Salcombe Yacht Club Sailing Club Series Race 4
by David Greening 19 May 2015 07:48 BST
17 May 2015
There never a great deal of enthusiasm when the wind is out of the North West at Salcombe, since little wind reaches the water, and the wind that does reach the competitors sails is of a random nature.
This was what greeted Race Officer Peter Sturgess on Saturday, however with a strong flood tide; he chose to send the racing fleets into the less protected upper reaches of the harbour.
Initially the choice of course was limited, but as the tide rose, his course setting options increased, which caught out a few of the competitors who failed to keep a close eye on the course boards!
The Junior Handicap fleet were first away and 8 year old Ben Meek in his RS Tera recovered from a poor start to take the win following a close finish from the Mirror, helmed by Tom Ley finishing second in his first complete race.
Despite six starters, Charlie Blazeby and Tom Morris were the only finishers of the Medium Handicap race, with several retirees.
The Graham and Fiona Cranford-Smith in their Merlin Rocket nailed the Fast Handicap start, but were eventually overhauled by the omnipresent Merlin of Peter Cook and Janet Exelby. It was great to see Chris and Rosie Winzar make a return to the National 12 fleet, who secured second place, ahead of the other three 12's.
Whether it was by luck or by judgement, Chris Cleaves led the eighteen boat strong Solo Fleet away at the start, closely pursued by the young Peter Ballantine and Ed Stephens. Substantial wind shifts saw Ed Stephens drop back into the bulk of the fleet, and several capsizes by the likes of Malcolm Mackley and Justin Meek saw them drop out of contention.
A late course change saw the Solos sail a longer course than any of the other fleets, and they were eventually put out of their misery on the return from Yalton, sparing them the vagaries of a windless harbour and the spring flood tide.
It was a case of the tortoise and the hare in the Yawl Fleet, initial leaders Dan Bridger and David Jayne, failed to pick up on one of several changes of the course, and were too far ahead for the gentlemanly members of the rest of the fleet to inform them of their error... this allowed Charles Thompson and the Classic Fleet Yawl of Peter Stratton sailing with star crew Chris Spencer-Chapman to gain the advantage, eventually the Classic Fleet Yawl, came through to beat the Modern boats on the water, which could seem quite confusing to the observer, it being more modern than some of the modern boats!
Race 4 Results:
Junior Handicap
1st RS Tera Sport 1881, Ben Meek
2nd Mirror 70390, Tom and Martin Ley
3rd Topper 46721, George Alexander
Medium Handicap
1st Laser 203307, Charlie Blazeby
2nd Laser 154646, Tom Morris
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3616, Peter Cook and Janet Exelby
2nd National 12 3524, Chris and Rosie Winzer
3rd Merlin Rocket 3769, Graham and Fiona Cranford-Smith
Solo
1st 4894, Peter Ballantine
2nd 5573, Chris Cleaves
3rd 5194, Ed Stephens
Salcombe Yawl
1st 159, Peter Stratton and Chris Spencer-Chapman
2nd 161, Charles Thompson and Crew
3rd 159, Dan Bridger and David Jayne