Salcombe Yawls at Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta Week

53 SALCOMBE YAWLS RACE REGATTA WEEK IN 3 FLEETS!

The local Salcombe Yawl class is very much alive, with a growing fleet of keen sailors who last week split into three fleets to compete on the water.

The weather produced light and predominantly east or north east to westerly winds and the sea breezes of yesteryear made no difference. The conditions were therefore very challenging, with the light airs favouring some more than others. For the past few years the class has sailed as 3 fleets in order to accommodate a wide range of skills and boats.

The Red Fleet is comprised exclusively of the newest boats and most recent designs by world famous designers such as Phil Morrison and Ian Howlett. The standard of sailing in the Red Fleet is very high and many of those participating are former winners at national and international events. The racing was as always very close but congratulations must go to ‘Spud’ Rowsell and Kevin Driver, who managed three first places in the week to take the top prize and the Open Cup. The runners up on the week, who were successful in Thursday’s race, were Jon Alsop and Peter Howard, who received the Dunhill Cup. The Bantham Cup and the Auburn Cup winning team of ‘Scud’ and Wendy Stewart were unable to achieve a top six finish this year as a result of a retirement and a 15th place. This underlines the consistency required to win at this level and indeed, Paul Ellis and Julie Holland (Y157), as well as Martin Payne, sailing Y168, could each also have won the week had not the slightest of margins placed them lower. Previous winners, such as Simon Gibbens and Malcolm Squire, found the conditions slightly less appealing but still both managed to finish in the top six.

The Blue Fleet, for the first time comprised exclusively of the older design of boat, was once again dominated by Dan and Gail Bridger, who won the first three races comfortably. Work commitments meant that their boat, Y98, was guest helmed for the remainder of the week but those invited to sail the boat performed well enough to allow them to win the Jim Stone Memorial Trophy. David Townend and Alison Lofts secured the runner up prize, the Sir Raymond Beck Trophy, although David failed to win a single race in the week despite sailing very confidently. Ollie Alsop and Tristan Stone, sailing Y112, made up for a shaky start to win by a good margin on the final race on Friday. The highlight of the Blue Fleet’s week, and a demonstration of the intense competition, produced an extraordinary result in Wednesday’s race. With a quickening flood tide, a large proportion of the fleet managed to find themselves over the line at the start, whereupon those on duty in the Watch House, Bob Pettit and Mike O’Brien, signalled the ‘general recall’ hooter. Unfortunately in a blinkered and focused state of mind, all members of the fleet failed to hear the third claxon and ignored the general recall! As a result, for the first time in anybody’s living memory, the whole fleet received an OCS and gained maximum points. The prize for that day’s sailing has been presented to the race officers, much to everyone’s amusement, although one or two in the fleet would have liked a little bit more sympathy and had hoped a rescue boat could have informed the leading boats to return! Perhaps a little swotting up on the flags will be required this winter!!

The Gold Fleet, which is open to any design of boat, grew in number this year to 14 entrants. The racing produced a different winning helm for each day of the week, which demonstrates that the competitiveness is as great in the Gold Fleet as the Blue and Red Fleets. The top two boats, Y144 and Y164, sailed by John Brockwell and Peter Lee and David and Matthew Howells respectively, managed to replicate each other’s results, each boat gaining a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th result, which meant that it was down to who had beaten who in the final race on Friday to determine which of them received the Concourse D’Elegance Trophy, which in the end went to John and Peter. Tuesday’s race and the Lidstone Bowl was won in magnificent fashion by Hamish McPhie and Helen Newman. Monday’s race was won by Chris Jones in Y78 and Friday’s race was won by Hugh and Jemma St Pier in Y87. Thursday provided the extraordinary situation with very little wind and the boats were unable to make their start due to the strength of the tide and the race was abandoned! Indeed, on the same day the Blue Fleet suffered a similar fate with only 8 boats reaching the line. This goes a long way to sum up a week of light air sailing, but the sun shone every day, so not such a bad summer after all!

Overall Results:

Red Fleet
1st Y177 Spruce Goose Spud Rowsell & Kevin Driver
2nd Y160 Bluebird Jon Alsop & Peter Howard
3rd Y157 Tease Paul Ellis & Justin Holland
4th Y168 Storm Martin Payne & Harry Johnson
5th Y167 Shag Simon Gibbens & Seve Read
6th Y173 Another Dilemma Malcolm Squire & Jo Britton

Blue Fleet
1st Y98 Sandpiper Dan & Gail Bridger
2nd Y126 Storm Petrel David Townend & Alison Lofts
3rd Y112 Gemstone Ollie Alsop & Tristan Stone
4th Y83 Scherazade Rob & Heather Adams
5th Y28 Tern David Jayne & Dr Breach
6th Y137 Puffin Martin & Cheryll Beck

Gold Fleet
1st Y144 Cormorant John Brockwell & Peter Lee
2nd Y164 Fordyce David & Matthew Howells
3rd Y148 Mallard Hamish McPhie & Helen Newman
4th Y87 Hot Golith Hugh & Jemma St Pier
5th Y78 Topaz Chris Jones & Mike Y.
6th Y106 Sulabassana Jock & Sue Lennox