Exe Sails & Covers Starcross Steamer 2016

Exe Sails & Covers Starcross Steamer 2016 © Richard Fryer

A comment widely used was "I've never seen the club so busy" as the 104 entries tried to find space to rig their boats for the 23rd Exe Sails and Covers sponsored Starcross Steamer. In the end over 90 boats took to the water on a rather damp day for the first of three races in the South West Challenge. The next two races are The Roadford Rocket on Sunday February 28th and Wimbleball Beastie on Sunday March 20th.

Looking at the weather forecast a week before the event it seemed the conditions would be quite challenging. As the days went on, the predicted strength of the South Easterly wind went down and down, until on the day there was only a faint breeze from the North West, 180 degrees from where it should have been. Unfortunately there is only a limited tidal window for a two and half hour race, so just sitting and waiting for the predicted wind from the South East to arrive is not possible. The next best option was to delay the start by 30 minutes to see what happens.

So the original start time of 10:30 for the sole Mirror of Dean and Aiden Mooney, who had driven all the way up from Penzance, was put back to 11 o'clock. Our spirits were raised when the faint North West breeze increased slightly, only for it to fall away again as the Mirror struggled to get to the first mark. Twenty six minutes later it was the turn of the single Europe, a couple of Solos and Enterprises and a large collection of Laser Radials with very slightly more wind. By this time the Mirror was around the first mark and running down wind to the second, but the lack of wind after his start did not help his cause and he was soon caught by the following pack.

As the leaders started the third leg their wind picked up and they had the best of the breeze so far. Here the Enterprise of Jeremy Williams and Solo of David Greening were having a close race, handling the challenging conditions so well they were able to pull out a good lead on the chasing pack and looked good for the overall honours. Back at the start, where the faster boats were just setting off the wind died again.

Well, fate was going to come into play again. The South Easterly wind, which was predicted for so long, finally arrived but not at a time to suit the leaders. They rounded the downwind mark with a substantial lead and were well into the long beat back to the line. The chasing pack finally arrived at the downwind mark at the same moment as the expected wind from the South East and the beat turned into a run. The leaders were helpless against the dozen boats running them down.

At the other end of the course, the faster boats were still sitting in the almost nonexistent North Westerly, it was not a good day to start late. The wind did finally fill in over the whole course, so at least everyone could enjoy a few minutes of good sailing.

At the end of the race all of the top ten places were filled by single handers, the first double hander the Enterprise of Jeremy Williams and Diane Stephens from Penzance came eleventh, in fact there were only six double handers in the top twenty.

The deserved winner of the race was Peter Barton who, using the larger and more powerful 9 sq meter sail on his light weight Aero, established a commanding lead. Just a shame we couldn't test him out in more challenging conditions.

We were honoured this year by the presence of Councillor Mike Hocking leader of Teignbridge District Council and Councillor Carol Bunday who helped Sam Woolner of Exe Sails and Covers distribute the prizes.

With the biggest Steamer fleet ever, special thanks must go to Lympstone Sailing Club, Exe Sailing Club and David Attenburrow for their generous help with the Safety boat duties. Together with the three club safety boats, we were confident that any challenges could be dealt with easily.

It takes a huge effort to put on the Steamer every year, so my thanks to the galley for producing more hot food and drink than ever before and the multihull fleet from Starcross who give up their time and sailing to organize and man the event. A special mention must be given to Sam Woolner of Exe Sails and Covers for supplying the fantastic prizes, which were appreciated by everyone. In total over 60 volunteers are required on the day both on and off the water and we look forward to doing it all again next year. Thank you also to the competitors who travel to Starcross every year, even from as far away as Loch Lomond SC to make the Steamer so memorable. The date for the Steamer next year is Sunday 5th February 2017, with the first start at 11:00, so please make a note in your diary now. Planning for the event has already started and we look forward to welcoming both old and new faces.

Overall Results: (top ten)

1. Peter Barton, RS Aero 9 1175 (Lymington Town SC)
2. Robert Dyer, Laser 191701 (Sutton Bingham SC)
3. Ben Flower, Laser 169898 (Starcross YC)
4. Dave Stockton, Laser 209187 (Wimbleball SC)
5. Kian Andrews, Laser 205315 (Mounts Bay SC)
6. Greg Bartlett, Laser 202204 (Starcross YC)
7. Jonathan Wilson, Laser Radial 209010 (Wimbleball SC)
8. Ben Hawkes, Laser Radial 203910 (Wimbleball SC)
9. Drew Gibson, Laser 166336 (Paignton)
10. Simon Jones, Solo 5462 (Teign Corinthian SC)

First Junior: Ben Flower, Laser 169898 (Starcross YC)
First Junior Crew: Emma Coleman, Enterprise 22901 (Midland SC)
First Lady Helm: Ros Downs, Osprey 1114 (Tata Steel)
First Double Hander: Jeremy Williams and Diane Stephens, Enterprise 22874 (Penzance)

Full results can be found on the Starcross Yacht Club website.