Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Day 6
by Tim Fells 13 Jul 2012 20:47 BST
8-13 July 2012
So the final day of racing dawned with the champions Dave Winder and Pippa Taylor crowned and drowned in a frenzy of celebration that saw Salcombe Yacht Club bar rocking into the early hours. All was still to play for in the competition for first loser. In the harbour a good breeze was blowing, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out for a glamorous end to the week.
Day 6 Morning – Red versus Black flights
For the morning race, the PRO did not enamour himself to the fleet by setting mark 0 as the windward mark, conveniently situated in an area of zero wind and strong adverse tide in the wind shadow of Bolt Head. The start and first beat were therefore an irrelevance as the challenge of getting out to Mark 0 proved the key point of the race.
Old heads ruled with Dan Alsop/Jennie King emerging with a good lead from the Superfast Jellytot team of Simon Blake/Alex Jackson. Down in the harbour it was breezy enough for some of the hangovers to cause dismounts, most notably Taxi/Ellie Bremmer.
Over the next hour Simon/Alex built a considerable lead to win comfortably and the stronger teams came through as the older and lighter teams tired. At the line Mike Calvert/Ian Garwood rounded out a strong week in second ahead of the fast charging Taxi/Ellie and Jon Gorringe/Tobytastic in fourth ahead of Dan/Jennie.
Day 6 Afternoon – Green versus Blue flights
With the sun out and a good force 4-5 blowing the afternoon fleet had a classic Salcombe race using all the harbour (1,4,6,5,8,7,1,3).
The key decision was the side of the harbour to take on the run back from Mark 1. Willie Warren/Sophie Mackley rounded first and headed for Mill Bay on the Portlemouth side. Tim Fells/Chris Downham rounded ahead of Dave Winder/Pippa Taylor and headed across the tide to the town side which proved to be the winning move. Willie/Sophie died in Mill Bay and were rolled by most of the fleet while Dave/Pippa and Tim/Chris battled for the lead down to Yalton and then back up and round to Frogmore.
Tim/Chris built a good lead down to Balcombe but suffered spinnaker problems that let Rich Adams/Chris Gould, who had moved up into second, to close right up and ultimately take the lead on the final lap of the harbour, to take their first win of the week. Tim/Chris kept Dave/Pippa behind to secure second and Tom Stewart/Steve Hall came through at the end to grab fourth.
At the end of a closely fought regatta, Dave/Pippa won with 8 points ahead of Tim/Chris 2nd on 11, Taxi/Ellie 3rd on 13, Mike/Ian 4th on 11 and Tom/Steve 5th on 14.5.
Provisional Results