Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series Race 3
by Malcolm Mackley 6 Jul 2014 22:47 BST
5 July 2014
The Summer Series race 3 was run on one of the clubs busiest days, however the arrival of over 120 Merlin Rockets teams to Salcombe from throughout the country for their forthcoming racing week did not deter the club racing going ahead and the estuary was full of sailing boats and other craft as the holiday season really got into full swing.
Race Officer Nigel Blazeby, under pressure from a few of the Solo sailors, set a monster course which he allowed to run late into the afternoon. The South Westerly force two breeze generally gave some excellent sailing for all the competitors. The first mark was set as number O, which is outside the Blackstone rocks at the mouth of the estuary and the routes dinghies took to approach O turned out to be crucial. In the Solo class, Simon Gibbons took the Channel route and emerged at O with a lead he was never to relinquish. By contrast, in the Yawl class which started after the Solos, David Greening and Steven Galvin took the alternative route of going between Blackstone rocks and the Portlemouth shore and they too arrived at O in first place and duly sailed off into the distance. Mark and Karen Whitehouse followed in the path of the David Greening Yawl and were rewarded with a fine second place ahead of the experienced Exmouth sailmaker Frank Rowsell. In the Solo fleet, Simon Dobson eventually got the better of Chris Cleaves with Nigel Appleton finishing in a strong fourth position.
There was a family battle in the medium handicap class with Dr Chris Booth eventually getting the better of his wife Clare Booth; both however were pipped on handicap by another single handed Laser Radial sail by Kate Brooks. In the fast handicap Peter Cook and Janet Exelby once again won by a clear margin. The RS400s had a very close battle with John and Annie Maclaren coming second. Peter Colclough would have come third, but a minor collision at the finishing line resulted in him having to do penalty turns which allowed Norman and Karen Brown in their National Twelve to slip into third place.
It was the turn of the Mirror dinghy to win the junior handicap from Evie Booth in a RSTera and Max Pearce in a Topper.
Race 3 Results:
Junior Handicap
1st Mirror 70390, Martin and Amy Ley
2nd RS Tera Pro 2147, Evie Booth
3rd Topper 1, Max Pearce
Medium Handicap
1st Laser Radial 198304, Kate Brooks
2nd Streaker 1869, Chris Booth
3rd Streaker 1845, Clare Booth
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3616, Peter Cook and Janet Exelby
2nd RS400 1421, John and Annie Maclaren
3rd National 12 3480, Norman and Karen Brown
Solo
1st 5428, Simon Gibbons
2nd 5313, Simon Dobson
3rd 5295, Chris Cleaves
Salcombe Yawls
1st 177, David Greening and Steven Galvin
2nd 171, Mark and Karen Whitehouse
3rd 184, Frank Rowsell and anon
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