Salcombe Yacht Club Autumn Series Race 2
by David Greening 23 Sep 2014 12:51 BST
20-21 September 2014
Includig a Salcombe Yawl Open and Bart's Bash race
Light winds greeted the dinghy sailors for the second race of the Salcombe Yacht Club Autumn Series. Race Officer Julian Meek had little choice but to set a course of three laps of the harbour between Blackstone and Crossways for fear of losing the fleet and for those not to be able to return to the harbour having to beat against a flood tide.
Pre-start investigation suggested that the Town side would prevail, however shortly before the start the wind went to the East, which allowed greater gains to be made off the Portlemouth shore.
First away were the Junior Handicap fleet which sailed a slightly shorter course around the Millbay mark, Ben Meek snicked the handicap victory in his RS Tera Sport from the RS Quba of Ollie Howling.
In the Medium Handicap the Laser of Henry Bright scored a comfortable victory over next placed Laser Radial of Coleen Pope.
Peter Cook and Janet Exelby in their Merlin Rocket were first to pick up the big Easterly wind shift off the Portlemouth shore which enabled them to steam down the middle of the tide to the inside of the rest of the Fast Handicap fleet, to round Blackstone with a comfortable lead which they held to the finish.
Sixteen Solos made their start, and Peter Hammond was first to slip away into a lead where he was never challenged. Chris Cleaves managed to lure the pursuing pack into a no wind area off Ditch End before setting off in pursuit of Hammond, but was still one minute adrift at the close of play.
SYC also hosted the Salcombe Yawl Autumn Open Meeting with two races held on Saturday and two more on Sunday.
The Saturday racing was a light wind affair and John and Annie McLaren looked to be in a comfortable first place at the end of the day in the Classic Fleet, whilst the whole of the Modern Fleet were tied in first place. So when Sunday dawned with a Force 3 North Easterly, there was all to play for.
Heron sailed by John Smithers and Peter Hughes found the conditions much more to their liking and scored a second and a first, to Andrew Wood and Tim Pages first and second, with Smithers and Hughes taking the Classic Fleet victory when scored with a first on Saturday.
Mike Webster and Peter Brewer emerged from Saturday's tie, to score two first places on Sunday to win the Modern Fleet.
Finally, to culminate a busy weekend, forty Salcombe Yacht Club boats participated in the "Bart's Bash" race, a race involving 18,000 competitors around the world to celebrate the life of ex Olympian Andrew "Bart" Simpson, who tragically died while training for the America's Cup last year.
Mike Webster and Peter Brewer in their Salcombe Yawl won the Salcombe leg of the event from the Mirror dinghy of Martin and Tom Ley, with the Yawl of Rob Adams finishing in third place.
Results:
Junior Handicap
1st RS Tera Sport 1881, Ben Meek
2nd RS Quba 1, Ollie Howling
3rd Topper 46706, William Meek
Medium Handicap
1st Laser 140043, Henry Bright
2nd Laser Radial 201476, Coleen Pope
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3616, Peter Cook and Janet Exelby
2nd RS400 1329, Peter and Sue Colclough
3rd National 12, 3501 Keri and Gilli Harris
Solo
1st 5271, Peter Hammond
2nd 5295, Chris Cleaves
3rd 5316, Billy Jago
Salcombe Yawl Classic
1st 19, John Smithers and Peter Hughes
2nd 97, Andrew Wood and Tim Page
3rd 84, John and Annie McLaren
Salcombe Yawl Modern
1st 163, Mike Webster and Peter Brewer
2nd 171, Mike and Karen Whitehouse
3rd 141, Rob Adams and James Armitage
Bart's Bash
1st Salcombe Yawl 163, Michael Webster and Peter Brewer
2nd Mirror 70390, Martin and Tom Ley
3rd Salcombe Yawl 141, Rob Adams and James Armitage
The full results are on the club website.