Wild Lochaber weather hampers Three Peaks Yacht Race finish
The annual Barmouth to Fort William Three Peaks Yacht Race is always a great test of endurance, in both sailing and running, and this year the weather conditions for the race pushed teams to the limits to cope with the extremes of west coast offshore and mountain weather.
The third stage from Whitehaven to Fort William is the longest sail of the race, rounding the Mulls of Galloway and Kintyre and passing through the tidal gates and variable winds of the Inner Hebrides. After days of calm, those winds were about to gust to nearly 40 knots as Storm Hector shattered the stable weather pattern, and conditions turned from no wind at all to storms.
Wild Spirit and Digital Built Consultants broke away, racing to get into Fort William before the worst weather hit.
The two leading boats raced neck and neck, day and night to get an advantage for their runners on the final peak, Ben Nevis. Passing the Corran Narrows on the final approach to the finish, they were still only a couple of metres apart after four days of racing.
Wild Spirit crossed the line first by a few minutes with their runners primed to leap ashore and run up to the snow covered summit of Ben Nevis, only to be told the race had to be put on hold for safety reasons until the storm eased.
In the 40-year history of the race, it is only the second time Ben Nevis has been closed to runners. (The last time was in 1978 due to heavy snow.)
The deflated runners had to wait until the next day to complete a shortened run part way up Ben Nevis to complete the race and Wild Spirit, skippered by Paul Jackson, scooped most of the trophies as first over the line and winners on handicap in a corrected race time of four days two hours and 13 minutes, just 21 minutes ahead of Digital Built Consultants.