Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series - Race 4

by Malcolm Mackley 6 Jul 2015 08:22 BST 4 July 2015

While Salcombe Yacht Club prepared to host the 120 boat Doom Bar Merlin Rocket week, fifty club member's dinghies took to the water for the fourth race of the Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series.

Starting on a low water spring tide, in a brisk force 4 south westerly breeze, Race Officer Malcolm Mackley had few course setting options, so set the default Blackstone Gerston course followed by two additional loops of the harbour.

First away was the Junior Handicap fleet sailing an abbreviated course. It was great to see the club's newly acquired RS Quba Sports out in force, with I Tudge securing the handicap win from Evie Booth's RS Tera Pro.

Mike Calvert secured a comfortable win in his Laser from Toby Rew's Laser Radial in a slightly depleted Medium Handicap Fleet.

The Fast Handicap fleet is becoming a regular showdown between the Merlin Rockets and the National 12's. Their start was slightly distracted by a RNLI Lifeboat launch one minute before the start, however the Merlin Rocket of Peter Cook and Janet Exelby managed to hold on to win by only four seconds, in surprisingly breezy weather, from the National Twelve of Chris Winzar and Ritchie Park.

Twenty three Solos came to the line with David Greening controlling the early part of the beat, a damaged sail saw him put into Mill Bay for repairs allowing Ed Stephens to take the lead from Chris Cleaves and Tim Law. Eventually Tim worked his way through, with Ed showing very good form holding off Chris Cleaves.

Peter Stratton and Nigel Hannaford pulled off a blinder of a port tack start in the Salcombe Yawls; however Anthony and Allyson Lofts worked their way through with David Jayne and Fenella Goldsworthy in close pursuit. The modern boats of Charles Thompson and Richard Bawden never made the necessary break, allowing Anthony and David to fill the first places.

Race 4 Results:

Junior Handicap
1st RS Quba Sport 2, I Tudge
2nd RS Tera Pro 2146, Evie Booth
3rd RS Tera Sport 1881, Ben Meek

Medium Handicap
1st Laser 204889, Mike Calvert
2nd Laser Radial 180706, Toby Rew
3rd RS Aero 7 1517, Claire Booth

Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3616, Peter Cook and Janet Exelby
2nd National 12 3524, Chris Winzar and Richie Park
3rd Merlin Rocket 3725, AJ Squire and Mary Henderson

Solo
1st 5599, Tim Law
2nd 5194, Ed Stephens
3rd 5573, Chris Cleaves

Salcombe Yawl
1st 132, Anthony and Allyson Lofts
2nd 28, David Jayne and Fenella Goldsworthy
3rd 189, Charles Thompson and Alistair Morley

Related Articles

Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week overall
Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray take the trophy The final day of Helly Hansen Salcombe Merlin Week dawned to another day of blue skies with a light Southwester forming in the harbour and forecast to increase. The overall result was still up for grabs with both leading protagonists in the morning race. Posted on 4 Jul
Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week Day 5
Wall to wall sunshine for the 102 teams The fifth morning dawned with wall to wall sunshine and a 5 knot SW sea breeze popped in at the surprisingly early time of 8.30, promising a good day's racing for the 102 teams. Posted on 3 Jul
Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week Day 4
Random gusts from every direction, including vertical Past the halfway stage and the weather served up another wind direction for the fourth day of Helly Hansen Salcombe Merlin Week. Posted on 2 Jul
Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week Day 3
South-Westerly establishes itself after a windless dawn The third day dawned with light cloud and absolutely no wind in the harbour. As often happens at Salcombe, by the time the fleet started to launch a South-Westerly had started to establish itself and by the 10.30 start time there was 4-5 knots. Posted on 1 Jul
Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week Day 2
First start gets away on the top of the tide With the rest of the UK cooking in 30+ degrees, Salcombe has been veiled in sea mist for the last few days. Monday was the day when this was meant to clear but competitors woke to find the race track still shrouded in mist. Posted on 30 Jun
Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week Day 1
Over 200 of the UK's top dinghy racers are in the picturesque South Devon Ria The ever popular Salcombe Merlin Week, sponsored by Helly Hansen, Craftinsure and Creation Covers, has again attracted over 200 of the UK's top dinghy racers to the picturesque South Devon Ria. Posted on 29 Jun
Delivery to Salcombe Week - Final Call!
Devon's calling, and P&B are answering This weekend finds members of our Sail Loft team at Salcombe Yacht Club, for Merlin Salcombe Week. We'll be making the most of the conditions, the surroundings and the chance to catch up with other sailors who share our passion for competitive sailing. Posted on 26 Jun
Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series Race 1
More classic Salcombe conditions on Saturday kicked off the series in style More classic Salcombe conditions on Saturday kicked off the Summer Series in style. Plenty of sunshine and a 15-knot south-westerly saw Race Officer Simon Dobson set the course: 1-7-1-3-2-3. Posted on 16 Jun
Merlin Rocket Week runners and riders
Who's in your flight? Who's sailing when? With Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week just around the corner and the sacred PDF of doom (AKA the flights list) finally released, the WhatsApp groups are already ablaze. Sails are being tweaked, excuses rehearsed... Posted on 16 Jun
Salcombe YC Sailing Club Series final race
Despite the drenching, it was a fantastic afternoon on the water With winds forecast in excess of 30mph all week, ten hardy Solo sailors made it to the starting area, and despite the conditions seeming sailable most chose to wait until the preparatory signal by using the comparative protection of Smalls Cove. Posted on 9 Jun