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Salcombe Yacht Club Festive Series Race 3 on New Year's Day 2022

by John Burn 2 Jan 2022 06:47 GMT 1 January 2022

It was unusually mild for the first day of 2022 (Happy New Year!) and the last race of the Festive Series with a fresh south westerly breeze on hand to deal with any lingering New Year hang-overs that may or may-not have been present.

Chris 'Chubby' Cleaves was OOD and he opted to keep the fleet in the main stretch of the harbour. The course 1-3-1-3-2-3 with all the windward marks to starboard and all leeward marks to port. This meant that the many spectators forming on both sides of the Estuary had the ability to follow the race from start to finish without the need to be out on the water.

The 20 strong fleet made up of a variety of different classes were all a little too eager to get away leading to a general recall. The race team promptly got the start sequence under way again with a cheeky black flag for good measure. Unfortunately this caught out David Greening who fell foul and was subsequently disqualified.

With a second crack of the whip the fleet were away, Will and Rob Henderson had a disastrous start by their high standards but fear not Henderson fans this was by no means the end of their race. They were joined by Tim Fells who, after a blistering start up the Portlemouth Shore felt that he needed to return to the start line, maybe they were feeling generous and wanted to give us all a chance?

The first beat to Blackstone was chaotic with everyone jostling for position but it was the 505 of Peter Colclough and Alister Morley that rounded first. The Squire Albacore was second around followed by the Borne/Burn Merlin. If Will, Rob and Tim were initially going easy on us all it certainly didn't last long, they made their way through the fleet with ease, Tim rounding right behind the Merlin closely followed by Will and Rob. Simon Dobson and Mark Waterhouse lead the charge for the Solo fleet and rounded ahead of the rest of the pack.

The first downwind leg was a relatively calm affair, a bit of place changing occurred throughout the fleet but it was mostly just a follow my leader down to Crossways.

Battles were now forming all over the Estuary right the way through the pack, the Merlin lighting up the afterburners catching and passing the 505 on the second beat to Blackstone, Dobson and Waterhouse locked in a dog fight to be the first Solo, Tim leading the charge for the 3 Aeros and the Laser Radial of Esther McLarty defending against the onslaught from the Solos.

Things unfortunately took a turn for the worse for some as the capsizing now began. Gavin Stevens in his Solo went over right in the middle of the Estuary and managed to get wrapped around the mooring buoy. Simon Ballantine in his Aero 7 had a multiple capsize event, James Greenhill just off mark 2 decided to take a dip, but probably most notably was the Squire Albacore. On the last beat with the finish line in touching distance AJ attempted to clear weed off the rudder, this was not a good move. They got hit by a gust and over they went effectively destroying their overall result in the process.

Dobson held off the challenge form Waterhouse and was the first Solo, on corrected time his performance earned him 2nd place with Waterhouse taking 3rd.

1st place went to Will and Rob Henderson, after starting last they showed that in Salcombe anything can happen and you never give up! This meant that they took the overall series win, Simon 2nd and Paul Ellis 3rd.

Overall Results:

PosClassSail NoHelmCrewPY26 Dec1 JanPts
1stLark2157Will HendersonMandy Henderson10702.513.5
2ndSolo5898Simon Dobson 11432.524.5
3rdSolo5574Paul Ellis 1143156
4thRS AERO 71505Tim Fells 10686410
5thSolo5951Billy Jago 11434711
6thSolo5769Ed Stephens 114310818
7thSolo5406James Greenhill 114381725
8thALBACORE8252AJ SquireShelia Squire1040131225
9thSolo5743Nigel Blazeby 1143171027
10thRS AERO 71746Simon Ballantine 1068121628
11thRS AERO 91752Dan Bridger 1019151429
12thSolo5792David Greening 114211BFD32
13thSolo5411Stuart Cartwright 1143231841
14thSolo5364Mark Waterhouse 1143DNC370
15thSolo5879Chris Cleaves 11435DNC72
16thMERLIN‑ROCKET3682Ross BorneJohn Burn980DNC673
17thSolo5757Julian Meek 11437DNC74
18thSolo5313Jonathan Reynolds 1143DNC976
19thSolo5096Robin Hodges 11439DNC76
20thSolo5311Mike Knowles 1143DNC1178
21st5058050Peter ColcloughAlistair Morley903DNC1380
22ndSolo5453Bruce Hattersley 114314DNC81
23rdLaser Radial213150Esther McLarty 1147DNC1582
24thPHANTOM1417Olly Alexander 99916DNC83
25thSolo5088Tristan Squire 114318DNC85
26thSolo4940Geoff Allen 114319DNC86
27thRS AERO 72060Amy Cleaves 106820DNC87
28thSolo5876Gavin Stevens 1143DNCRET88
29thRS AERO 73024Geoffrey Cox 106821DNC88
30thSolo5183Malcolm Mackley 114322DNC89
31stRS TERA PRO2749Edward Alexander 1364RETDNC92

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