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Finishing at Corpach

Rob Howard / 24.06.2010

Through Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning more race yachts sailed down Loch Linnhe, past the town of Fort William and into the lock basin at Corpach, which is at the end of the Caledonian Canal. They dropped their sails by a green buoy to motor in to the pontoon outside lock gates, letting their runners off, before passing the lock and into the basin to moor up. The runners all had a 5 minute kit check, then set off over the footbridge and along the canal towpath on their way to the foot of the mountain.

When Moby J came in they sportingly protested themselves out of the handicap cup as they’d used their spinnaker and although it is not official yet (none of the times are) it looks like The Dockers have won this cup, which is only open to yachts with an IRC handicap certificate. Moby J was followed by Torbellino, Kishinoor and then GFT Adventure, whose runners set a fast time of 3 hours 33 minutes on Ben Nevis, running in very poor conditions.

The Israeli team on Krishna followed them in, and although they are not officially ranked they did have the satisfaction of setting the fastest sailing time on the last leg ... so far anyway. They may yet find the Salty PeakNuts going quicker. They were the last to leave Whitehaven, a full tide behind everyone else, but have somehow passed other yachts on their final sailing stage! (Several of the later yachts took the option to go ‘outside of Jura’, following in the course of ‘The Dockers’, which is a rare occurrence in the race.)

Madam Wen and Kithross II were then followed by Maracuja who had an injured runner and decided to put two sailors up onto Ben Nevis to complete the Tilman Trophy. So Rupert Corner and skipper Phillip Webb set off up the UK’s highest peak, with Webb wearing his sailing gear, which given the wet conditions he needed! They arrived at 02.50 in the morning and delayed 30 minutes to wait for dawn, then set a creditable time of 8 hours and 7 minutes to finish the race.

The most recent arrival was StormForce (11.32 on Thursday) and their runners set a good time of 3 hours 41 on Ben Nevis. The remaining yachts are expected to arrive during the night and tomorrow (Friday) morning and some may make it just in time for the race party, which is being held tonight on the cruisers Souter’s Lass in the lock basin. Of the remaining yachts Prairie Oyster and Silver Surfers are fighting it out for the Last Inn Cup.

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