Oban sailing club held it’s annual regatta last weekend as a fleet of nine dinghies and six keelboats competed. They were not deterred by a the light winds forecast and the dinghies raced on both days in the mornings, with an Advanced and Novice Class, and a Keelboat Class in the afternoons.
A light easterly breeze filled in and four races were completed from the clubhouse for the dinghies on Saturday (June 10) morning.
Andrew Chapman (‘Feva’) and Chris Dowd (‘Laser’) went toe to toe in the Class A category, with Ewan Dowd (‘Laser’) keeping them honest for a tight three way battle on day one.
This left the points all square between Chapman and Chris Dowd going into Sunday’s sailing.
In the novice class Ruari Cottier also sailed well to win all four races with Finlay and Liz Cottier keeping it a family affair in second and third places.
On Saturday afternoon the keelboats kicked-off with a race out of the bay to Sgeir Dhonn, an island famous for seal spotting.
They then sailed down to Ganavan, before a short lap of the bay to the finish.
Eric Chapman’s ‘Elixir of Lorn’ was ahead from the start and never looked back with a solid race win.
Chris Dowd and his team on ‘Kittiewake’ held off the Forteith’s ‘Shadowfax’ to take second place and ‘Shadowfax’ finished third.
When Sunday morning came around there was even less wind, but after a short delay, battle commenced in the dinghies.
Competitors were able to complete two races on the second day, with Dowd taking the honours, but Chapman doing just enough in ‘Feva’ to win overall.
Ewan Dowd sailed consistently to take third overall, while Cottier sailed well to hold onto an overall win in the novice class.
A special mention should also go to Faraid Winterton, who lapped everyone in her ‘Topper’ in race one.
There was then a quick lunch break before the keelboats set off on the second race, involving two laps of a course around the bay, with Shadowfax’ taking an early lead as the fleet chased behind.
However, a pile up at the first mark saw ‘Elixir’ take the lead to sail to a huge margin of victory to win the race and the weekend’s Keelboat Class category.
Chris Dowd also showed great form to again take second place, with ‘Kittewake’ and ‘Shadowfax’ recovering from a windless patch to fightback into third position.
The next significant club event for the Oban Sailing Club is the Round Mull race, which will start on Friday June 30.
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