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Salcombe Yacht Club 2021 Summer Series - Race 1

by David Greening 1 Jul 2021 12:35 BST 26 June 2021
Salcombe Summer Series race 1 (a photo finish?) © Malcolm Mackley

Saturday 26th June saw the kick off of the Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series, with a light East South Easterly breeze over a low flood tide.

Race Officer Malcolm Mackley set a course seeking to maximise windward opportunities, to Crossways then to O positioned off Lambery Point, followed by an X mark off the Ferry Inn, followed by a short loop of the harbour.

In the fast Handicap Fleet, Graham and Fiona Cranford Smith made an inauspicious and premature start from the Watchhouse end, but managed to recover following their restart to catch and overtake the Merlin Rocket of AJ and Sheila Squire, the Lark of Will and Mandy Henderson and the Aero of Tim Fells. However, it was the Hendersons who reigned supreme on corrected time.

In the thirteen strong Solos fleet Simon Dobson and Mark Waterhouse were early leaders at Crossways, but the fleet closed up as the early leaders helped the identification of the 'no wind' zones on the run down to O.

Eventually David Greening led Simon Dobson and Chris Cleaves through a gap in the Hipple sand bank to break clear in fresh breeze toward mark O, with Cleaves first around. Upon the return to the harbour Cleaves relinquished the lead to Dobson, with Greening taking third.

Salcombe Summer Series race 1 - photo © Malcolm Mackley
Salcombe Summer Series race 1 - photo © Malcolm Mackley

In the Yawls, returnees Dan and Gail Bridger sailed outside the Blackstone to draw out a respectable lead from Mike Knowles sailing with Nicky Bass, who managed to launch their Yawl just in time. Geoff Gilson and Stephen Page secured third place.

Medium Handicap results:

1st Laser Radial 198905 - George Alexander
2nd Laser Radial 209997 - Andrew Groves
3rd Laser Radial 156215 - Charlie Evans

Fast Handicap results:

1st Lark 2157 - Will and Mandy Henderson
2nd RS Aero 7 1505 - Tim Fells
3rd Merlin Rocket 3769 - Graham and Fiona Cranford Smith

Solo results:

1st 5898 - Simon Dobson
2nd 5879 - Chris Cleaves
3rd 5792 - David Greening

Salcombe Yawl results:

1st 170 - Dan and Gail Bridger
2nd 15 - Mike Knowles and Nicky Bass
3rd 170 - Geoff Gilson and Chris Spencer Chapman

Salcombe Summer Series race 1 - photo © Malcolm Mackley
Salcombe Summer Series race 1 - photo © Malcolm Mackley

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