Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 Commissioning Race
by Malcolm Mackley 12 Mar 2019 15:19 GMT
9 March 2019
Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 Commissioning Race © Margaret Mackley
The Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 sailing season was fortunate to get under way after a persistent SW 50 knot severe gale relented for just enough time to enable sailing to happen on Saturday 9th March.
Fifteen boats came to the line in a general handicap race with the added incentive of a whiskey miniature bottle for all age eligible competitors. The race started in benign conditions and the RS400 of Peter Colclough and Peter Bennett soon established a good lead as they headed towards the Blackstone mark at the mouth of the estuary.
Race Officer Chris Cleaves challenged the fleet by then sending them through the Bag to the Gerston mark which is positioned half way towards the town of Kingsbridge. The Bag was relatively sheltered, however going to and coming back from Gerston produced plenty of challenges with some sensational off wind sailing in the increasing wind strength.
By the time the dinghies returned for a loop in the Salcombe harbour the wind strength had increased even further with powerful squalls down the estuary where there were some inevitable capsizes and any winter cobwebs were certainly removed from boats and bodies. After calculation of handicaps a Solo sailed by Robin Hodges emerged as the winner from the Dan Bridger Yawl and then the Tim Fells Aero 7.
Overall Results: (top three)
1st Solo 5096, Robin Hodges
2nd Salcombe Yawl 159, Dan Bridger and Andrew Stirling
3rd Aero 7 1505, Tim Fells