Salcombe Yacht Sailing Club Series - Race 1
by David Greening 26 Apr 2016 12:22 BST
24 April 2016
Though the club calendar indicated that the Spring Series had been and gone, there remained a distinct chill in the air for the 39 boats that stepped up to the mark for the first race of the Salcombe Yacht Sailing Club Series.
With a low water spring tide and a shifty force 2 to 3 North Easterly, Race Officer Simon Dobson made the best of a poor hand to set the fleets to Gerston, leaving Crossways to port which initially created a somewhat one sided beat followed by a lap of the harbour.
For the Cadets, this was the first weekend of racing and George Alexander led a colourful fleet of mainly RS Teras to comfortably lead Ben Meek and Evie Booth home.
The Medium Handicap fleet was slightly depleted, but did provide a close battle between Mr and Mrs Booth, with Chris scoring a famous victory by 8 seconds from Claire.
The Fast Handicap were more numerous, with Pete Colclough and Liss Bennett driving off the line from pole position, and finding the angles of the course more suited to their RS400 than the thee National 12's, which were led home by Simon and Karen Ballantine.
The most numerous if not numerate fleet were once again the Solos, with 19 boats contesting a competitive start, too competitive for Graham Cranford-Smith and David Greening who were both recalled for being early starters. Class captain Adrian Griffin powered out of the start, rounding Crossways ahead of Chris Cleaves and a vertiginous Malcolm Bell who were joined by Ed Stephens at Gerston.
On the return to the harbour the wind became lighter and extremely shifty, which favoured the diminutive Stephens who managed a couple of shifts better than the less diminutive Cleaves, who was by this time preoccupied with keeping Bell in his place, allowing Ed Stephens to take the win.
Five Yawls came to the line and Paul Ellis and Stephen Page aced the start to drive out over Andrew Wood and Tim Pettit before drawing out a three minute lead from second placed Jon and Clare Lewis.
Race 1 Results:
Cadet Handicap
1st Tera Pro 2136 George Alexander
2nd Tera Sport 1881 Ben Meek
3rd Tera Pro 2146 Evie Booth
Medium Handicap
1st RS Aero 7 1416 Chris Booth
2nd RS Aero 7 1517 Claire Booth
Fast Handicap
1st RS400 1329 Peter Colclough and Liss Bennett
2nd National 12 3431 Simon and Karen Ballantine
3rd National 12 3534 Charlie and Helen Lloyd
Solo
1st Solo 5194 Ed Stephens
2nd Solo 5573 Chris Cleaves
3rd Solo 5574 Malcolm Bell
Handicap
1st Salcombe Yawl 181 Paul Ellis and Stephen Page
2nd Salcombe Yawl 150 Jon and Clare Lewis
3rd Salcombe Yawl 170 Geoff Gilson and Chris Spencer Chapman