13 March 2024Sailing Season 2024!
Welcome to Lochcarron Sailing Club 2024 Season
Some dates to note:
Work Party weekend: 16th and 17th March; 10:30 onwards
Cleaning up and repairs to the clubhouse and grounds ready for the sailing season. All help very welcome for any part of the weekend, jobs for all, lunch, tea, coffee and biscuits provided!
Rigging weekend: 23rd and 24th March; 10:30 onwards
Come along to help get the boats ready for the season, drop in whenever you can - and get your favourite club boat ready to go!
Race 1: Sunday 31st March, 10:30
Easter Sunday; First Sail of the season!
All sailors who can sail a triangle course and right their own boat are very welcome.
Safety boat refresher/practical training: TBA
Schools P5 Sailing: 30th May
Training week: 1st to 5th July
Highland Games: 20th July
Regatta: 24th and 25th August
Gunn Trophy Sat 14th September
Thursday night sailing:
Term time: Evening sailing begins the first week of summer term, April 18th. It will run term-time until the October holidays. The club is open from 16.30, on the water by 17.45.
Summer holidays: Thursday night sailing will continue most weeks over the summer holidays as a Laser race mini-series. Club open from 18:00, on the water by 19:00.
The club has purchased two 4.7 rigs for our club boats, perfect for juniors moving on from toppers.
Sunday sailing:
This year will see a return to Sunday Racing during term time with some Free Sailing during the School holidays. All sailors, racers and non racers, are welcome at all sessions.
Sunday sailing will begin on Easter Sunday 31st March at 10:30.
Yacht Events:
We are hoping to organise some more yacht sailing events this year including a race at Lochcarron and a race at Kishorn and a non-racing sailaway
Let us know if you would be interested in taking part in yacht sailing.
Ori
Commodore
01 October 2023Autumn Diary Dates
Dates
5th October: Last Thursday Sail
Come and join us on the last Thursday night sailing of 2023. Club open from 4.30pm. Rig promptly, as the light disappears quickly at this time of year!
22nd October: Derigging Sunday
Derigging is when we put all our kit away for the winter and secure the boats for winter storage. There are jobs for everyone with the boats, club house and boat yard. Lunch provided, and any help from members is very welcome for any part of the day. From 10am to about 4-5pm.
4th November: Laying up Supper 6pm
Join us for our end of season celebration in the club house. Following the success of last year's format, the Laying up supper is a "bring a dish" event - please bring food to share. All welcome. There is no charge but please let us know if you would like to come so that we can ensure we have enough seating.
5th November 11.30 am
19th November 11.00 am
3rd December, 10.30 am
17th December, 10.00 am
Frost bite series: A series of 4 winter race sessions. Make the most of the daylight and keep your racing skills sharp!
01 October 2023Autumn 2023 News Round up
Autumn News
As well as our regular Sunday and Thursday sailing, we have also held several events this autumn:
Regatta 2023
Day 1 proved to be tricky conditions with strong, gusty, shifty winds, and some great sailing by all 29 sailors!
Day 2 was kinder with a more consistent westerly wind. 24 boats took part on day 2, with 31 sailors on the water. That made 34 people taking part in total over the weekend.
We hope everyone enjoyed the sailing and it was lovely to welcome so many visitors as well as have so many club members taking part.
Many thanks to the rescue boat teams: Andy, Dave, Joan, Luke, Jim, Bev, Alec and John, and the kitchen teams: Anita, Maggie, Christine and Julia, and to our weekend race officer team: Liz, Gary and Lorna.
Onboard day
On the 2nd September Lochcarron hosted the RYA Onboard day for the RYA North area. Over 20 juniors from around the area were able to gain experience of sailing, some for the first time. Many thanks to Ori and Steve, and the RYA team for a great day.
Gunn Trophy
Well done to all the teams that took part in our unconventional Gunn Trophy this year. It was lovely to welcome visitors from Portree, and thank you to everyone who helped make the day a success; rescue boat crews, kitchen helpers, bakers, drivers, and the Lochcarron Food Centre Spar for amazing prizes for everyone.
The lack of wind didn't stop us having fun: Relay paddle races, ball chase, inter club basket ball, one "serious" race, and one freestyle race (with obligatory capsize on the longest leg).
12 August 2023Summer 2023 News Round up
Sailing Club News Round up Summer 2023
Welcome to all the new club members who have joined in our activities over the summer. It has been great to have so many people enjoying the sailing in Lochcarron. Looking back since the last news, we have had an incredibly busy summer.
In May and June we had ongoing Discover Sailing sessions giving people the opportunity to come and try sailing during club sailing times, and on one day in May we welcomed Lochcarron and Shielding primary schools on a school Discover Sailing morning. Well done to everyone who came out on the water.
At the start of June we were able to run a second Power Boat level 2 course.Thank you to Thomas for running the course and it is great to have 6 new drivers in total this year. Anyone with a power boat 2 wanting to practice driving is welcome at any of our sessions.
On the 25th and 26th of June, 4 Lochcarron sailors went to the Gairloch regatta. It was challenging sailing in gusty, shifty winds. Well done to Vivienne (1st), Ori (3rd) and the Lochcarron team for returning with the Gairloch team Challenge trophy again this year.
Training week ran the first week of the Highland school holidays and was our biggest ever week with 65 people on courses. Well done to everyone who took part and survived the very varied weather conditions, which fortunately came good for our sail away on the Friday. We hope you come back and practice when you can. Many thanks to our team of amazing instructors, who made the week such a success. All are, or have been, Lochcarron sailing club members, and we appreciate the time and commitment before and during the week.
The Highland Games followed training week, and the club was once again running free children's activities behalf of the games. This year the weather was not so kind, and we had to adapt activities to stay dry, but still a good day.
Our new Yacht Experience weekend followed the Highland Games. Yacht owners Steve, John and Dave welcomed club members on their yachts for day sailaways to Kishorn. This allowed club members to experience yacht sailing, some for the first time. Everyone had great days out.
Over the summer we have run a laser race series. This has been a fun way to get some practice racing, and we had 8 people take part in 10 races over 3 nights. Well done to Vivienne for winning the series.
Most recently, the club hosted an RYA Race Coach Level 2 course on the 8th and 9th of August. Many thanks to Jamie Rogers for running this great course, and well done to Ori Steve, Matthew and Angela.
