50 YEARS OLD AND GOING STRONG
Chanonry Sailing
Club celebrated its 50th birthday on 10th June with a
Gala day for Club members and the local community, all in aid of the RNLI.
The fun started early with dragon boat
racing in Topper dinghies. Teams of young and old, sea scouts and sea cadets
competed for victory. Aside from racing for overall success there were prizes
for novelty categories – best victory dismount, most creative sabotage, most
perverse and convoluted name, “Neptune and the Maidens” was promising team.
The dragon boat
teams were barely distracted by the arrival of local yachts from Chanonry and
Cromarty to line the harbour and add to the spectacle.
Lifeboats from
Invergordon and North Kessock attended and partnered the RAF Search and Rescue
Helicopter from Lossiemouth in a demonstration of rescue and high-speed
transfer from lifeboat to helicopter.
Yacht and dinghy
racing for members and visitors created a different spectacle in the afternoon.
Racing started in calm conditions but the glorious sunshine created a strong
sea breeze and reversed the wind direction in the middle of the race.
Racing for sailing cruisers at Chanonry
has seen a resurgence in this jubilee year. Eight cruisers competed for the
jubilee trophy. Local boat Fram, skippered by Mike Burns and re-commissioned
for the celebrations won.
Chanonry has had
sizeable fleets of popular dinghy classes over the 50 years, recognising this
there was racing for classic classes – GPs, Wayfarers and Herons. It was
fitting that in this celebratory year the winning boat was a wooden GP built by
a founder member of the Club - Frank Gale. It was fitting too that the Club’s
long serving senior training instructor - Ian Cameron – was sailing the GP.
The now
traditional Barbecue rounded off an excellent day of Mediterranean sunshine and
fun for all on the water. The first 50 years have put Chanonry Sailing Club at
the heart of harbour activities in Fortrose. The Club is looking forward to the
next 50 years.
