Torbay Week at Royal Torbay Yacht Club
by Katina Read 31 Aug 2011 10:51 BST
19-24 August 2011
Dark and Steamy win IRC1 at Torbay Week © Tim Corbett
Torbay Week began on Friday with perfect sailing conditions in glorious English Riviera evening sunshine. More than 30 dinghies raced off Paignton in a 90 minute pursuit race. The Tasers benefitted from the conditions the most, although a late starting 12ft Skiff would have taken second place had its long bowsprit been just a little longer.
Winners Tim and Mayumi Knight (Tasar) from Royal Lymington YC had a clear lead over Malcolm and Fiona Davies (Tasar) from Teign Corinthian YC who just kept ahead of Bob Clements and Alan Atterbury in third place (12’ Skiff).
The weather could not have been more of a contrast on Saturday when all five sailing circuits were initially subjected to a downpour and then to wind changes that caused a few starts to be abandoned. Nevertheless the race officers managed to get all the scheduled races completed, though it was a long day for all but the juniors, who had just a couple of qualifying races off Torquay Harbour. The dinghies, based at Paignton SC had two circuits; one for the Buzz and ISO Class Nationals and the other for the 42 mixed handicap boats. The two circuits for the 56 keelboats were further out to sea, with the IRC fleet sailing to the southern end of Tor Bay.
Light winds were still in effect on Sunday, though it kept dry and sunny. In the five races completed by the IRC keelboats, only John and Kate Pollard (Xcellent) of RTYC had established a clear lead in their IRC2 class, winning all their races, with Alan Bancroft (Brixham YC - Impulsive) in the IRC 3 class having a four point lead over her nearest rivals; winning three races. In the other classes of keelboats, Mike Ellis and Graham Jenkins of RTYC won all their races in their Folkboat Bluetooth (Dayboat class) as did Daniel Pedrick of BYC in the Sonata class. The PY Cruiser class was dominated by Kelvin and Shirley Hull of RTYC (Buccaneer) with three wins out of four but other classes were still quite open for a late challenger to come through.
The dinghies completed six of their eight race schedule with clear favourites emerging. In the Asymmetric class the 12ft Skiff of Clements and Atterbury maintained a one point advantage over Daryl and Rachel Geary of Royal Torquay YC in their RS400, while in the Fast Handicap, Paul Proctor of PSC in his RS600 had a four point lead. In the largest class of the Medium Handicap dinghies, Davies and Davies had established a seemingly unassailable lead of 12 points.
The juniors, now divided into Gold and Silver and 29er classes started their ten race series with two races in the afternoon.
Monday was the last day of senior dinghy racing and the lack of wind forced a postponement until the on-shore breeze picked up at lunchtime. Clements maintained his lead in the Asymmetric Class to win the series, with Grant Blake and Andy Kerr, also in a 12ft skiff picking up second place from Geary and Geary.
The Fast Handicap class was dominated by PSC competitors, who picked up all three trophies; Proctor sailing a near-perfect series in his RS600 from Nigel Williams and Amy Giles in a Fireball, with Dale Giles and Tony Proctor, also in a Fireball, coming a close third. The Medium Handicap class, the largest fleet in the regatta, had a significant number of Tasars entering in preparation for their World Championships which will be held in Tor Bay in September. Between them they managed a first (Davies and Davies) and third (Tim and Mayumi Knight from Royal Lymington) with the Albacore of Jean and Derek Simmonds from South Cerney squeezing into second place by a point.
In the dinghy national events, only one local boat had been entered; the Buzz of Philip and Sarah Harrison of Babbacombe Corinthian SC, who came fifth in their first competitive regatta. The Buzz National Champions of 2011 are Ian and Bidget Staples and the ISO National Champions are John Gill and Juliet Daniels.
Tuesday was the last day for the keelboat championships with the Sonatas and PY Cruisers sailing a coastal race to Teignmouth. With the light breeze dropping away completely and with no shortened course, only one boat, Ginger (Chris Clarance) finished within the time limit while IRC race officer Sean Semmens did well to get in one race.
At the prizegiving ceremonies at Paignton and Brixham, competitors commented on the very high standard of race management and the three judges, including two International Judges had just two protests to oversee all week; a tribute to the spirit in which the racing was conducted.
In the Sonatas Dan Pedrick, Dog Tired, maintained a perfect record of first places to win ahead of Stephen Linley-Shaw, Apiano and with Tom Savage, Blues Breaker, just beating off a close challenge for third place from Katina Read, Splash. The Folkboat of RTYC Commodore Mike Ellis, won the Dayboat class and Neil Harris and Caroline Aisher won the Sports Boat class – all but one of this fleet of 13 boats coming from Torquay.
The PY Cruiser winners were also local boats: 1. Buccaneer; 2. Edward McMullan, Ocean Wave, BYC; 3. Tim Jones, Casper, RTYC just edging out Ginger out of a trophy position on countback.
The IRC3 class was also dominated by BYC boats, although Neil Trathen, Elusive, Saltash SC gained first place over locals Impulsive and Chris Clyburn, Ayanami, in second and third respectively.
In the IRC2 class the results were: 1. Xcellent; 2. Martin Pound, Moby Jay, Hornet SC; 3. Rick Adams, Rushcutter, Royal Western YC.
The IRC1 class had Nick and Annie Haigh, Dark and Steamy, in first place from Andy Williams, Dignity and John McLaren, Maridadi, in second and third place respectively.
The prestigious Addison Gold Cup was awarded to Xcellent with Trathan second and Impulsive third.
The Admiral’s Cup team trophy was awarded to the Plymouth Clubs, with the Torbay Commodore’s Cup to the Fishtown Flyers (Brixham boats) and the Royal Torbay Regatta Cup – appropriately to RTYC.
Next year’s Torbay Week take place from Friday 24th to Wednesday 29th August and already interest has been shown by a large dinghy fleet to include their Nationals as part of the event.