Defending Scottish Series champion Brian Hall will return to Tarbert later this month aiming to retain the title he won in 2025 aboard the J/109 Something Else.
The National Yacht Club entry headlines a growing Irish and Northern Irish challenge for the 2026 Jura Scottish Series on Loch Fyne from May 22nd to 25th.
The Dublin Bay-based Something Else team, who return seeking to defend their IRC Class 2 title after last season’s standout performance earned them the regatta’s overall award.
Hall, who has raced at Tarbert for more than three decades, describes the west coast regatta as “unmissable” and says the crew are especially motivated to return with the same line-up, including four-time Irish Olympian Mark Mansfield.
“We are ready. The boat’s in good shape, and all the crew are very excited,” Hall told organisers. “It's the highlight for them over the next couple of months.”
Something Else won six of eight races last May, a run which secured the overall Scottish Series Trophy.
“Winning last year was such a nice start to the season,” Hall recalled. “Taking the overall trophy was wonderful but the whole thing is such great fun. I've been going up there for years, and there's such close racing, and it's just great to be up in such a good venue.”
Hall credited consistency and teamwork for the 2025 success.
“Last year it was consistency that won us the class,” he said. “We had excellent teamwork, and the boat was fast, but the crew were really well organised, and so it was down to huge team effort and focus.”
He also praised Mansfield’s contribution onboard.
“We also had Mark Mansfield, who was great in terms of giving just that extra focus to everybody,” Hall added.
The attraction of Tarbert extends well beyond the racing, according to the National YC skipper.
“Why Tarbert? So it's the welcome. It's a lovely setting. The people, the locals are great craic,” Hall said. “The race organisation is A1. And for us it's the start of the season, so it's a real sort of dust-off, a prep, a wake-up for the summer sailing season.”
Hall believes the defending champions face another highly competitive contest in IRC.
“There's really good sailors up there,” he said. “There are excellent J/109s in the class, a couple of Corbys as well, so the competition is good. We had the momentum last year, and one shouldn't be complacent at all.”
He concluded: “We are looking forwards to the craic. The evening entertainment is always good. We look forward to that.”
The Irish challenge extends well beyond the defending champions. Howth Yacht Club’s Indian, Courtown Sailing Club’s Snoopy’s J and Arklow’s Humdinger are among the Republic’s IRC entries.
Northern Ireland clubs are strongly represented through Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Ballyholme Yacht Club, Carrickfergus Sailing Club, Cushendall Sailing & Boating Club and Strangford Lough Yacht Club.
RUYC features across multiple fleets with entries including Caesium, Succession, eXcession and Blacksmith, underlining the continued strength of Irish Sea competition between Scottish and Irish clubs.
Organisers, the Clyde Cruising Club, say entries are tracking closely with last year’s fleet of 90 boats.
“We fully appreciate the support the Jura 2026 Scottish Series is achieving from so many areas and we are working hard to put on a really great regatta,” said Commodore Des Balmforth.
“We are content to see a steady stream of entries coming in on cue and it looks like we will have good racing for the IRC Classes and the One Design fleets are getting stronger by the day. We are seeing something of a resurgence of entries from Ireland which is pleasing.”
