Salcombe Yacht Sailing Club Series - Race 5
by David Greening 23 May 2016 11:57 BST
22 May 2016
Lashing rain driving up the Salcombe harbour on a Force 5 gusting Force 6 Southerly breeze greeted the hardier racers competing in the Salcombe Yacht Sailing Club Series.
Race Officer Will Henderson set the classic course of Blackstone Gerston followed by a loop of the harbour.
First away was the Cadet Handicap fleet, with a credible number of finishers in tough conditions, it was led home by the RS Tera Sport of Evie Booth, who won both on the water and corrected time.
Evie's Dad Chris led the Medium Handicap Fleet home, making it a double win for the Booths.
Andrew and Tristram Squire carved a somewhat lonely furrow in their Merlin Rocket to take the Fast Handicap points.
Nine of the hardiest Solo sailors came to the start line, with Julian Meek achieving the port tack start off the beach that eluded the rest of the fleet to lead around Blackstone and Gerston; however Julian's masterclass came off the rails on the beat back through the harbour, when competitors were faced with short tacking into a strengthening spring tide.
Bill Jago fought his way through, and was eventually to build up a sizeable lead. Chris Cleaves, who had spent much of the race lurking, almost overtook Julian however gear failure and running repairs saw him back into third place.
Four Salcombe Yawls lined up for what was to prove a highly competitive race; Dan Bridger with David Gates on foredeck, dialled down Paul Ellis and Steve Page in a pre-start manoeuvre which saw Ellis struggling to tack off the beach. This remained a close race, with Bridger tacking to cover Ellis into Ditch End to maintain the lead which he held to the finish line.
Cadet Handicap
1st RS Tera Sport 2146 Evie Booth
2nd RS Quba 2 Ruari McColl
3rd RS Quba 3 Max Pierce
Medium Handicap
1st RS Aero 7 1416 Chris Booth
2nd RS Feva XL 1521 Elodie Grenen and Ollie Sando-Reynolds
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3725 Andrew and Tristram Squire
Solo
1st 5598, Bill Jago
2nd 5317, Julian Meek
3rd 5573, Chris Cleaves
Salcombe Yawl
1st 159, Dan Bridger and David Gates
2nd 181, Paul Ellis and Stephen Page
3rd 170, Geoff Gilson and Chris Spencer-Chapman