The Glasgow Grouse 2018
Strategy and fortune saving the sailors eyes from the sun. Photograph by; Lindsay McCosh
With 24 teams and 4 flights of boats, The Grouse returned to Glasgow once again for its 6th year in a row.
Running up to the event, we saw a week of towing, boat repairs and attempts to deal with the GUU’s tricky bouncers. Thankfully, by the Friday night everything was in place (including St. Andrews flight of boats, no thanks to their triple stacker). The typical Bardowie forecast was as ever present, with 10 knots gusting 15 on the Saturday and a mind blowing 0, gusting 1 forecasted for parts of Sunday.
With teams arriving from as far away as Northern Ireland, the Friday nights festivities started late, but were none-the-less enjoyable for all.
Saturday morning arrived clear and cold but thankfully rain free. With a quick rigging of all 24 boats and setting of the course, we were ready to start by 10am. With a favourable wind for half of the day, we managed to run 70 races until the wind dropped. It wasn’t all bad news however, since this gave everyone plenty of time to scrub up for the ceilidh.
Line up, line up, old boats. Photography by; Lindsay McCosh
Everyone donned their best clothing, from kilts to lederhosen and made their way to the GUU for a night of dancing. The evening quickly went the way that all ceilidhs do, with everyone getting involved in “The Gay Gordons” and attempting to launch each other as far as possible while dancing “Strip The Willow”. As the Ceilidh neared to its end we celebrated in the only way we know how: by linking arms, singing Auld Lang Syne and running as fast as possible at each other. With only a few minor bumps and bruises (and one trip to A&E), we went on our merry way down to Hive.
You might want to balance out that pontoon, guys. Better for change-overs. Photography by; Lindsay McCosh
Sunday morning rose, and with it, not a breath of wind. With everything set up in plenty of time, all we needed was some wind. Keeping ourselves occupied with a few rounds of shoe golf and a few trips to McDonalds the wind finally appeared (however from the complete opposite direction to the forecast). Unfortunately, the little amount of wind we did have only stayed around for us to get another 18 races completed, leaving us with a total of 88 to decide a winner. By using a different system of racing than last year, we avoided the awkward situation of a drawn out tie-breaking procedure.
And with that the Grouse was finished and done, a huge congratulation to the undefeated RNCYC who won the event followed by Edinburgh Import and Team Potato taking Second and Third place respectively.
The winners RNCYC, with their majestic Grouse. Photography by; Lindsay McCosh
A big thank you to all those that helped out, especially our PRO Craig Evans and the whole umpire team under the direction of Niall McLeod.
A further thank you to the Clyde Cruising Club Dinghy Section for their support and the use of Bardowie Loch, as well as our sponsors, Summer Sail Week, Sanctuary, Record Factory, Redbull and GUSA, whose support is vital to getting us on the water.
Hope to see everyone back again Next year! Find information about all of our sailing antics by following us and liking us on;
Instagram| @glasgowunisailing
Facebook| @GUSC
Snapchat| @gusailingclub
Twitter| @GUSASailing
Results are as follows: RNCYC Edinburgh Import Team Potato St Rath Strathclyde Pink Edinburgh Blue Edinburgh Green Em Rob's Smash Mob Queens Dundee Black Strathclyde Yellow Aberdeen Blue Strathclyde Red St Andrews Pink BBB Edinburgh White Glasgow Yellow The BYT Strathclyde Orange Dundee Red Glasgow Blue Glasgow Black UHI Purple Aberdeen White
