Monday dawned with a greyness, but quicky improved with glimpses of sun, a steady 12 knot westerly and flatter sea, offering a calmness much welcomed after Sundays harshness.
Class 1 were first to start, ‘Mariquita’ hitting the leeward end of the start line at full pace, leading ‘The Lady Anne’ and ‘Moonbeam IV’ on the short reach to the first mark. The fleet gybed and set spinnakers, down to the Skelmorlie shore. ‘The Lady Anne’, with her bowsprit flown spinnaker, hoisted first and held her spinnaker right down to the leeward mark, rounding first ahead of ‘The Lady Anne’, ‘Moonbeam IV’ and ‘Mariella’. She promptly tacked onto port for the long leg back to Rothesay Bay, ‘Mariquita’ electing to gauge to the south before tacking. With ‘Mariella’ and ‘Moonbeam IV’ hot on the heels of the leaders, ‘The Lady Anne’ held on to finish just 40 seconds in front. ‘Mariella’s upwind pace sees her lead Class 1.
Both Class 2 and 3 raced a shorter course within Rothesay Bay, stretching out on a beat to a laid mark in the East Kyle of Bute, before powering on a reach across the mouth of Loch Striven across the flat water. ‘Kismet’ led ‘Falcon’ to the leeward mark before a beat back to the finish. ‘Mikado’ and ‘Sonata’ share the lead after two races, both with four points.
In Class 3 the small boats pulled no punches, with ‘Intombi’ luffing ‘Ayrshire Lass’ and ‘Red’ head-to-wind to win the pin end of the start line. The Conway One designs led the smaller boats with the assortment of rig designs favouring the modern rigs and colourful spinnakers. ‘Lotus’ leads with two wins from two.
