While some of the smaller sportsboats were taken to the edge of control as the malicious dark gusts span off the Kintyre shore, even many of the
larger IRC handicap racer-cruisers had some nervous moments when the squalls topped 30 knots at times.
Two masts were broken. Hayley's Comet, the Grand Surprise in IRC Class 3 was brought to earth with a crash, as the first casualty, then Alan Harper's Sonata Pied Piper had their regatta cruelly ended when their mast collapsed with a bang whilst running downwind under spinnaker.
It was a day when slick, assured crew work was rewarded and small errors or even little material breakages were punished.
In IRC Class 1 Allan Hogg and his crew on the King 40 Argie Bargie managed to string together back to back wins to lead the five boat division by six clear points from Playing FTSE, the First 47.7 of three times Scottish Series Trophy winner Jonathan Anderson.
Two wins in IRC Class 3 for Nigel Biggs and his Checkmate Sailing Team, where the same principles applied on their J109 Christie Cancer Care- smart starting and clean crew work - also applied as they overhauled the Clyde's John Corson on Salamander XX. After two wins yesterday the Clyde crew made two second places today to share the same six points tally.
But sheer consistency has been the watchword so far for the Bateleur 97 crew lead by Tich Summers. Twice winners of the overall Scottish Series Trophy, the Bateleur team have now finished second in all four of their races so far.
"It was good today. We sailed pretty well and made some good calls. The race officer got things just right getting the second race off smartly."
Commented Bateleur's Scott Graham who has been promoted to tactician on boat the BH36 after 21 years on the bow.
While they managed to drop their main spinnaker in the water and get away with it to win the first race for Class 2, Richard Fildes' Welsh Corby 37 Impetuous did not get off as lightly in the second race and could only rescue a fifth when they dropped another sail off the bow. They trail Bonar's Tay crew by two points.
The Sigma 33 fleet are competing for their class championship and it was the local Clyde boat Sigmatic which emerged with a big lead in the windies second race. Donald McLaren's crew won the class here last year and were calm and composed in the windy racing to earn the overall lead in the 15 boat class one design cruiser-racer class ahead of two boats from the Royal Ulster YC.
In IRC Class 4 Robert Yates' J92S NiJinsky collected two wins as well as plucking a man overboard off another competing yacht during the first race of the day.
Results after Day 2: IRC Class 1: 1 Argie Bargie (A Hogg) 5pts, 2 Playing FTSE (J Anderson) 11pts, 3 Local Hero (G Howison) 11pts, IRC Class 2: 1 Bateleur 97 (C Bonar) 11pts, 2 Impetuous (R Fildes) 11pts, 3 Tan It (P & R Harris) 16pts, IRC Class 3: 1 Christie Cancer Care (Biggs/Hyland) 6pts, 2 Salamander XX (J Corson) 6pts, 3 Tigh Soluis II (K Grant) 18pts, IRC Class 4: 1 niJinsky (R Yates) 8pts, 2 Movistar-Bleu (R Killops) 11pts, 3 Hops (Bolton/Robertson) 12pts, IRC Class 5: 1 Antix (J Allen) 8pts, 2 Chia Chia (P & A Eagleton) 11pts, 3 Shadowfax (S & B Fortieth) 16pts, Sigma 33 Class: 1 Sigmatic (D Mclaren) 10pts, 2 Signet (R Armstrong) 14pts, 3 Fandango (Prentice/Fair/Byres) 16pts, Sonata: 1 So (Higgins/McLure/Hutchinson) 6pts, 2 Blue Tack (D Boatman) 8pts, 3 Jazz (K Manderson) 10pts, Sportsboat Class1: 1 Tabula Rasa (C Frize) 4pts, 2 Water Tiger (C MacDonald) 9pts,Sportboat Class 2: 1 Prelude (Manuel/Bourke) 11pts, 2 Haggis (E Mackay) 11pts, 3 Robber's Dog (J Shelly) 13pts, RS Elite Class: 1 Elixir (S MacLean) 7pts, 2 Fullmarks (M Brien), 3 E'Tu (S Powell) 10pts. CYCA Class 6: 1 Celtic Spirit (B Robertson) 7pts, 2 Aquasmart (C Davis) 12pts, 3 Skywalker (I Laidlaw) 16pts, CYCA Class 7: 1 Bambi (P Doig) 5pts, 2 Tangle O'The Isles (J & V Gough) 9pts, 3 Piecemaker (S Hamilton) 12pts, CYCA Class 8: 1 What's New Pussykate (S Scott) 4pts, 2 Hesperus (C McVey) 5pts. Restricted Sail Class 9: 1 Xanadu (A Knowles) 5pts, 2 Scary…the Boat (S Andrews) 7pts, 3 Lady Rhona (I Cameron) 11pts, CYCA Class 10: 1 Finesse (D Walter) 3pts, 2 Poppy (J Roberts) 7pts.
