Old Pulteney Scottish IRC Championships

Photo Wil Partington

Probably the star of day one, however, was John Corson’s Corby 33 Salamander XX. Thriving in the conditions which caused so much pain, quite literally in some cases, for others, the crew didn’t put a foot wrong and were rewarded with three first places for their efforts. “This really was a good day for us,” said foredeck crew Stevie Corson. “We’re the second fastest on handicap, but the smallest boat in the class. But we got good starts, managed to get where we wanted to be on the first beat and, once the spinnaker was up on the leeward leg, we were able to extend. “She’s a quick, wee boat, very responsive – we managed to sail smart and we just have to go out and continue to do that. Another bullet would seal it for us, but we’re not complacent.”

Also producing a starring performance at the event, was John Corson’s Corby 33 Salamander XX – she, too, posted a scoreline of four bullets, but the discard of a fifth for team Salamander was ultimately all that lay between them and the overall championship.

Fairly heart-breaking, perhaps, for the crew which, last year missed out on the overall trophy by a mere half point, after a similarly stellar performance.

Corson and crew, like the Djinn team, however, really did sail away with the competition with a clean sweep total of just four points, leaving Ian and Graham Thomson’s Sloop John T on eight points to take second place.

IRC Handicap Class 2 Series Report

Sail No	Yacht's Name	SAT 1			SAT 2			SAT 3			SUN 1			SUN 2
GBR1433R	Salamander XX		1	1.000		1	1.000		1	1.000		5	(5.000)		1	1.000		4.00	1
GBR9740T	Sloop John T		5	(5.000)		3	3.000		2	2.000		1	1.000		2	2.000		8.00	2
GBR1952L	Animal		7	(7.000)		2	2.000		3	3.000		4	4.000		4	4.000		13.00	3
2377C	Tigh Soluis II		2	2.000		8	(8.000)		5	5.000		2	2.000		6	6.000		15.00	4
IRL1666	Carmen II		3	3.000		6	(6.000)		6	6.000		3	3.000		5	5.000		17.00	5
GBR8089T	Wizard		6	6.000		4	4.000		4	4.000		6	6.000		7	(7.000)		20.00	6
4050C	Micky Finn IV		4	4.000		7	7.000		DNS	(9.000)		7	7.000		3	3.000		21.00	7
GBR1037L	Troika		8	(8.000)		5	5.000		7	7.000		8	8.000		8	8.000		28.00	8