2022 Scottish Series Regatta is Cancelled

13th May 2022

Scottish Series racing on Loch Fyne Credit: Marc Turner/CCC

Scotland's top regatta has been cancelled just 20 days before the first race.

The scrubbing of the 'premier regatta' is not due to a lack of entries but a lack of volunteers to run the event on Loch Fyne, according to organisers.

While the race committee had received a manageable seventy entries for the 2022 Scottish Series Regatta, Clyde Cruising Club (CCC) organisers cite a lack of resources as the reason for pulling the plug on the national regatta that dates back to 1974.

The three-day affair was due to start on June 3rd of the UK June Bank Holiday weekend.

The 2022 entry list has not been updated since April 26th on the regatta website. The latest story posted on social media dates back to late March.

According to an undated letter sent to competitors (seen by Afloat), club Commodore Geoff Crowley says the CCC has been "unable to sufficient volunteers and resources to maintain the stand for Scotland's Premiere Regatta".

"It is therefore with an incredibly heavy heart that we have taken to cancel Scottish Series 2022", he concludes.

The Scottish IRC Championships incorporated into the Scottish Series now move to the North Clyde Regatta on September 10th.

Several Irish and Northern Irish boats contest the annual regatta, with Andrew Craig's Royal Irish based J109 Chimaera the overall champion in 2019 and Bangor's John Minnis winning the Causeway Cup in 2021.

Before COVID, the Scottish Series had suffered a decline and struggled with entries, particularly in the larger cruiser-racer divisions. In 2021, just 13 IRC entries were received just weeks before the event that, at its height, saw well over 100 boats swell the Tarbert fleet.

In the letter, Crowley claims all is not lost and proposes to competitors that they still come to Scotland for the social side and a fun regatta instead with a 50% entry refund.

"We would like to invite you to participate in a jubilee regatta of fun racing and social activity".

Alternatively, a full refund is offered.

The disappointing outcome comes just two years before the regatta is due to celebrate its golden anniversary in 2024.

Published in Scottish Series, RC35, Northern Ireland Waters

Published in Scottish Series

Tagged under

scottish series

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Scottish Series Background

Although the format of the Scottish Series varies little from year to year, it is interesting to see some of the changes which the event has seen over the years:

CYCA handicap class added to IOR (1976)

IOR level rating classes to reflect the popular sizes and World Championships being held in the UK

Separate one design class for Sonatas (1980 to date)

Campbeltown dropped with offshore races direct to Tarbert (1982)

Unique light displacement CYCA class - the forerunner of today's sportboats (1982)

Computer results system introduced in 1982 and now recognised as the best in the UK

Separate one design class for Sigma 33 (1987 to date)

Separate one design classes in certain years for Impalas, Sigma 38, Melges 24 and Cork 1720

Inner triangle to shorten courses for smaller classes (1986)

Points loading for offshore race reduced from 2 to 1.5 to 1

First racing in Scotland under Channel Handicap (1988)

Second racecourse for smaller classes (1989)

Discard introduced

Windward leeward races - two per day (1993)

Sportboat classes with no overnight races (1994)

Marquee on quayside for main social events (1995-2008)

Restricted Sail Class (1998)

Third racecourse for sportboats with up to three races per day (1998)

Day feeder races (2002)

Overnight and day feeder races discontinued (2005)

Stand-alone Tarbert Inbound and Outbound passage races introduced (2005/6)

With all these changes, some things have stayed the same:

Huge support from Ireland every year since 1975

A magnificent effort ashore and afloat from the volunteer helpers of the Clyde Cruising Club, Royal Scottish Motor Yacht Club and Tarbert Loch Fyne Yacht Club

Results and communications service at the forefront of technology

The best competition and the best social scene in the country

An overall Series winner, the roll call including many of the top sailors in Scotland and beyond.

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