Salcombe Yacht Club Summer Series Race 2
by John Burn & David Greening 18 Jun 2023 19:29 BST
17 June 2023
Fast Handicap (by John Burn)
John and Annie McLaren in their RS400 were joined by new members Richard and Helen Elliott who were out in their Tasar on Saturday.
As they made their way up the first beat, the wind dropped the closer they got to Mark N, and with a strong flood tide, Richard and Helen struggled to make headway.
John and Annie eventually managed to round the mark, and with the tide under them, they were soon back in the harbour, where there was a gentle breeze. They completed the remainder of the course unchallenged and secured first place.
Richard and Helen opted to head back to the boat park early and withdrew from the race.
Yawl Handicap (by John Burn)
10 Yawls once again arrived at the start line, consisting of 4 red and 6 blue fleets. After last week, you would have thought certain teams would be more cautious when attacking the start line, but alas, no. Andrew Wood and Chris Skelhorn, for the second week in a row, found themselves OCS along with two others, none of whom went back to restart and therefore also received the OCS award.
The first beat was a long affair short tacking along the Portlemouth shore with plenty of action despite the light winds.
Dan and Gail Bridger took the lead initially but caught a mooring buoy line just off the beach between Smalls and Millbay. John and Frankie Burn capitalised on their misfortune and then led the fleet up to the rocks off Sunny Cove. Andy and Elizabeth Savell then took the lead as they headed out over the sand bar, hugging the rocky shoreline, attempting to cheat the tide.
The wind was quickly deserting the fleet, which made progress to the mark slow. It was clear whoever managed to reach the N first would most likely sail on to claim victory. This was indeed the case with Andy and Elizabeth rounding mark N first, followed by John and Frankie.
This pair formed a sizeable lead over the fleet on the long downwind leg to crossways. Once around the mark, the race officer thankfully chose to shorten the course, so it was just a short beat back to the line for the front pair.
Dan and Gail Bridger had managed to recover well, but with Mike Knowles and Nicky Bass in close quarters, they were unable to put enough distance between themselves to beat them on handicap.
1st Andy and Elizabeth Savell
2nd John and Frankie Burn
3rd Mike Knowles and Nicky Bass
Solo Race (by David Greening)
Saturday saw an excellent turnout of sixteen Solos for what the forecasters suggested would be another light wind race with the wind clocking from North Easterly to South Westerly throughout the duration of the race. It was therefore a pleasant surprise that the light wind had already established itself from the South West before the start. With a spring flood tide it was going to be essential to be in the first rank of starters heading toward the beach. For Olly Turner and Simon Yates they were too keen and were judged over by Race Officer Will Henderson, and had to sail back and restart.
Tim Fells led the fleet along the Portlemouth shore, with the greatest challenges coming from Chris Cleaves and Roger Guess. However the fleet bunched up at the tidal gate that is Biddle Head allowing Simon Yates and Olly to get back in the mix.
The first mark was mark N which was situated in the maximum flooding stream and in a location where the wind is renowned to switch off. The fleet short tacked past Limebury Point, with Fells the first to break away from the shore, followed by Cleaves, Guess and Cranford-Smith. Simon Yates put in an extra safety tack into the shore, which allowed him to lay the windward mark, propelling himself into the lead ahead of the early crossers, who were stuck stemming the tide on starboard.
This pretty much set up the rest of the race, Yates extended his lead down the long run to Crossways, Cleaves pulled away from Fells who lost pressure down the run, and David Greening failed to hold off Guess who took fourth place as they both tacked for the finish line.