Wednesday Cruiser Racing

Published 13:28 on 20 Jun 2025

Five keelboats came to the start line on Wednesday 18 June.

Jennie and Howie were having their first race in their new Hurley 20, Lucinda. They were joined by Paul and Keith in Seeaway, Kay and Finlay in Innisfallen, and regulars Alastair in Pegasus II and Andy in Exisle. The wind was westerly F2-ish, and there was some discussion about the course. The fleet decided on D C Z Y.

At the start, Seeaway found a rock with their keel, near mark 6, while Alastair and Andy took an early lead. Both skippers were wary of the bank to the west of the Almond channel marks 3 and 2, so they kept to the east and mostly avoided any luffing! Pegasus II rounded D first, but only just as Exisle was close astern, and the green hull of Seeaway was seen to round the mark in third. The Mk1 Griffon tacked on to starboard first, followed 30 seconds later by Alastair. By now Kay was round the mark and she and Seeaway stayed on port.

The two Griffons remained close together as they beat towards C. Jennie and Howie were round D as the Griffons approached C. Alastair rounded first but Andy was close behind and got past to weather. Keith and Paul tried to overtake Pegasus II too, and despite a luff from Alastair they got past. The order remained Exisle, Seeaway and Pegasus II at the finish. Fourth was Innisfallen and fifth was the blue hull of Lucinda.