This report covers the racing held on Thursdays 26 May and 2 June.

On 26 May there was a fairly strong northerly wind, giving a rare opportunity to sail course No.1 with a good long beat the full length of the harbour up to Mark 4. Only four boats sailed: Bonxie, Double Dutch, Hassfang and Wild Goose. The first race was made interesting by the departure of the cruise ship Silver Explorer from her berth just as the Snipes were tacking up to Mark 4 and then broad reaching down to Mark 3. However, the Captain, or perhaps it was the Pilot, allowed the racing to continue before getting the cruise ship fully under way and leaving the harbour. Thanks also to the skipper of the John Rae Pilot boat for similar patience on his later return to harbour. Wild Goose retired just after the start of the third race and Double Dutch capsized near Mark 4, also retiring.

On 2 June the wind was westerly and fairly strong again, making the conditions very swappy as the wind funnelled down the hill between the houses of the town. Six Snipes sailed: Double Dutch, Hassfang, Humdinger, No Fear, Noringa and Wild Goose. Unfortunately, there were more crews than skippers available that evening and four crews were left ashore. Wild Goose failed to go through the finish line at the end of the first race and lost what would have been a third place. No Fear, with Mairi Fleet at the helm, capsized towards the end of the second race and lost what looked like being a certain win and had to make do with third.

Thanks to Calum MacIver for manning the support boat on 26 May and to Davy Wishart and Sheena Taylor for

manning it on 2 June. Isobel Tipler was the starter for both evenings.

The full results were as follows:

26 May

Race 1: 1 Hassfang (Chris Moore & Harvey Dunnet), 2 Wild Goose (Mark Taylor & Steph Wauchope), 3 Bonxie (James Burgon & Thorfinn Johnston), 4 Double Dutch (Gordon Hill & Kenny Holland)

Race 2: 1 Bonxie, 2 Wild Goose, 3 Hassfang, 4 Double Dutch Race 3: 1 Hassfang, 2 Bonxie, Rtd. Double Dutch (Kenny Holland helming), Wild Goose

2 June

Race 1: 1 No Fear (Neil Foubister & Mairi Fleet), 2 Hassfang (Chris Moore & Harvey Dunnet) 3 Humdinger (Barry Jones & Thorfinn Johnston), 4 Double Dutch (Kenny Holland & Dave Bews), 5 Noringa (Gordon Hill & Ross Manson), Rtd Wild Goose (Mark Taylor & Steph Wauchope)

Race 2: 1 Hassfang, 2 Wild Goose, 3 No Fear (Mairi Fleet helming), 4 Noringa, 5 Humdinger, 6 Double Dutch

Race 3: 1 Wild Goose, 2 No Fear, 3 Hassfang, 4 Noringa, 5 Double Dutch, 6 Humdinger

Isobel Tipler