Scottish Series champions will be back to defend their title

Etchells 22 fleet in action during the Jura Scottish Series 2024 © Marc Turner / www.pfmpictures.co.uk

Last year's overall winners of the Jura Scottish Series, Allan Manuel's Etchells 22 Bounce Back, are returning to Tarbert, Loch Fyne over the coming days looking to defend the class title which they won with a convincing scoreline, counting nine race wins from ten starts.

Manuel's top trophy victory came after competing at the north of Britain's top sailing regatta for nearly 35 years on many different boats. And while he may hold a certain level of confidence he and his crew can retain the Etchells class title, he knows it is a big ask to secure the overall top prize again as it is awarded subjectively, always to the 'best performing boat at the regatta' in the opinion of a panel of officials and sponsors.

Three days before racing starts on Friday on beautiful Loch Fyne, Manuel is upbeat, "I think in general we are pretty confident in the Etchells class, although there are a couple of boats are getting better all the time, those being Simon Reid's Animal and Peter Judd's Lock n Load."

Looking back one year on from Bounce Back's big win, Manuel - who is again sailing with Stephen Rarity, Miles Stratton and Anna Manuel - smiles, "It was good to finally win the whole thing, I have been coming to Scottish Series for so long, something like 30 or 35 years racing on many different boats so to win it outright was really special. I first came when I was at university so it has been a long time coming. Miles Stratton who was sailing with me won the top trophy a couple of times before but I never had."

He adds, "Scottish Series has always been 'the big one'. It is pretty much unmissable. I have done it in everything from the 8 Metre Lafayette and sailed on bigger boats back in the day with Keith Lawrence on Playback and with Geoff Howison on various Local Heroes."

He pays a compliment to the race organisers for their investment in the use of remote controlled 'robotic' marks which - by all accounts - have seen a major step forwards in on-the-water race management,

Manuel concludes "The biggest difference last year was the remote controlled marks. When you can now set a mark in the middle of the loch and move it easily as needed. You can do a start in the middle of the loch and have marks in the middle of the loch. Last year we had a lot of southerly winds in the first couple of days and so we could start in the middle and not need to go near the land which is such a big thing."

Good entry level, very close to 2024's 90 boats

Entries for the imminent 2025 regatta look set to stabilise around 84 or 85 boats, an 'acceptable' total according to the Clyde Cruising Club's Roddy Angus who leads the regatta organisation.

Angus sums up, "In line with trends around the country we have to be happy with the level of entries we have achieved and are grateful to everyone for their efforts. We are still a little disappointed not to have attracted the Irish boats which used to come. Overall we are very happy with the splits into the different classes as it means everyone should have a good number of boats in their fleet and a good level of competition."

Event website: www.scottishseries.co.uk