Solway Yacht Club hosts Scottish Flying Fifteen Championships at Kippford

After weeks of early summer sunshine and balmy winds, all seemed promising for one of Scotland’s premier yachting events, The Scottish Flying Fifteen Championships, at Solway Yacht Club.

The fleet of fast elegant keelboats arrived in Kippford from all over the UK and Ireland ready for an early start on the tide on Saturday.

The weather had different ideas and gone was the sunshine and ideal wind, instead an overcast clammy heat and no wind at all.

Despite this, the fleet was towed out into the Solway in the hope that a sea breeze might pick up.

A couple of zephyrs wafting across the start line gave cause for optimism but came to nothing.

After three hours drifting, waiting, and watching little more than a few jellyfish, race officer Willie Patterson had no option but to abandon racing for the day. The highlight feature of the event then appeared; the team of enthusiastic Solway Yacht Club cadets and young friends, led by cadet captain, James Bishop, who formed the appropriately named “Shore fforce”, all set to haul the yachts on their trailers up the slipway and back to their berths, saving the crews all the hard work.

The Saturday social evening made up for earlier disappointment with a delicious meal cooked by the volunteer galley team followed by a very happy few hours in the clubhouse.

After overnight rain, Sunday morning dawned much fresher with the prospect of going racing, with the competition sponsored by Sulwath Brewers from Castle Douglas.

The fleet was again launched and as they reached the Solway, a steady ten knot south easterly was blowing. With an Olympic triangle course set, racing at last got under way.

A great tactical port-end start in race one by Mike Preston and Keith Jamieson had