Tight at the top

A report from day one of the Old Pulteney IRC Scottish Championship

The sun may have shone, but the breeze at day one of the Old Pulteney IRC Scottish Championships was the real challenge for the assembled cream of Scottish racing yachts on the Clyde.

Light to moderate, sometimes shifty, airs, primarily from the south, favoured the newer and lighter yachts in the field and it manifested itself in some real upsets at the Mudhook Yacht Club-organised regatta.

Nowhere were these more obvious than in IRC1, where some stalwarts like Jonathan Anderson’s First 47.7 Playing FTSE and Kevin Aitken’s First 42s7 Duckwall Pooley both had to face unusual disappointment - simply too heavy for the light conditions, the yachts found themselves languishing in generally uncharted territory towards the back of the fleet.

But, FTSE and Duckwall’s losses were the gain of lighter and more modern yachts like Tanit, with Richard and Paul Harris, Salamander XX, John Corson’s new Corby 33, and the two First 36.7s Carmen II and Holdfast II.

After three races, however, the field is still wide open in both IRC1 and 2, with Richard Harris and crew aboard the Sydney 36 Tanit just leading the charge in class one, by a single point ahead of Iain and Graham Thomson’s Swan 40 Sloop John T.

“It’s been a good day,” said Richard Harris. “We got clean air on the startline in each race, which was most important. We had a disappointing Scottish Series, but the boat is going well and I feel we’re back into it. The conditions were bang on for us.”

And, in third place in IRC1, with a six-month old yacht and plenty to smile about, was John Corson and the latest in the Salamander series.

The smallest yacht in the ‘big boat’ class by some distance, the little Corby33 marched her way ably around the course consistently getting better all day - a seventh in race one, was followed by a second in race two and a first in the third race of the day.

“It’s been very competitive, really hard work,” explained Stevie Corson, the yacht’s foredeck man. “Scottish Series was our first serious outing in the boat and this is the second. And she’s going really well. Very competitive, even in with the bigger boats. But we’ve looked for clear air and gone the right way, so there’s all to play for in the last two races.”

And it’s tight at the top, too, in IRC2, with neither the Alan Jeffrey and Paul Scutt partnership on Carmen II giving any ground to their sister rivals in Holdfast, helmed by Ruaraidh MacLeod. The two identical yachts finished after three races with two points between them, and heading the 13-strong fleet.

“The breeze just seemed to suit us,” explained MacLeod. “We’ve managed to be reasonably consistent, which is excellent. The boat was new last year and this is all quite a new crew, too, so we’re still fine tuning. But it’s coming together – we’ve lots of respect for the Carmen crew, so we just need to go out and be consistent and maybe we’ll get the result.”

Old Pulteney Scottish IRC Championship, Clyde. Results after three races:

IRC1
1 Tanit (R&P Harris) 8 points
2 Sloop John T (I&G Thomson) 9
3 Salamander XX (J Corson) 10
4 Thunderbird (C Tiso/J Fitzgerald) 11
5 Argie Bargie (A Hogg/DRalston) 11

IRC2
1 Carmen II (P Scutt/A Jeffrey) 9
2 Holdfast II (R MacLeod) 11
3 Off Limits (G Firth) 12
4 Enigma (H Morrison) 14
5 Rajah (R Summers) 16