 |
 |
 |
|
|||
|
Soling Class Yachts Hold Their British Championships in Fort William The Soling class of racing yacht raced for the British Soling Class Championships at Fort William on the weekend of July 19th-20th. Lochaber Yacht Club has the largest fleet of Soling yachts in the UK. Local sailors were joined by racers from England, Wales and the Netherlands for a series of 7 races. Conditions were very testing. The northwesterly wind blew across Loch Linnhe on both days. This meant that the wind direction and wind strength were very, very variable because the hills distorted the wind. On both days there were periods of calm and gusts of stronger wind. The yachts were not able to use their offwind spinnaker sails as often as usual and sail trimming was very difficult. The Welsh team racing boat number GBR168 Steven won the first race. The second race was won by GBR1 Gerda, sailed by Johan Offermans from the Netherlands. Offermans is the International President of the Soling Class and said,"I have no idea how we did it. I do not understand conditions here at all." However, he went on, "What you have here [at Lochaber Yacht club] is very precious. I had a perfect weekend’s racing." The third race was won by local sailor Hamish Loudon in his boat GBR161 Solaris In fact, Solaris went on to win 3 of the 7 races this was enough for 2nd place in the championships overall. The championship winner was GBR157 Just Gonnae No, sailed by Chris Dodgshon, Stevie Corson and local sailor Liz Loudon. This team sailed with great consistency to acheive one 1st place, six 2nd places and one 3rd place to give them the title of British Soling Champions 2008. The 2008 British Soling Championships were held at Lochaber on 19th and 20th July. See a copy of the Results Solings first came to Fort William as a result of a conversation with a Dundee sailor Boyd Baird. The first boat was trailed to the clubhouse one very frosty winter day. It wasn't long before other Solings made their debut...
Lochaber Yacht Club |
