The North Channel Race is a well established offshore event on the Clyde Cruising Club racing calendar, and it was great to see such strong support from the RC35 fleet, writes Jim Dervin.
After an 8pm start off Inverkip Marina on Friday evening (21 June), there was an initial beat down the Clyde Channel into 15 to 20 knots of wind in overcast conditions with light rain and drizzle.
The expected wind shift to the west came not long after passing Garroch Head. Not surprisingly, the veering wind strongly favoured boats electing to stand out off the shadow of Arran.
Skies cleared in the early hours with the emergence of a beautiful night light by a spectacular low moon, its azimuth seeming to provide a course to steer for a couple of hours.
Daybreak saw three J109s converging just south of Ailsa Craig. The three leading boats stayed racing in close formation for several hours reaching from Scottish waters into the North Channel with Jings up front.
The time came to tack for Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland and we saw a drop in wind speed to five knots or less, which made for slow initial progress against a strong tide.
It was not long before the RC35 Scottish Champions on Mocking-J, with their ability to generate remarkable upwind speed, moved into the lead which they held up to the finish line. All five competing boats finished the race and were safely tied up in Bangor Marina by 1pm.
Special mention should be made to the Royal Ulster Yacht Club for their warm welcome with members coming to greet arriving competitors on the pontoons.
Overall Results:
- J109 Mocking‑J (Ben Shelley) 16:15:17
- J109 Jings (Robin Young) 16:26:47
- J109 No Worries (Jim Dervin) 16:34:33
- J109 Blue Jay (John Stanley‑Whyte) 17:02:07
- Corby 33 Jacob VII (John Stamp) 17:03:11
