Summer Series at Salcombe Yacht Club - Day 1
by Simon Dobson 13 Jun 2016 17:13 BST
11 June 2016
Salcombe Summer Series day 1 © Julian Meek
Warm sunshine and a sea breeze greeted competitors in the first race of the Summer Series at the Salcombe Yacht Club. The ebb tide made the upwind legs relatively short allowing race officer Julian Meek to set two long laps of the estuary - Blackstone to Gerston followed by Blackstone to Saltstone. Beating with the tide made it hard to secure a significant advantage on the upwind legs but the long downwind legs against the tide, especially in the tricky light wind sections through the Bag, were where most races were won or lost.
In the cadet fleet a healthy turn-out of five Teras, two Fevas and a Quba saw the Teras battle it out in close competition. Ben Meek eventually prevailed, followed by Evie Booth and Ben's brother Will.
In the medium handicap division Clare Booth and Nicki Dobson chose to dodge the tide by sailing down the Salcombe shore on the first run, forgetting that the Fairway exclusion zone was still in operation and resulting in their disqualification. This allowed the venerable Wayfarer of Alex Jansen to take the win. In the fast handicap fleet four National 12s took on the Aero 9 of Chris Booth. A tight race with lots of lead changes was finally won by Norman and Karen Brown, followed by Nigel and Sarah Blazeby and Reg and Fiona Rew.
The ebb tide sowed confusion at the start of the seventeen strong Solo fleet. Three boats were swept over the start line prematurely and failed to return whilst a further two returned to re-cross the line and start at the back of the fleet. Those two were local hot shots Chris Cleaves and Billy Jago and they doggedly fought their way through the fleet to second and third on the water behind Ed Stephens, who had established a clear lead early on. However when Stephens crossed the finish line he was met with deathly silence from the Race Office – he had been one of the premature starters! So Cleaves took the winning bell, followed by Jago and Olly Alexander.
6 classic and 3 modern fleet Yawls enjoyed another close race with the modern boats of Paul Ellis and Geoff Gilson pulling clear on the water. However the Classic boats of Andrew Wood and David Sworder had kept close enough to get on the podium after the handicapping adjustment which meant that Wood won, followed by Ellis and Sworder.
Day 1 Results:
Cadets
1st Ben Meek, Tera 1881
2nd Evie Booth, Tera 2146
3rd Will Meek 1131
Medium Handicap
1st Alex Jansen Wayfarer, 507
Fast Handicap
1st Norman and Karen Brown, National 12 3480
2nd Nigel and Sarah Blazeby, National 12 3439
3rd Reg and Fiona Rew, National 12 3462
Solos
1st Chris Cleaves 5573
2nd Billy Jago 5598
3rd Olly Alexander 5157
Yawls
1st Andrew Wood and Tim Petit 97
2nd Paul Ellis and Stephen Page 181
3rd David Sworder 89