Flukey winds and light airs sees Tammie Norie first home
The Tammie Norie was the winner of the second yacht points race at Brae on Sunday. Ewen Stirling’s boat and crew managed to make the most of extremely flukey wind conditions, best described as a swirling vortex of light airs.
Eight yachts entered the race and, after a delay of a few minutes while the committee adjusted the course for two 90-degree wind shifts, the start off Saltness went without a hitch. At this point the light wind was blowing from the north-west.
Movin On, helmed by Jim Tait, made the best start and was looking good to continue her high performances of the previous weekend. Cynara (Joe Irvine), Tammie Norie and Rebellion (Peter Robertson) were all making good progress on the beat so that Movin On only held a narrow lead at the weather mark on the west side of the voe.
The next leg to the head of the voe was supposed to be a reach, which should have called for spinnakers. But the wind shifted to the north, and it had to be sailed close-hauled for a time.
The wind then veered north-east so the remainder of the second leg became a beat as well. Tammie Norie read the situation best to round first ahead of Cynara and Movin On.
Sailing south should have meant a run to a leeward mark but the wind knew better and veered to the south leaving the fleet to practice beating and tacking again. By the end of the third beat Tammie Norie had secured a substantial lead with Cynara looking to be the closest contender. Movin On, along with some of the other yachts, had found calm spots and had fallen behind.
Down the fleet Scott Johnson’s Mistral, flashing new canvas, was making the most of the light winds while Milspinda (Willie Inkster) and Ice Blink (Alan Duncan) had both fallen foul of ill luck in the unpredictable con-ditions.
Mercifully the wind stayed in the south for the next leg so spinnakers were brought out on the reach by some yachts. However, the wind had more tricks to play and backed to east leaving the fifth leg, which should have been a run, as another beat.
Leg six was now a run and Tammie Norie crossed the line first followed by Drew Sutherland’s Roundabout, which had found strong form in the latter parts of the race, Cynara, Rebellion, Movin On, Mistral and Milspinda. Ice Blink dropped out in frustration when the wind veered 180 degrees again for the lower order to beat on the last leg.
Tammie Norie (47.16) won on corrected time from Mistral (51.48), Cynara (55.21), Movin On (56.20), Rebellion (56.45), Roundabout (57.80) and Milspinda (62.57).
At the end of the race the starter declared that the conditions were unsuitable for a second race and that his nerves could not stand any more.
After two races in the series Movin On and Cynara are tied on five points (using a low scoring system) while Rebellion has eight and Roundabout 10.
