For the past few weeks there has been an unmistakable sound to be heard most evenings on the island. It is the sound of endeavour, earnest construction, delicate planning and fine tuning -- that's right, the Gigha raft race is here again! To be fair the sounds have more of a resemblance to frantic last-minute adjustments and in the case of the Fire Brigade's raft, a real effort to get their custom-made raft floating!

So finally the day arrives, the 24th of July and the first time in many years the weather did not prove fair and we had a slight overcast sky with some light rain. This didn't deter the crowds who turned out in large numbers to watch the 8 or 9 rafts , to be fair I lost count, queueing up on the start line. Prior to this efficiently organised start, a water based bombardment commenced early on the beach in front of the boathouse and seem to focus on the Tarbert raft single-handedly attacking the Fire Brigade's raft. I stand to be corrected on who started the skirmish but I think it was fair to say that there were no winners and several users in the ensuing battle!

Back to the start and from the outset the Tarbert raft took a healthy lead. It is to be expected as the entire raft seemed to be crewed from characters from the Avatar movie, which as far as I recall, were all super strong alien type animals -- ideally suited to to competitive rowing. The Avatar/Tarbert crew never relinquished the lead circled the bouy at the other side of the bay and powered back to the Boathouse Shore. An easy victory.

Other notable rafts include the "Gigha the Friendly Island" with Micky, Archie and Flora which suffered a terminal case of man overboard early in the race and had to return back to shore relatively quickly. Julie and Kevin Watson's raft had a cunning plan, which was obviously to travel to Tayinloan first before turning at the bouy. A plan which didn't really work.

The boathouse organisation with excellent as always the event was extremely well attended by visitors and locals alike, and we look forward to a rematch next year.

Team Avatar - ready to rock	Micky Little - ready to roll	Joe - ready to start!
Caught in the act - that appears to be the start of the water warfare	The crowds look on, if you look carefully you can see bets being laid!	Joe and Lindsay consult national TV crews to see if its OK to start the race.
And they're off!	And they're back - winners!	Never mind Andy - there's always next year!