Starcross Steamer Pursuit Race at Starcross Yacht Club

by John Donovan, PRO 19 Mar 2011 20:03 GMT 13 March 2011

Where would be your chosen place to sail, the Caribbean, Greece, Turkey? Well add Starcross on to your list. On Sunday March 13th it could not have looked better for the twentieth running of the annual Starcross Steamer two and a half hour pursuit race. There was spring sunshine, a cloudless sky, a steady moderate northerly wind, the tide coming in and the galley working flat out producing breakfasts for the many visitors who had set off before dawn.

With the ideal wind strength and good tide, a large testing course could be set in the estuary taking in all points of sailing. A beat off the line to the Salmon Pool mark, followed by a beam reach to the main channel, then a run to a mark off Lympstone, a long reach to Castle mark, another run back to the main channel, followed by a second beat back to the line.

No Cadets this year so the first boats on the line were the 6 Toppers, who set off at 10:00, followed 11 minutes later by the only RS Feva. The biggest class again this year were the 13 Lasers, 6 with radial rigs, 5 full rigs and the remainder with the smaller 4.7 sail. Other large turnouts included 7 RS200s, 10 each of Phantoms and Merlins, 7 RS400s, 4 Comet Trios, 3 each of Fireballs, Ospreys, B14s and Solos. Debuts this year were from the K1 class and a Blaze Halo. Great looking boat shame the kicking strap wasn’t a bit stronger! By the end of the start sequence some 93 boats were racing, up by almost a third on last year’s turnout.

A number of casualties soon came back to the shore with gear failure. This was probably the first start of the year for many, so working on the maxim “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” was not a good idea as the lack of maintenance over the winter caught them out. Perhaps a better saying would be “it will beak if you don’t maintain it”

Greg Bartlett in his Topper, managed to keep ahead of the chasing pack for the first two laps and with the wind easing slightly, many hoped that it would be a Topper’s day. Sadly by the middle of the third lap he was caught by Jamie Lea in his Solo. By the end of round 4 the Merlin Rocket of Richard Whitworth and Olly Turner swept into the lead hoping to gain sufficient time on the chasing faster boats. By mid race the wind swung slightly to the west, making the long reach tight enough that the faster boats were unable to carry their larger spinnakers, giving a definite advantage to the single handers and Merlins.

Towards the end of the race it was apparent that it was going to be a Merlin day, filling the top two places, first was the Whitworth/Turner partnership, then Richard Dee and Chris Gould, followed by previous winner Simon Heusen, just inches ahead of a K1 sailed by Simon Hawkes. The ability to set a varied course which did not favour any particular sail plan, enabled a good mix of classes to come to the front. In the first 16 finishers there were 13 different classes proving that handicapping does work.

Thanks as always must go to the competitors who travel to Starcross every year to make the event so memorable, the galley for producing vast quantities of hot food and drink, the rescue boat crews from the home club, plus crews from Exe and Lympstone Sailing clubs and not forgetting the multihull fleet who organize and man the event. We must also thank Foto Boat for taking some cracking shots of the event this year. One camera was based on shore and another in the Exe safety boat so all the action, both good and embarrassing, has been recorded. See them at www.fotoboat.com .The planning has already started for next year’s Steamer; we look forward to welcoming both old and new faces to the event.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Type	Sail No	Helm / Crew	PY
1	Merlin	3703	Richard Whitworth / Olly Turner	1006
2	Merlin	3610	Richard Dee / Chris Gould	1006
3	Phantom	1275	Simon Heusen	1035
4	K1	36	Simon Hawkes	1060
5	B14	768	Will McGrath / Harry Reece	874
6	Solo	5202	Jamie Lea	1155
7	Merlin	3580	Mike Mackie / Roger Nutall	1006
8	Albacore	8128	J T Rook / Peter Thomas	1065
9	Fireball	14708	Colin Jarvis / Derek Jarvis	982
10	Laser Radial	184736	Mike Kinnear	1111
11	Laser	174072	Jon Williams	1087
12	Wayfarer	10740	Liam Mcgrath / Sue Mcgrath	1101
13	B14	657	Mark Pollard / Martin Wallbank	874
14	420	49451	David Herbert / Samatha Herbert	1087
15	Phantom	1364	Paul Jacobs	1035
16	Osprey	1116	Jeremy Williams / Mike Greggs	940
17	Phantom	1383	Nick Orman	1035
18	Osprey	1280	Peter Greig / Steve George	940
19	Fireball	14600	Anthony Wilcocks / James Wilcocks	982
20	Hornet	2154	Richard Garry / J Beer	973
21	RS200	1048	Mark Elkington / Rebecca Elkington	1057
22	Merlin	3660	Dave Lee / Juliet Pealing	1006
23	Merlin	3634	B Archer / Chris Whitehouse	1006
24	RS400	411	Richard Cain / Owen Taylor	950
25	Merlin	3713	Steve Harling / Eleanor Thomas	1006
26	Phantom	1112	Alex Fastnedge	1035
27	Finn	603	Grant Simmons	1062
28	Laser	142970	M Gibson	1087
29	49er	453	Jon Cotgreave / Dave Thomas	740
30	Laser	175624	Aled Bath	1087
31	Fireball	14391	Alex Shaw / Jo Lime	982
32	Comet Trio	490	Richard Sacuss / Jane Higgins	1085
33	D-one	15	Charlie Cumbley	971
34	Laser Radial	1	Kalin Hillier	1111
35	Phantom	1251	Phillip Isaac	1035
36	Tasar	2814	Tony Paine / Sandy Paine	1023
37	Merlin	3628	Robin Charles / Dave Parry	1006
38	Phantom	1313	Tony Fastnedge	1035
39	Phantom	1270	John Bower	1035
40	RS700	715	Steve McDonald	857
41	RS200	565	James Taylor / Lewis Allen	1057
42	RS200	1364	Simon Greenslade / Phillipa Greenslade	1057
43	RS100 - 10.2	220	Jon Nuttal	1005
44	Merlin	3622	Justin Eddy / Daniel Newman	1006
45	Merlin	3544	David Downs / Ros Downs	1006
46	RS200	924	Tina Mackie / Ben Fricker	1057
47	Laser 4.7	166594	Tim Pearce	1183
48	Topper	46874	Greg Bartlett	1295
49	Laser	184963	Jamie Roberts	1087
50	K1	25	Colin Allen	1060
51	RS400	683	James Bowman / Sarah Roberts	950
52	Laser Radial	119566	Andrew Clear	1111
53	RS100 - 8.4	202	Michael Bagge	1014
54	RS400	423	Chris Mulholland / Catherine Mulholland	950
55	Topper	34823	Carys Roberts	1295
56	Laser Vago	758	Josie Kimber / Jonathan Kimber	1064
57	Topper	3	Paris Thomas	1295
58	Intl 14	X	Neil Young / Pete Middleton	898
59	Topper	45437	Jack Stephenson	1295
60	Laser 4.7	100385	Jonathan Wilson	1183
61	Solo	4048	Arthur Phillips	1155
62	Phantom	1271	Gordon Reyworth	1035
63	RS700	746	Tim Greenwood	857
64	RS200	1330	Pete Haddrell / Flea Haddrell	1057
65	Tasar	2507	Tim Martin / Owen Martin	1023
66	Comet Trio	476	Steve Ashford / Mike Holmes	1085
67	Solo	3842	Mike Webster	1155
68	RS400	1264	Olly Greenslade / Theo Greenslade	950
69	Finn	634	Andy Bartram	1062
70	RS Vision	757	Henry Michaelson / Louis Michaelson	1083
71	Laser Radial	164572	Jonathan Newall	1111
72	Laser	77634	Charlie Maunder	1087
73	RS400	438	Mike Ford / Keith Wheatley	950
74	RS400	598	Ralph Wogan / J Carr	950
94	Topper	33851	Daniel Newall / Daniel Newall	1295
94	Blaze Halo	545	Nick Ripley	1027
94	Laser Radial	77778	Nishok Love	1111
94	B14	762	Crispin Taylor / Guy Harrill	874
94	RS200	271	Amy Fitter / Ian Fitter	1057
94	Topper	22610	James Ripley	1295
94	RS800	1129	Paul Kelley / Gemma Lindsay	822
94	RS200	960	Jayne Johnson / Nicki McIlroy	1057
94	Merlin	3473	Vyv Game / Mike Tucket	1006
94	Osprey	760	Ian Macmekian / Lee Elliott	940
94	Comet Trio	368	Nick ? / Don Blackett	1085
94	RS400	11	Garry Phare / Katie Cudmore	950
94	Laser Radial	189326	Robin Jones	1111
94	Phantom	1384	Robin Hobson	1035
94	Comet Trio	484	Frankie Upton / Sue Burridge	1085
94	Phantom	1359	Pete Barnstable	1035
94	Contender	693	Dave Gough	993
94	RS Feva	1105	Tamzine Middleton / Dani Middleton	1200
94	RS100 - 10.2	122	Chris Cunningham	1005

First Under 18, Laser 142970, M Gibson (CSC)
Furthest Travelled, RS100 220, Jon Nuttall (Neyland YC)
First Lady, RS200 924, Tina Mackie (Torpoint SC)