Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard FD July August September 2023

Salcombe Yacht Club Early May Bank Holiday Racing

by Malcolm Mackley 7 May 2019 09:57 BST 4-5 May 2019
Salcombe Yawls on the Early May Bank Holiday weekend © Michael Hicks

Salcombe Yacht Club had yet another hectic Bank Holiday period with the estuary enlivened by the Barton Solicitors sponsored Open Meetings for Salcombe Yawls and National Twelves together with the usual Saturday club racing.

The blue sky and moderate breeze also brought out many visiting yachts, paddle boards and canoes resulting in an unexpectedly chilly but busy estuary with plenty of challenges for the race officers having to cope with most races taking place at low water.

Salcombe Yawls

A good fleet of 14 modern Red Fleet yawls assembled including two generations of Hendersons, newcomers Nick and Anne Jackson and Paul and Julie Rayson. In races 1 and 2 Rob Henderson (junior) and Tristan Stone held off the Hendersons (senior) and also Martin Beck and Paul Ellis to score two first places. However youth burnt brightly and faded and Will and Mandy Henderson then scored a first and second place in races 3 and 4 giving them the series with Martin Beck and Paul Ellis second. Rob Henderson and Tristan Stone pipped Dan and Gail Bridger, the winners of race 4 into third place overall by virtue of their superior number of first places.

In the Blue fleet for the older boats, Simon Dobson crewed and advised by Nicky Dobson cruised to 3 first places to win overall. In the final race Stephen Galvin and Mark Waterhouse led for most of the race only for them to lose focus and sacrifice first place in the race and second place overall to John Smithers and Peter Hughes.

Red fleet
1st 183 Will and Mandy Henderson
2nd 181 Paul Ellis and Martin Beck
3rd 160 Rob Henderson and Tristan Stone

Blue Fleet
1st 112 Simon and Nicki Dobson
2nd 19 John Smithers and Peter Hughes
3rd 99 Stephen Galvin and Mark Waterhouse

Sailing Club Series Day 3

The Saturday club racing was sailed in excellent conditions with Race Officer Ian Stewart setting a monster two hour course that tested every ones fitness and concentration. The fourteen boat Solo fleet was the most numerous and David Greening powered away from the start to take control of the whole race from a strong chasing pack. Both laser (ILCA) aces, Michael Hicks and Tim Law were relearning to sail their Solos and it took Tim Law the full race to just overhaul Ed Stephens on the last beat and gain second place; whilst Michael Hicks suffered the indignity of a passing seagull precision dropping of its droppings onto his beautiful new laminated sail. The Fast handicap fleet was strengthened by the visiting crew of Fran Gifford and Sophie Mackley sailing the Cranford Smith superfast grey Merlin and they were able to see off the Phantom dinghy challenge of Chris Cleaves who was second. The Juniors and Medium handicap both enjoyed good racing with Henry Evans in a Topper leading the juniors home and Andrew and Lewis Groves in a Feva the handicap fleet.

Solos
1st 5793, David Greening
2nd 5743, Tim Law
3rd 5769, Ed Stephens

Juniors
1st Topper 48169, Henry Evans
2nd RS Quba 1, Louis Hollins
3rd Topper 48167, Dom Holt Wilson

Medium Handicap 1st RS Feva 4640, Andrew and Lewis Groves
2st Aero 7 1746, Simon Ballentine
3rd RS Feva 4165, Rob and Edwin Langley

Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3769, Fran Gifford and Sophie Gifford
2nd Phantom 1306, Chris Cleaves
3rd Laser 201562, Bru Pearce

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