Regatta 2024

Last update 26 August 2024.

Holm Regatta 2024

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The 75th anniversary Holm Regatta was held on 6 July 2024

The event attracted a wide variety of sailing craft from around Orkney. The main class was the one design fleet of Snipes, with a mix of local boats and travellers from Stromness.

The Lasers had some class racing with two Radials and two Standard rigged boats. Three catamarans turned out from Kirkwall showing off a bit of colour and speed, and for the fans of traditional boats there were two yoles and a skiff.

A fleet of Toppers gave some racing for the enthusiastic youngsters.

Many thanks to all the club members, visiting sailors, volunteers and helpers who made the event a success, including:

Margaret Hinckley and Isobel Tipler who did timekeeping and Edwin Flett and Willie Watters who did the race starts.  

Bob Makenzie, Mike Cooper, John Tulloch, Bob Moar did safety boat cover along with a team from Stromness, Johnny Robertson and Florence Ungaro.  

Various club members provided raffle prizes, prepared food and generally being organised, and of course Graham Bartlett the cluib Commodore for making it all happen. Fiona Russel looked after the registration tent and raffles with help from Ruby Foubister who also provided soup for hungry sailors at lunch time.  

Orkney Sailing Club for bringing toppers and junior competitors.  

Craig Bruce for all his efforts with Toppers and other boats on Wednesday evenings, as well as John Orr who has helped with training for the juniors in the Toppers as well as the Laser sailors.  

Visiting sailors who made the effort to take their boats to race.

Snipe

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Laser

Allcomers

The Allcomers race had a busy startline with 12 competitors. The two Stromness boats came out on top with the win going to Go Faster Blue (Ewan Sinclair and Tifen Cazenave) finishing a few seconds in front of Mandarino (Mark Taylor and Conor Gilmour). 3 Place went to Il Mostro (John Orr and Sid Milton). Auk (Kyle Harcus) finished 3 place over the line in his Laser but after handicap had to settle with 4 place.

Catamarans

Three catamarans took part in the regatta, they had three races, two in the morning and then a longer race in the afternoon.

Catamarans Morning Races

Catamarans Afternoon Race

Yoles

Yoles Morning Race

Yoles Afternoon Race

Toppers Race

After the lunch break some races were held for the juniors in Toppers. Five competitors (from Holm Sailing Club and Orkney Sailing Club) took part in three short races. The Juniors have been making great progress at Holm Sailing Club, with the support of many club members including Craig Bruce and John Orr.

Longhope Regatta 2024

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The Longhope Regatta was held on 13 July 2024 after a break since 2019. Quite fresh conditions made for great sailing.

Two races were held, the class races followed by the Allcomers.

Snipe

The Snipe Class had a good turn out with seven boats.

Mixed Centreboards

Kammy Kassie (Laser Radial, Kavan Kynoch) made a convincing win in the mixed centreboard class. Scallywag (Tasar, Lee Thomson) retired due to a main halyard problem.

Allcomers

Catamarans Morning Race

Catamarans Afternoon Race

Yoles Morning Race

Yoles Afternoon Race

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Stromness Regatta 2024

Stromness Regatta was held on Saturday 20 July. Two races were held. Conditions were very light at the start of the first race, the start line being sheltered by the Holms. Once out in the bay the breeze was fresher and conditions improved through the day. The event was sponsored by Swanney Brewery.

There was a good fleet of Snipes which started along with the Lasers. Three Lasers took part in the event, one Radial and two Full Rigs. The start of the first race was a drift with almost no wind to get the competitors across the line. Once the boats cleared the shelter of the holms the conditions improved and the breeze settled in to give fine sailing conditions.

Snipe

Mixed Centreboards

Catamarans Morning Race

Catamarans Afternoon Race

Allcomers

The Allcomers race had the same course as the morning race but with a bit more breeze. The first snipes all finished within a few seconds, although Go Faster Blue had an altercation at the finish line and was subsequently disqualified. The rest of the fleet were more spread out, with Thunderball finishing last across the line (although the Laser Radial has the bigest handicap so not last on corrected time).

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Rousay Regatta 2024

Rousay Regatta was held on Saturday 20 July 2024. Six yachts took part with no dinghies due to Stromness Regatta being on the same day.

Wyre Sound Race 1

Wyre Sound Race 2

Around Wyre Race

On Sunday 21 July the Around Wyre Race was held.

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Westray Regatta 2024

Westray Regatta was held on Saturday 27 July. The format for the event was to have class races in the morning followed by the Allcomers in the afternoon, with a break between for lunch. The event was sponsored by Scapa Distillery.

Snipe

Lasers

Allcomers

The course was reversed for the Allcomers race which gave a beat to the windward mark in the bay followed by a run and then a fast reach across and a long beat back up to the windward mark. The fresher conditions made for a tough race. Thunderball (Joshua Brown) got off to a good start in the Allcomers race but capsized and ended up with a mainsheet problem which set him back fair bit. Among the Snipes there was very close racing with No Fear (Neil Foubister and Lee Clouston) eventually finishing ahead of Il Mostro (John Orr and Sid Milton), after many place changes. Warspite (Andrew Leslie) took the win, first across the line and first on handicap. Kammie Kassie was close behind in 2 place. 3 place and first Snipe went to Nor Fear.

Yachts Morning Race

Yachts Afternoon Race

Catamarans

In the first catamaran race Willy Tipit's trapeze wire parted leaving the skipper in the drink, the boat capsized after a time and retired from race 1.

Catamarans Morning Race

Catamarans Afternoon Race

Dipping Lug Morning Race

Dipping Lug Afternoon Race

Westray Skiff Morning Race

Westray Skiff Afternoon Race

Prize Winners Photo from Left, Andrew Leslie (Laser, Warspite), Lee Clouston (No Fear, Snipe), Neil Foubister (No Fear, Snipe), Keith Kent (Tit, Westray Skiff), Joshua Brown (Thunderball, Laser Radial), Sid Milton (Il Mostro, Snipe), John Orr (Il Mostro, Snipe), Harcus Hutchison (Yacht Harmony), Ian Rushbrook (Cat Awesome), Steven Bruce (Cat Awesome), Callum Rendall (Cat Willy Flipit), Flo Ungaro (Cat Willy Flipit), George Miller (Dipping Lug Fly).

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Kirkwall Regatta 2024

The main event of Kirkwall Regatta was held on Saturday 3 August 2024, with a pursuit race on Friday evening to kick off the proceedings. The 2024 Kirkwall Reegatta was kindly sponsored by Kirkjuvagr Gin. The event was a great success with a good turn out of boats and good quality racing over the weekend. Boats turned out from various local clubs including Westray, Holm and Stromness.

The pursuit race was a timed race of 90 minutes for handicap boats. Each class of boat starts at a different time and the boat positions after 90 minutes gives the places. The course set was a start heading south and laps round the Lifeboat Buoy, Weyland (2) then Greenfield (3), Crowness (4) and back through the start.

On Saturday the main regatta races were held, with a single class race in the morning followed by a break for lunch and then two handicap races in the afternoon. The racing was organised from a committee vessel moored in the East side of the Bay and a laid start line, the course was run from the start around the fixed racing marks in the bay and then back to the committee boat to finish.

During the lunch break the course was changed to take account of a change in wind direction but the afternoon breeze was very changeable and patchy.

After the racing the weary sailors were treated to hot soup and sandwiches in the Girnel and trophies were awarded.

Many thanks to Bruce Leask and John Manson who came down from Shetland and helped with the event. Thanks are also due to many other volunteers involved with the racing, including safety boat drivers (from Stromness and Holm Sailing Clubs), race officials, club officials and of course the event sponsors Kirkyuvagr Gin.

Pursuit Race Yachts

Pursuit Race Dinghies

First Catamaran in the pursuit race: Willy Flipit (Callum Rendall and Scott Johnston)

Saturday Morning Races

Yachts

Panache sailed by Jimmy Clouston finished the morning race in the lead and also took the trophy on handicap.

The mixed handicap fleet was dominated by the Laser ILCA class. There was close racing at the front between Aak and Warspite with several place changes. Warspite got ahead on the last leg to take the win a few seconds ahead of Aak:

Snipe

The Snipe class had close racing. Il Mostro got stuck in a patch of light air at the start and wasn't able to make up lost time.

Dinghy Mixed Centreboard Race

The mixed centreboard race had an individual recall but nobody went back. After the race Mandarino was disqualified for being OCS. This put Warspite in the lead with Il Mostro close behind in 2 place. 3 place went to Aak.

Catamarans Final race

During the last race for the cats the wind turned very light and the only boat to finish the race was Willy Flipit.

Allcomers

Nine boats took part in the mixed centreboard race with the Snipe and Laser (ILCA 7) on similar handicap and the Solo and Laser Radial (ILCA 6) on similar handicap. Warspite finished first with enough of a lead to take the win, Mandarino finished in 2 place and Il Mostro took 3 place.

Burray Regatta 2024

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The Burray Regatta was held on 24 August 2024

The snipe class was hotly contested but the winner of all three races was Il Mostro (John Orr and Sid Milton). No Fear retired due to a main halyard failure.

Three boats raced in the laser class, Aak was a clear winner winning two out of three races.

Three cats took part in the event adding colour and showing off great speed. The cats went twice round the course. The cat Double Trouble was afloat for the first time in many years.