Gairloch Boat Club

As the date for this year's Challenge Regatta approached with gathering momentum, umpteen weather forecasts showed that the wind was also gathering momentum. Not again... The last two years have been agony – the conditions sucking the fun out of the event. At least the Saturday forecast looked manageable, although North winds on both days did not promise equanimity – Gairloch's "Broth from the No'th", a melange of any old, and almost certainly unfavourable, meteorological ingredients.

Unlike the last two years, when the small sail has been de rigeur, the Laser sailors had to make the decision on Saturday: big sail (Radial) or small sail (4.7). With Sunday's forecast in mind, Morven, Vivienne and Angela opted for the small sail. However, the wind on Saturday was still tricky for some folk, with mass confusion caused by a big shift at the start of Race 2. Steve found himself throwing up his spinnaker on a different part of the course to Race 1. So, for Race 3, we decided to hold the "Round the Island" race in case it would not be possible on Sunday. The one constant was that Matthew, without the luxury of an alternative sail, helmed his Radial to three wins out of three.

On Sunday, the conditions were as forecast: strong (for dinghy sailing), gusty and shifty. It’s worrying when you stand on the end of the pier and the wind that was blowing directly behind you suddenly fills your left ear. Only Matthew, of necessity, stuck with his Radial in the Laser fleet. The two Wayfarers were well reefed, but Steve could only use an old, heavy sail in mitigation of the inevitable. He well knew the consequences of using his spinnaker...

Before the committee boat called time, two races were possible, and Morven won them both. It was not sufficient to overhaul Matthew as overall winner, but she stayed ahead of Vivienne who was third. The main story was of Steve gambling and being unable to resist throwing up his spinnaker after all – he had a hoot steaming up the course before the elements took over. The recovery of his inverted, recalcitrant boat was long and hard.

The "Round the Island" race was won by Matthew, with Graham, a good and long-time friend from Loch Morlich, second, and our own Cameron in third place – the small sails did not feature well in this race. As is now traditional, Lochcarron sailed away with the Challenge Trophy.

Next year, in all probability, we shall be staging the Gairloch Laser 4.7 Challenge. At least it will be better than no wind at all.