Sharps Doom Bar Merlin Week at Salcombe Yacht Club - Day 2

Racing starts on day 2 in Sharps Doom Bar Merlin Week at Salcombe © Malcolm Mackley

Sharps Doom Bar Merlin Week at Salcombe day 2 © Malcolm Mackley

Monday dawned cloudy with a solid F3-4 blowing down the harbour, with more Southerly in it than on Sunday.

Blue v Red flights Course 1,6,5,8,7,1,3

Starting pretty much at the top of the tide, the fleet got away cleanly and were able to use the full width of the harbour on the beat to Blackstone. Those who played the east shore after Mill Bay benefited from a good left hander. Taxi and Alex again bossed the beat to round first ahead of Richard Whitworth and Sam Mottershead.

As the leaders ran down the Portlemouth shore Tim Fells and Oli Wells had moved into third. Further back a number of boats gybed across the tide to the town side and started to make good gains. Prominent amongst them were Matt Biggs and John Hackett who joined the leaders as they entered The Bag. Those who held onto the Portlemouth shore lost out badly.

The run down to Frogmore was a minefield of gusts and holes and Chris Gould and Caroline Croft made the most to also join the leading bunch.

After the run down to Balcombe and the long beat back to the town Richard and Sam had taken the lead and managed to navigate the tricky final stage down to Crossways to take a well-earned bullet from Taxi and Alex. Tom Stewart and Phil Dalby had been moving forward on every leg and snatched third from Chris and Caroline.

Green v Black flights Course 1,7,1,7

Following the excitement of the Sunday afternoon race, much was expected with a similar forecast. However, rather than a building Southwester, the breeze died a bit and swung to the Southeast.

With the main force of the ebb starting to decline, the fleet managed a clean start with Roger and Jane Gilbert getting a peach in the middle of the line. After a hectic first beat with much ducking and diving to try and find a clean lane, Simon Potts and Ali Martin led around Blackstone. Jon Gorringe and Nikki Bass were chasing along with Olly Turner and Hamish Kilburn who were sporting a not inconsiderable hole in their kite.

In what was to prove a very long race (2'15 for the leaders), Simon and Ali sailed beautifully to defend against all comers and hold on for their first bullet. Olly and Hamish seemed unaffected by their sail damage and were able to catch Simon and Ali downwind at times, but ultimately had to settle for second. Dave Winder and Pippa Taylor were back into the groove and recovered from a cautious start to slowly work their way up through the fleet to third ahead of the consistent Mike Calvert and Ian Garwood, posting another (though much less eventful) fourth. John and Nikki maintained their good form with a fifth.

Overall Taxi and Alex have taken a strong early lead, but there is plenty of sailing to go and a lot of breeze in the forecast.

Results after Day 2: