Stromness Sailing

 

 

The final three races of the Commodore’s Cup series took place in sunshine and a reasonable wind on Thursday, 25 August, with seven Snipes competing. Running alongside these races were two Topper races for the youth trainees.  The Snipes used the south easterly course No.4 and the Toppers sailed a short triangular course using marks 7, 2 and 1.

 

A good start to any race is important although some sailors manage to challenge well for position from wherever they start. In all three Snipe races, Go Faster Blue achieved good starts and was able to hold on to win the races despite strong challenges at times from Hassfang, Go Quickly Red, Double Dutch and Humdinger who fought for the lead but had to settle for the minor places. Hassfang looked set to come through to win the third race after being the only boat to cross the main channel before the arrival of the Hamnavoe but as it turned out those still to windward when the ferry passed gained the advantage. Scooby brought up the rear in the first and third races while Tic-Tac, which only sailed the second race, finished last in that race.  The full Snipe results were as follows:

 

Race 1:  1 Go Faster Blue (Pete Tipler and Thorfinn Johnston), 2 Hassfang (Chris Moore and Harvey Dunnet), 3 Go Quickly Red (Malcolm Tipler and Paula Hemsley), 4 Humdinger (John Love and Barry Jones), 5 Double Dutch (Kenny Holland and Dave Bews), 6 Scooby (Donnie and Finley Hall), DNS Tic-Tac (Sheena Taylor and Adrian Askew).

 

Race 2: 1 Go Faster Blue, 2 Hassfang, 3 Go Quickly Red, 4 Double Dutch, 5 Humdinger, 6 Scooby, 7 Tic-Tac.

 

Race 3: 1 Go Faster Blue, 2 Go Quickly Red, 3 Double Dutch, 4 Hassfang, 5 Humdinger, 6 Scooby (skippered in this race by Finley Hall), DNS Tic-Tac.

 

In the Topper races there was some swapping of boats between races so the focus is on the skipper names more than the boats. Ed Johnstone won both races, although the second race could have been won by Nathan Omand had he not missed out Mark 1 when well in the lead. By the time he had returned to sail round that mark, Ed was again ahead. The full results of the Topper races were:

 

Race 1: Ed Johnstone (27150), 2 Nathan Omand (9289), 3 Eilidh Leiper (no number, red deck), 4 Aidan Morrison (22783), 5 Griogair Morrison (no number, beige deck).

 

Race 2: Ed Johnstone (9289), 2 Nathan Omand (27150), 3 Aidan Morrison (no number, red deck), 4 Eilidh Leeper (no number, beige deck), 5 Giogair Morrison (22783).

 

Mark Taylor and Ian Johnstone manned the support boat and supervised the youth trainees. Isobel Tipler was the starter.

 

 

Isobel Tipler