Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series Race 7
by David Greening 1 Sep 2014 11:28 BST
30 August 2014
With visitors returning home for the new school year, Salcombe Yacht Club sailors enjoyed the harbour more or less to themselves, as they no longer having to navigate around recalcitrant hire boats or multiple rafted yachts moored in the harbour.
Dinghy sailors were greeted by a gusty Westerly wing, which was kind enough to align itself up and down the harbour, allowing for a good beat to Blackstone, and marginal planing conditions both ways at Widegates.
Race Officer Simon Gibbens set a course that made the most of these conditions, combining the shifty beating conditions in the harbour, with some tactical off-wind sailing, first to Gerston and then to Saltstone.
The Medium Handicap Fleet comprised of Laser Radials and Standard Lasers, with Tim Law and Iain Mcgregor giving the youngsters a ten minute head start, a gap that they were never to cross, so Sam Lloyd emerged as winner on the water and on handicap.
When old hands Peter Colclough and Ian Stewart rigged up their ex-World Championship winning 505, there was excitement on how they might fare after an impressive performance on the open sea the previous week end, however Graham and Fiona Cranford-Smith in their Merlin Rocket pipped them to the Blackstone mark, and despite the impressive performance of the 505 back and forth across Widegates, the Cranford-Smiths kept the gap to a margin that ensured them the Handicap victory.
The tactical decision of the day was in ensuring that you could maintain the right hand side of the first beat so as to gain the big lift of Woodcot Rocks, which provided an easy route to the first mark.
On the crowded Solo start, Chris Cleaves, Bill Jago and Simon Dobson judged this well and by the Gerston mark they held the top spots, which they maintained to the shortened course finish.
A smaller Salcombe Yawl fleet still offered close racing, with much place changing between Dan and Gail Bridger, David Greening and Stephen Galvin and Charles Thompson and Alistair Morley. A tactical luff by Thompson at Snapes Point allowed Bridger and Greening to build a two minute gap, with the Bridgers taking the gun after much place changing on the shifty beat in the Harbour. Peter Stratton and Nigel Hannaford held onto the back of the modern boats sufficiently to overtake Thompson on handicap.
Race 7 Results:
Junior Handicap
1st Mirror 70390, Martin and Tom Ley
Medium Handicap
1st Laser Radial 176294, Sam Lloyd
2nd Laser 195867, Tim Law
3rd Laser 198963, Iain Mcgregor
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3698, Graham and Fiona Cranford-Smith
2nd 505 8050, Peter Colclough and Ian Stewart
3rd Lark 2615, Keri and Freya Harris
Solo
1st 5295, Chris Cleaves
2nd 5316, Billy Jago
3rd 5313, Simon Dobson
Salcombe Yawl
1st 159, Dan and Gail Bridger
2nd 177, David Greening and Stephen Galvin
3rd 161, Peter Stratton and Nigel Hannaford