Salcombe Yacht Club Winter Series - Race 2
by John Burn & David Greening 14 Nov 2022 15:57 GMT
13 November 2022
Course 3-7-5-7
After some recent low numbers the Fast Handicap saw seven teams come to the start for the second race in the Winter Series.
The South Easterly breeze initially caused race officer Malcolm Mackley a bit of a head ache when it came to setting the course. Luckily for him the sailors were more than happy to offer their course suggestions from the water, some more so than others.
Eventually the course was set and they were under way. Will and Rob Henderson in the Lark hit the more stable breeze first with the Merlin Rocket of Frances Gifford and Fiona Cranford Smith.
As they made their way from Crossways to Gerston the breeze was up meaning progress to mark 7 was rapid. With the spinnaker flying the Merlin soon pulled clear of the Lark as the fleet now settled into their natural running order.
Stephen Galvin and Dan Bridger in a Yawl were keeping themselves in contention whilst the Albacore and one of the N12's called it day and headed for home early.
As they rounded Snapes much to the delight of the sailors the course was shortened preventing a flukey trip to Millbay.
Will and Rob Henderson just managed to secure first place on corrected time by 9 seconds over the Yawl of Stephen and Dan.
Frances and Fiona finished of the podium places in third.
Thank you to the race team and safety boat crews who, once again had an eventful couple of hours on the water.
Solo Fleet
An excellent turnout of 18 Solos came to the start line for the second race of the Winter Series. With a fitful south easterly breeze in the harbour countering a spring ebb tide, considerable skill was required to secure the pole position, or even to be on the line at the gun.
Tim Fells got this most right and for the second race running led the fleet around the first mark, Crossways.
There was more breeze in the Bag and plenty of routing decisions, allowing Chris Cleaves to bring himself into contention at the first rounding of the Gerston mark, there followed a very solid beat to Saltstone, seeing Tim Law join the leading pack.
On the second beat back from Gerston, Chris Cleaves played the shifts to build up a comfortable lead and Tim Law powering past Tim Fells.
Upon the return to the harbour the fleet compressed and there was a nervy fetch along the tideline from Snapes Point to the finishing line. Cleaves held his nerve, followed by Law and Fells, with the rest of the fleet finishing shortly after.