With less than four weeks to go to the first race of Scotland's top sailing event, the revamped Scottish Series on the Clyde has received only 13 IRC entries received so far.
Entry is due to close on May 14th for the May 28th event and the organisers have deferred the application of the late booking fee until Tuesday, 4th May.
As regular Afloat readers will know, in order to protect the series from another year of cancellation, the Clyde Cruising Club announced in January that it was stripping back its May regatta to a racing event-based over multiple locations on the Clyde.
In the face of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the Scottish Series organiser 'overwhelmingly' decided to do 'whatever it can to have a Scottish Series in 2021'.
In January, CCC reported that 100 boats had reserved a spot for the regatta, with CCC saying they would to operate in a restricted manner so entrants will be invited strictly by their reservation date.
According to the Scottish Series website, (last updated on May 1), there is now a total entry of 57 boats for the event across 14 classes, the biggest division being the Hunter 707s with 12 boats entered.
Three Sigma 33s are entered including former Irish open champion Leaky Roof II and there is also a fleet of Etchell 22 one-designs.
Entry is open here.
Top Banding
The organisers have removed the top banding in the IRC divisions. Chair of the organising committee, Glenn Porter said: "With many yachts facing the prospect of racing with reduced crew numbers to ensure compliance with Covid bubble size restrictions it is hoped this measure will ensure larger yachts are not unfairly penalised whilst running with reduced crew numbers".
Shortening of 2021 event
Porter has also shortened the event, dropping the last day. Announcing the change he said: “Organising any event in 2021 is a big challenge. We have already made some significant changes that would have been unthinkable a year ago by cancelling all shoreside events and not hosting any food or race office facilities ashore this year. This has allowed us to concentrate on a purely “on-the-water” racing event which reduces contact possibilities to a very low level. It is also important that we reduce the movement of crew as much as possible. By moving the event to the Clyde we have taken a massive step towards achieving this goal, however, it is clear that we need to take measures a bit further. As such we will be shortening the event, dropping the last day, Monday".
