyen) 11

CYCA Class 8:
1 Hopscotch (R Brownlie) 9
2 What's New Pussy Kate (S Scott) 9
3 Kudos (D Syme) 11

CYCA Restricted Sail Class 9:
1 North Star (R Smith) 4
2 Zara of Doon (Wilson/Lyall) 8
3 Scanne (G Aikman) 13

Sigma 33:
1 Sigmatic (D McLaren) 11
2 Rascal (F Crawford) 17
3 Sea-Pie of Cultra (J Colman) 22

National Sonata:
1 So (McLure/Stewart) 12
2 Blue Tack (D Boatman) 15.75
3 Pied Piper (A Harper) 20

Sportsboat Class 1:
1 Buddy Ell (C K Frize) 8
2 Runaway (D Wilson) 19
3 Water Tiger (C Macdonald) 20

Sportsboat Class 2:
1 Grouse (S Pender) 17
2 Wombat 2 (E Mackay) 17
3 Carpe Diem (Patience/Ross) 20

Laser SB3 Class:
1 Firefly (J Smith) 13
2 Laser Scotland (D Hepplewhite) 20
3 Carolyn II (N Rosie) 23

More photos on the following pages....