Solo Alex Stone Cup at Salcombe Yacht Club

Solo Alex Stone Cup at Salcombe © Julie Rayson

Solo Alex Stone Cup at Salcombe © Julie Rayson

Solo Alex Stone Cup at Salcombe © Julie Rayson

The Solo class enjoyed a fabulous Whitsun bank holiday for their visit to Salcombe to compete for the Alex Stone Cup. This is probably one of the smallest cups to compete for, but one of the most keenly contested, and was sailed for mostly under bright sunshine and blue skies.

Saturday afternoon's race would prove to be the breeziest, with a typical tour of the estuary in a steady yachting breeze. A beat to Yalton was followed by a sharp right hand turn at bungalow point and the fleet bunched up before each boat was released into the Bag. This was followed by another perfect beat to Frogmore mark before the usual planing reaches to and from Gerston. Billy Jago had built up a good lead before the run back down the harbour to Blackstone and secured the win. Men on the move were Steve Conroy and Nick Jackson who gybed at Batson and crossed to the beach where a stronger breeze would propel Steve from 10th into second place and Nick into 5th which they held up the final beat.

Sunday morning offered the most uncertain start to the racing, as the Solos waited and watched as the Yawl fleets fetched out as far as Woodcote rocks and stopped before tacking this way and that. The Solos did the same but once close to Blackstone they picked up the southerly breeze and were fully hiked out to Starhole in brilliant sunshine. The return up the harbour saw Rayson and Conroy sail clear of the fleet in their own private wind with Godfrey Clark managing to escape from the pack as he picked up the new wind out of Mill Bay. A long run to Gerston was followed by an equally long beat back through the bag with the race ending, to many peoples relief, before the wind threatened to die off, which it did throughout the lunchtime break.

Long lunches were taken, as cruising dinghies drifted aimlessly past on the tide with barely a catspaw of wind, but just before the published start the wind returned from the east. This gave a beat to Snapes and up the bag, as the wind bent around the hillside before a long reach back from Gerston and a run down the town shore against the flood tide. By Blackstone, Paul Rayson had a clear lead and seemed to sail in his own private breeze as the wind died totally at the buoy. Those making a feeble dash from the rocks to the turning mark found themselves struggling to get round, but those that did, considered themselves lucky not to be swamped by the converging pack. Rayson was gone, but Steve Conroy and Roger Guess made a good escape, chased home by Clark and Mark Maskell in what had now become a new southerly breeze.

Monday morning offered a light and gentle beat against the tide to Crossways with the fleet deciding to follow the Yawl fleets across to the Batson mud and approach the mark from the Snapes Point side. However, Nick Jackson and Godfrey Clark had elected to go up the beach side and despite a tentative beginning, arrived 50 yards clear of the pack. With a double sausage using Blackstone and Mill Bay buoys, these two traded places until Jackson made the brave move to cross the estuary first into better pressure and ease away from Clark. Only Paul Rayson emerged from the chasing pack using strong pace and positioning to pass Clark and close up on Jackson as they climbed up to Crossways for the second time. With a perfect breeze now well established, a final sausage was sailed with Jackson holding on for a nice win from Rayson, with Clark staying clear of the pack for third place.

Rayson had now equalled Steve Conroy's score, as Steve finished 6th, thereby giving Paul the cup by virtue of his final race position in their identical 1,2,2,6 score-lines.

Overall Results:

1st Paul Rayson (Fishers Green SC) 6pts
2nd Steve Conroy (Fishers Green SC) 6pts
3rd Godfrey Clark (Fishers Green SC) 10pts
4th Nick Jackson (Salcombe YC) 12pts
5th Roger Guess (Salcombe YC) 12pts