Colin takes the honours at Oban Regatta
COLIN Crawford’s Dehler 34 Nimrod took the top honours at Oban Sailing Club’s annual town regatta last weekend. With three firsts from the Saturday and Sunday races in the fast handicap spinnaker class, Nimrod and team were judged to have given the best performance for the weekend.
Billy Forteith’s First 31.7 Shadowfax also took home three firsts in restricted sail and finished second overall in the regatta points.
Saturday’s race saw the fleet of eight boats head out the bay to the west of Kerrera to round Seal Island. A mix of light and patchy winds made for tricky sailing and the fast class was closely fought with Eric and Irena Chapman’s Sigma 33 Amber Haze narrowly losing out to Nimrod with Beppo Buchanan Smith’s Enigma third. Shadowfax took the win from Anne and Andrew Campbell’s Ajax with commodore Finlo Cottier’s Sadler 32 Allican in third place.
Race officer Colin Kupris, who organised the weekend, kept the boats in the bay on Sunday with the winds giving a mix of gusty conditions to complete calms. Nimrod won Class 1 from Am- ber Haze with Shadowfax Class 2. Derek Grier’s Al Harija finished second in Class 2 and Colin Kupris’s Flying Fifteen The Kracken was third.
Colin said: ‘It was an excellent weekend with good attendance. Conditions were fair to tricky at times but everyone enjoyed the close racing. Thanks to all who contributed to the fantastic food – everyone enjoyed the great spread.’
Finlo Cottier, OSC commodore, said: ‘This was a real club event with a mix of boats – some sailing with spinnakers, some white sail with a range of ages aboard – but that’s what the club is all about. And the fact we were sailing on Sunday alongside the latest dinghy training course participants was even better.
‘Ian Gibson, our senior RYA instructor, is currently training Oban High School students on their RYA level 2 dinghy course and they also had a great day on the water.
‘We hope some may be our future regatta participants.’