Saturday dawned, the day of the race, not the sunshine of the previous day but rain. We arrived at the field, from when we had left another 30+ boats had arrived. After attending the briefing the fleet went afloat for the approximate 11:00am start. The fleet consisted of boats ranging from the VX40, Basilica, the new 23 ft all carbon Tek-kat, Tornados, Hurricane 5.9 SX through to Dart 18s. The wind however like the weather had changed and was now more NE and not the predominant SW that was expected, this meant a downwind start.

3 boats made an early break, Basilica, Tek-kat and the Team Musto-Australia/Tacktick Tornado of Macca and Stuart Offer. These 3 pushed each other hard to Urquhart Castle, were most sightings of Nessie have been, the 1st mark only to become becalmed going into it. There were worried glances over the shoulder from crews, not only at each other but the fleet was arriving in pressure. This must have been a great sight for all those visitors to the castle, seeing approx 43 catamarans heading for the mark. It was finally Basilica that rounded the mark first ahead of the Tornado, apparently they were not going to be beaten to the mark by a Tornado and then the Tek-kat, with the fleet no more than 50 metres behind them once again the 3 boats started to stretch a lead, this time with differing tactics, the VX40 and the Tek-kat taking the Northern shore and the Tornado taking the Southern shore, as the fleet got caught in the same calm patch. About half way to the 2nd mark in building pressure this time from the predominant SW direction, disaster struck the Tek-kat, with them breaking their mast. As the pressure built this allowed the VX40 to stretch her legs and open up on the Tornado. With most of the fleet out of sight from the leading 2 boats and the leading boat sailing into the distance from the Tornado, it was hard to say what was going on behind them. So at the 2nd mark it was Basilica and then the Tornado. At this mark the lead Tornado was asked if they wanted to continue, in the shelter of the bay they bravely said of course and carried on wondering why they were being asked this, 200 metres later they found out, the wind was now 20-25knots with gusts on top, still to late now a battle to Fort Augustus another 13 miles up the lake. The main fleet was now well out of sight and the VX40 was out of sight of the Tornado. Still no disasters struck the lead 2 boats and a clean bear away and hoist and set in the relative calm of Fort Augustus, now for the 26 mile run home with 1 mark at Urquhart castle to do before the finish line at the Dorres Inn. With lots of pressure in the sails, both Basilica and the lead Tornado stretched their legs.

However once again the calm of Urquhart Castle parked both boats however once they were clear of the castle the wind came back with a vengeance. Both lead boats having interesting moments on the final legs. It was Basilica that took line honours with the Tornado 22 minutes taking 2nd place but winning overall by a considerable margin. 3rd place on the water and 2nd overall went to the Hurricane SX, of Nigel Lynn and Alan Nesbit who finished approx 55 minutes after the lead tornado.

Thanks must go to the sponsors and organisers of the event, Marine Design International Ltd, Blaser Chiropractic, JJcats.biz, Cairngorm Brewery Company, DH systems Ltd, Peterborough SC and the biggest thanks To Chris Browning, whose tireless efforts were well rewarded.

We would also like to thank our own sponsors Team Musto Australia, Tacktick and Mardon Marine.

No Helm Crew Boat Type Sail No. SCHRS (HH:MM:SS) Elapsed Time (s) Corrected Time (s)
1 Andrew MacPherson Stuart Offer Tornado GBR406 0.935 04:55:43 17743 18976.47
2 Nigel Lynn Alan Nesbit Hurricane SX 455 1.007 05:50:29 21029 20882.82
3 John Beech Ben Burns F18 GBR699 1.005 05:57:16 21436 21329.35
4 James Grant Mike McIntyre + others Extreme 40 Basilica 0.76 04:33:11 16391 21567.11
5 Neil Rosie David Sinclair Dart 18 7268 1.181 07:07:10 25630 21701.95
6 Russell Clark n/a A Class 42 0.979 05:59:35 21575 22037.79
7 David Kent Ian Kent Hurricane SX 458 1.007 06:10:32 22232 22077.46
8 Ian Keam-George Simon Keam-George Spitfire 188 1.035 06:27:50 23270 22483.09
9 Dave Parker Dave Harcourt Tornado GBR389 0.935 05:53:25 21205 22679.14
10 Lindsay Henderson Colin Lawrence Nacra 6.0 350 0.981 06:20:44 22844 23286.44