Salcombe Yacht Club Yawl and Solo Whitsun Open Meeting

Salcombe Yacht Club hosted a combined Salcombe Yawl and Solo Open meeting over the Whitsun Weekend. Winds were light and variable, and generally coming from the southern sector of the compass.

On Saturday, Race Officer Geof Gilson set the classic Salcombe course to Blackstone, Gerston, Blackstone and Crossways on a light and variable southerly breeze, on an ebb tide.

After rounding Blackstone the 15 strong Modern Yawl fleet bunched up as it passed the Portlemouth shore, with the critical point of the race being when Dan and Gail Bridger and Andrew Squire and Sue O'Brien, held on the Fisherman's side before crossing to Snapes Point, this allowed them to build up a considerable lead, which was only closed by Will Henderson and Tristan Stone at the finishing line.

Sunday morning dawned with a light southerly breeze. Race Officer Norman Brown took the fleet to the new M mark at the entrance of the harbour, in a race which was made more interesting by the Classic Fleet feeding in from a shortened beat to Blackstone, allowing all 70 boats to join the melee in Yalton Creek The father and daughter team of Graham and Molly Pike held their nerve and made the most of the conditions to take first place from Dan and Gail, chased home by the ubiquitous Will Henderson and Tristan Stone.

A more solid breeze set in for the afternoon was more to the liking of the heavier teams of Gibbens and Reed and Greening and Galvin, who arrived in the pole positions at the Blackstone mark. Some eyebrows had been raised when the course was set leaving the Crossways mark both to port and to starboard at different stages of the race and when the Yawl fleets and the Solo Fleets converged in opposite directions Greening had to duck four Solos, which let Bridger through.

Meanwhile Gibbens and Reed, who appeared to be on a horizon job, were caught and passed by the Pikes.

So the scene was set on Monday morning for a showdown between the Pikes and the Bridgers. The Bridgers made the better start and making good progress along the Portlemouth shore. The Pikes made a recovery through the fleet and by the return from Gerston were up to third place, one place behind the Bridgers who were trailing Henderson and Stone, however as the wind filled in from the Salcombe shore, the Pikes were rolled by Malcolm Squire and the Whitehouses.

The Bridger's second place was then sufficient to see them win the event for the third time.

Salcombe Yawl Modern Fleet Results: (top three)

1st 159, Dan and Gail Bridger
2nd 183, Will Henderson and Tristan Stone
3rd 154, Graham, Tessa and Molly Pike

The Classic Yawl Fleet saw three new teams out on the water amongst the fifteen starters, but it was the old hands that came to the fore. Jon and Clare Lewis, sporting a new suit of sails, opened their account with a first place on Saturday afternoon from Anthony and Alyson Lofts. This running order was repeated for the Sunday morning race, which was delayed by a general recall, allowing the Classic fleet to have a close race with the Modern boats for a change.

It was another ex-Alec Stone boat that came to the fore on the breezier Sunday afternoon, when Rob Henderson and Izzy Allerston raised their game to take the win, with the Lofts recording their third second place of the weekend.

So, once again, there was everything to play for in the final race play off between the Lewis' and the Lofts', it therefore came as a surprise when John Smithers and Peter Hughes found a return to form to take the final race by a large margin, which secured them third place overall.

The Lewis' secured a popular overall win, from the Lofts' which was decided on countback.

Salcombe Yawl Classic Fleet Results: (top three)

1st 150, Jon and Clare Lewis
2nd 132, Anthony and Alyson Lofts
3rd 19, John Smithers and Peter Hughes

Over forty Solos entered the Barney Greenhill sponsored event, with plenty of visitors, including the regular contingent from Fishers Green.

On the Saturday afternoon Tim Law opened his account with a first place from Paul Rayson, and it appeared that it would be business as usual.

In the Sunday morning race out to "M", Weymouth sailor Mark Lee spotted the bend under the cliffs at Bolt Head to open up a respectable lead, but was eventually to be hauled in by Fishers Green sailor Steve Conroy and Phil King.

On the breezier Sunday afternoon race, the Solo fleet had a General Recall, moving them to the back of the queue, and in what was to be a confusing race, with the fleet intermingling with the Yawls at Crossways, Tim Law got the better of Conroy, with Yotter Yates coming in third in his new boat.

So with almost identical scores, as in the Yawls, the final result came down to the wire. With the fleet divided between the Salcombe and Portlemouth shores it appeared that Law had control of the start, however Conroy showed his mastery of the conditions to take the race win, and the series win on countback from Tim Law, with Phil King taking the final podium place.

Solo Results: (top three)

1st 5328, Steve Conroy
2nd 5599, Tim Law
3rd 5568, Phil King