22 May 2025
Three dinghies took part in the Thursday evening points racing held by Orkney Sailing Club in Kirkwall Bay. There was a moderate northerly breeze giving superb sailing conditions. Three short races were held round a triangular course, starting north then round Crowness (4), then a fast reach to Weyland (2). The boats then sailed a reach and run to the Ayre mark (1) and back to the finish line.
The northerly breeze gave choppy conditions, particularly on the leg from Weyland to Ayre where waves reflected off the pier.
Many thanks to Willie Watters and Margaret Hinkley for the timekeeping and to Ian Rushbrook who manned the safety boat.
Race 1: 1 Warspite (Andrew Leslie, 18:15, 16:31), 2 Aak (Kyle Harcus, 18:27, 16:42), 3 Kammy Kassie (Kavan Kynoch, 22:58, 19:54).
Race 2: 1 Warspite (17:53, 16:11), 2 Aak (18:20, 16:36), 3 Kammy Kassie (19:51, 17:12)
Race 3: 1 Kammy Kassie (19:54, 17:14), 2 Aak (19:17, 17:28), 3 Warspite (19:44, 17:52)
15 May 2025
On Thursday 15 May five yachts and five dinghies turned out for the Thursday evening points racing hosted by Orkney Sailing Club. Through the day there was a fine breeze which dwindled in the evening. The yachts set off on their course first with a light Easterly, heading North to Scargun. The dinghies has a drifting start. Two boats were over the line and rounded the outer start mark to start again. The wind continued to die and eventually the race office decided to abandon the racing. Many thanks to Willie Watters and Kazia Watson for starting the races and to John Orr and Richard Flett for manning the safety boat.
8 May 2025
Orkney Sailing Club was busy over the past week with training, coaching and racing.
RYA Dinghy Instructor: Six candidates took part in a five day training session to learn the RYA teaching method for dinghy sailing. This involved running teaching sessions within Kirkwall Bay using some of the Orkney Sailing Club training boats. The fine weather through the week from 5 to 9 May allowed the candidates to cover the syllabus in a thorough manner. Many thanks to Robyn Phillips and David Frame for running the course. Many thanks also to Sport Scotland and the RYA for their support with running this course.
ILCA Race Training: Over the weekend of the 10/11 May five local ILCA sailors took advantage of race training run by the RYA. Four of the sailors are selected for the 2025 Island Games so this was a great opportunity to hone their skills. The sailors selected various topics to work on, the main focus being starting and downwind speed. On the water exercises were followed by practice races and video. Video footage was reviewed after to identify issues and to correct them. Many thanks to David Frame of the RYA and Mark Taylor for running the course. Many thanks also to the OIC and to the RYA for their support with this event.
Four singlehanders took part in the first of the 2025 Thursday evening points racing hosted by Orkney Sailing Club on 8 May. Three races were run in a light SE breeze. The course had a south start then round the Lifeboat buoy, across to Carness (4) then over the bay to Greenfield (3) and then back to the Lifeboat buoy before finishing heading North. Aak (Kyle Harcus) took the win in all three races. For race 3 the course was shortened to miss out the Greenfield mark.
The yachts had a single race with four competitors. The Yachts course was number 19 which had a south start, round the Lifeboat buoy then over to Thieve’s Holm, across to Scargun Shoal and the finishing south (leaving the Crowness mark (4) to starboard. Harmony (Harky Hutchison) took the win with Enigma (Simon Butcher) in 2 place and Phoenix (Garry Milne) in 3 place. XPDNC (Robbie Bruce)
Many thanks to Willie Watters and Margaret Hinkley for doing the race management and to Brian Kynoch for running the safety boat.
Race 1: 1 Aak (Kyle Harcus, 30:08, 27:17), 2 Kammy Kassie (Kavan Kynoch, 32:44, 28:21), 3 Lullaby (John Orr, 31:34, 28:35), 4 This Is It (Colin Pirie, 34:09, 29:58)
Race 2: 1 Aak (29:43, 26:55), 2 Lullaby (29:49, 27:00), 3 Kammy Kassie (31:56, 27:40), 4 This Is It (32:22, 28:25)
Race 3: 1 Aak (21:19, 19:18), 2 Lullaby (22:22, 20:15), 3 Kammy Kassie (24:09, 20:55), 4 This Is It (23:59, 21:03)
Orkney Laser Sailing 