Regatta - Action Pictures

These action pictures from yesterday's West Ardnamurchan Regatta are all from Chris Gane - to whom many thanks - who happened to be on hand when the marquee decided it had had enough of the gusting wind and bright sunshine and wanted to go home.

Spectators rushed to catch it and managed to hold it down long enough to dismantle it.  The many stall holders and, more important still, the bar, found themselves without a home but, with such beautiful weather, set up shop in the sunshine and did a roaring trade with the many visitors.

Soon after, Chris was out on the water in his RIB acting as safety boat for the Challenge and Glasven Cups, and was quickly on hand when Geoff Campbell's Topper Omega overturned at the first buoy, throwing him into the sea and trapping crew member Andy McMenamin in an air pocket under the boat.  Geoff is shown here making desperate efforts to right the yacht....

....while, shortly afterwards, with Andy safely on the surface, the two of them struggled to get her up.

For those of you who feel that Chris should have dashed in and rescued the two yachtsmen, they are both very experienced sailors and took this, their second capsize of the morning, very much in their stride, and wouldn't have countenanced rescue anyway as it would have disqualified them from the race.

While Geoff and Andy struggled with their boat, Paul White in Flora nipped past to take the lead, closely followed by....

....Tom Colville in his Drascombe Coaster....

....and Hanno Hodgkin in Ragamuffin.

The sea looks remarkably calm in these picture - it wasn't, and the wind added to the fun by gusting suddenly and veering steadily from southeast to south.  It was a great race, and Geoff and Andy's efforts were rewarded when, after the handicaps were applied, they were declared the winners of the yachts section, followed by Paul in second and and Hanno in third, with Tom taking the Glashven trophy.

There were two other matters of note.  A new trophy, the Carraig Plate, has been donated by Alasdair and Morven MacLachlan in memory of Margaret and Malcolm MacMillan, founder of the 'revised' Regatta which was first raced in 1984.  The plate was awarded this year to Tom Colville of Kentra for his single-handed sailing of his Drascombe Coaster over many years at the West Ardnamurchan Regatta.  And, finally, despite the disappointment of the cancellation of all inshore races, the Regatta Committee'e evening ceilidh, featuring the ever-popular Gunna Sound, was probably the best we've seen in Kilchoan in many years.

So, a very special thanks to the committee on this, the thirtieth of the new, revised Regattas, from left to right, Morven MacLachlan, Janet MacColl, Chairman Alasdair MacColl, Gael Cameron and Rosie Curtis.

Full results of the sailing were:

Ellan Vannin Handicap for Ormsaig Cup & Tankards:
1st Geoff Campbell, 2nd Tom Colville, 3rd Hanno Hodgkin

Drascombe races:
New Zealand Cup: 1st Tom Colville, 2nd Bob Heasman
Glashven Cup: 1st Tom Colville

Non-Drascombe yachts:
Challenge Cup: 1st Geoff Campbell, 2nd Paul White, 3rd Hanno Hodgkin.

Many thanks to Chris Gane for the photos.