Salcombe Yacht Club Autumn Series Race 4
by David Greening 6 Oct 2014 11:41 BST
5 October 2014
A 20 knot North Westerly breeze with top, slack tide conditions made for a happy day's sailing for the Salcombe Yacht Club's Autumn Series Race 4. Race officer Andrew Squire set a daunting course mainly in the upper reaches of the harbour, with hard beats to the Balcombe mark, back to Crossways before another solid beat to the Gerston mark.
First away was the Junior Fleet, who should be grateful for an abbreviated course. The ubiquitous Evie Booth in her RS Tera Pro worked her way through the Toppers and RS Fevas to take another win.
The Medium Handicap fleet comprised mainly of Laser Standards, with Tom Morris taking the win from Esther McLarty and Henry Bright.
A somewhat depleted Fast Handicap Fleet saw Charlie and Helen Lloyd steal victory from the jaws of victory, having set off into the Bag, they realised that they had missed the Crossways mark, managed to return to re-round the mark before setting back up to the Balcombe mark, in the company of the later starting Solos, but managed to complete the course to take the win.
Once again the Solos were the most numerous and competitive fleet with 18 sailors mustering on the start line. After a close start to the race the heavier or fitter sailors emerged at the front by the time the fleet had slogged their way across Widegates.
At Chris Cleaves led Paul Rayson around the Balcombe buoy, pursued by a tight group of Simon Yates, Simon Dobson, David Greening and Bill Jago. A capsize by Paul, saw the other pursuers close in on Cleaves, however it was on the return to the harbour when Cleaves ran uncharacteristically out of wind at the final turning mark to allow Dobson through, whilst Greening was somewhat fortunate in holding Jago and Yates at bay.
It was the last race of the Yawl Mini-Series, which ensured that seven boats came to the line, and once again the Classic Boats got the better of the Modern Boats which failed to gain a sufficient time margin when the wind died at the finish. So Andrew Wood brought Saraband home in first place ahead of Jon and Clare Lewis, with Charles Thompson and Alistair Morley losing what had seemed like a healthy lead.
Race 4 Results:
Junior Handicap
1st RS Tera Pro 2146, Evie Booth
2nd RS Feva 4186, George Alexander and William Meek
3rd Topper 46711, Ali Hattersley
Medium Handicap
1st Laser 154656, Tom Morris
2nd Laser 181676, Esther McLarty
3rd Laser 140043, Henry Bright
Fast Handicap
1st National 12 3534, Charlie Lloyd and Helen Lloyd
Solo
1st 5313, Simon Dobson
2nd 5295, Chris Cleaves
3rd 5301, David Greening
Salcombe Yawl
1st 97, Andrew Wood and Crew
2nd 150, Jon and Clare Lewis
3rd 189, Charles Thompson and Alistair Morley
The full results are on the club website.