Salcombe Yacht Club Sailing Club Series - Race 3
by Simon Dobson 8 May 2017 10:51 BST
6 May 2017
Salcombe Yacht Club Sailing Club Series Race 3 © Malcolm Mackley
Grey skies and a fading north easterly breeze greeted the 28 boats lining up for race 3 of the Salcombe Yacht Club Sailing Club Series. The Race Officer set a 'round the creeks' course to make best use of high water, sending the fleet to Gerston followed by Frogmore and Yalton. This brought into play a tricky transition through a calm patch in the lee of Halwell Woods that saw much position changing in the various fleets. The long, light air downwind legs against the tide also provided sailors with ample opportunity to contemplate the meaning of life or what was for dinner.
In the cadet fleet Evie Booth sailing a Topper got the better of Ben Meek in his Tera. In the Medium Handicap fleet the Aero of Clare Booth was the only competitor so her victory was assured. In the Fast Handicap three Phantoms, two Merlin Rockets and a National 12 competed. The Merlin Rocket of Peter Cook and Janet Exelby set the early pace but the fleet bunched up in the lee of Halwell Woods and Alistair Morley in his Phantom emerged in the lead. On the run back to the finish line from Yalton the Merlin got ahead again but Morley finished close enough to take the win on corrected time. The National 12 of Christian and Sophie Day closed up on the faster boats as they struggled to finish in the dying breeze and took third place on corrected time.
In the Solo fleet Simon Dobson established an early lead, followed by Bill Jago and Iain McGregor. Coming out of Frogmore McGregor sailed too close to Halwell Woods and sat helpless as Chris Cleaves sailed the long way around in more breeze to come through into second place. Dobson hung on for the win despite Cleaves and Jago closing him down in the fading breeze close to the finish. In the Yawl fleet John Smithers lead early on but lost out to Geoff Gilson going through the Halwell Woods calm patch. As it turned out Smithers had been over the line at the start so his day ended in double frustration. Gilson ended up taking a comfortable victory from Peter Stratton and Ian and Dawn Savell.
Race 3 Results:
Cadets
1st Topper 48169, Evie Booth
2nd Tera 1881, Ben Meek
Medium Handicap
1st Aero 1517, Claire Booth
Fast Handicap
1st Phantom 1357, Alistair Morley
2nd Merlin Rocket 3616, Peter Cook and Janet Exelby
3rd National 12 3526, Christian and Sophie Day
Solo fleet
1st 5676, Simon Dobson
2nd 5573, Chris Cleaves
3rd 5598, Bill Jago
Yawl
1st 170, Geoff Gilson
2nd 161, Peter Stratton
3rd 140, Ian and Dawn Savell