Sail Caledonia 2012

[Graham W]

The four BayRaiders and one SeaRaider had an excellent week in the Great Glen and have come home with honours.  These include:
* Second in class overall (SeaRaider)
* Third and fourth in class overall (BayRaiders)
* Winning all the sailing races bar two (SeaRaider)
* First and second in the Loch Ness Challenge, a gruelling sail up the whole of Loch Ness and halfway back again, about 30NM as the crow flies (BayRaiders)
* First in the 2km rowing sprint (BayRaider)

The overall winner was Elsie, a Caledonia Yawl with a hard rowing crew of five. 

The event was fun, extremely well organised and allowed us to find out what our boats could really do, all in safety and in excellent company.  Attached a picture of one of the lunch stops (three BayRaiders and the SeaRaider).  A lot more pictures should be posted on the Sail Caledonia web page http://www.sailcaledonia.org/page5.html in the next week or so.

[James Bennett]

Hi Graham
Great to hear the news about the Great Glenn raid and the excellent result from the Bay Raiders and I presume Claus in his Sea Raider. Congratulations to everyone who entered. Look forward to seeing the pictures and reading the stories.
I think one day there will have to be an Australian contingent in this race.

James Bennett
Bay Raider Kailani
from a wet and windy Western Australia!

[Graham W]

Hi James,

It would be good to see you here - perhaps we ought to set up a boat swapping scheme for those that want to sail where they can't possibly trail.  The Walpole-Normalup area looks good (but probably not at the moment!).

Yes, the SeaRaider was Claus and his crew.  We had no realistic prospect of catching them when sailing but thanks to our rowing, came a very close third behind Craic overall. Next year will be different - see the next thread on the 2013 event.

Graham

[Graham W]

Extensive digital photo albums of the event by several different photographers may now be found here http://www.sailcaledonia.org/page5.html

[Graham W]

I was reviewing the photos of this year's Sail Caledonia and came across this splendid one, taken by John Macpherson.  It shows Turaco III leading Craic and Curlew, racing in very light winds on Loch Oich on 5th June. See how we all have our rudders half way up to wring out every last bit of speed from the wind.

Soon after this was taken, the wind got up.  Craic powered away and Curlew overtook Turaco.  They finished the race 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively.

[Graham W]

Here's another great shot by John Macpherson, of the boats waiting for the start of the race on Loch Oich.  'Pathfinder 3' in the left foreground won with a time of just under two hours, with Craic three minutes behind and two BayRaiders seven to eight minutes behind Craic.

[Tony]

Hi, Graham.

Is this the same "Pathfinder"?    http://www.fyneboatkits.co.uk/kits/sailing/pathfinder/

[Graham W]

Well, it's certainly a Colin Cummings special - he and his wife were crewing it. I think the one that raced is a refinement of the one on the internet - carbon spars, no mizzen bumkin, aft-facing rowing positions, no foredeck. Colin was sailing so fast in next to no wind on Loch Oich that we thought he must have an electric outboard hidden away somewhere. Attached a picture (John Macpherson again) of them in action towards the end of that race.

Claus's SeaRaider Craic won virtually all the other sailing races, in stronger winds that were often on the nose.