Salcombe Yacht Club Spring Series Race 1
by Malcolm Mackley 9 Mar 16:07 GMT
8 March 2025
The 2025 SYC Spring Series got under way at Salcombe with grey skies and a North Easterly breeze of between 0-15 mph depending on where you were in the estuary at any particular time.
At 1pm exactly (Atomic Clock time), the Fast Handicap and Short-Race Handicap fleet started; followed ten minutes later by the Solo fleet.
The race-team, consisting of the Mackley and Allen families, chose to send the fleets first to Mark 4 while there was still adequate depth of water, on a falling tide. This gave an excellent beat to Yalton providing of course, competitors could find a good channel of wind off the start.
The Fast Handicap race was literally a two horse affair between John and Katy Meadowcroft and John Burn crewed by Simon Dawes in their Merlin Rockets. Throughout the race, the Meadowcrofts held the initiative although on the long run from Mark 4 to Mark 1, at Blackstone Rocks, there were moments when the Burns Merlin threatened to challenge by using the Portlemouth, rather than Salcombe side of the estuary. These two then had to negotiate a full course race of two further loops where the Meadowcofts were able to extend their lead.
The Short race handicap fleet consisted of ILCAs and a Topper that did just one lap. Greg Hoar in an ILCA won on handicap and it was encouraging to see the determination and skill of some Salcombe youth sailors, including Ivy Hart in her Topper.
Thirteen seasoned sailors competed for the highly competitive Solo race. The start was clean with boats spread evenly across the estuary start line, however some hot shots were delayed in getting away from the line due to a lack of wind on the Portlemouth side. By the time the boats had reached the fuel barge, the wind was sufficiently strong for one Solo sailor to perform a quick capsize without apparently losing position or time.
As the fleet emerged back into the main estuary, Chris Cleeves had a good lead and it looked as though he would go on to win; subsequently, however, there were many place changes as the fleet negotiated the long beat and runs from 1 to 3 followed by 2 to 3 and back to 2.
The Solos of Chris Cleeves, Tim Law and Tim Fells managed to break away from the main fleet and each of them held the lead at different stages during intense short tacking duels against a falling tide. However, it was Tim Fells that crossed the finishing line first, a short head, in front of Chris Cleeves to secure the win. Behind, there was very close racing with Will Henderson clawing back from a poor start to finish 4th and Mark Waterhouse having a good race to secure 5th. Mention should also be given to Stuart Cartwright who brought up the tail in this highly competitive Salcombe Solo fleet.
Race 1 Results:
Fast Handicap
1st Merlin Rocket 3666 - John and Katy Meadowcroft
Short Handicap
1st ILCA 4.7 - Greg Hoar
Solo
1st 5739 Tim Fells
2nd 5879 Chris Cleeves
3rd 5966 Tim Law