Salcombe YC Sailing Club Series Final Race
by David Greening & John Burn 9 Jun 2025 19:29 BST
8 June 2025
Solo fleet race
With winds forecast in excess of 30mph all week, ten hardy Solo sailors made it to the Salcombe Yacht Club starting area, and despite the conditions seeming sailable most chose to wait until the preparatory signal by using the comparative protection of Smalls Cove.
The Race Officer Kevin Anderson set a course of 17232 on a shifty Force 7 south westerly and a flood tide. Finishing on a run from 2 seemed a bit weird, but that's river sailors for you.
Beating into the ebb tide held the fleet back, and it was Will Henderson, Chris Cleaves and David Greening who made the first tacks off of the Smalls Cove, and a big left hander saw Cleaves and Greening pull away, however a short tack into Mill Bay saw Greening overpowered and resulted in a lengthy sequence of capsizes.
The front runners, led by Cleaves blasted through the harbour and enjoyed flat out reaches across Widegates, where his pursuers comprised Henderson, James Greenhill, Bill Jago and Simon Yates.
On the beat back through the harbour to Mill Bay Greening overhauled Yates, and on a flat out, if not wobbly run, also hauled in Jago.
On the final beat Greenhill mashed his hand and headed for home, whilst Cleaves headed for what could have been the finish on the Salcombe shore, followed be Henderson. Cleaves turned back having passed the Watch House for reasons not clear, allowing Henderson to take the lead.
Meanwhile Greening sticking on the Portlemouth shore, crossed tacks with Henderson, then rounded the final Mill Bay mark alongside and headed off toward the finishing line on the run, Henderson chose a hotter angle sailing high toward the Watchhouse whilst Greening sailed a lower but shorter route to the Portlemouth shore and snuck an unlikely win by half a boat length, with Bill Jago coming in third.
Whilst this was jolly exciting, Tim Fells sat out the race having already secured the Sailing Club series from Yates, with Greening taking the final podium place.
Fast Handicap Race
The Sailing Club Series wrapped up in classic Salcombe style on Saturday: windy, wet, and wildly good fun. The forecast in the days leading up had many sailors nervously eyeing their wind meters (and their sanity), with talk of racing being canned due to gale-force gusts. But lo and behold, Saturday morning arrived with a mere 15 knots of punchy WSW breeze and only occasional gusts into the mid-twenties—positively balmy by local standards.
What the forecast did get right, however, was the rain. And lots of it. The heavens opened just in time for sailors to launch, leaving competitors soaked before the race even began. Spare a soggy thought for the safety boat teams, who definitely didn't sign up for monsoon duty.
Race Officer Kevin Anderson, perhaps feeling inspired by the weather or just wanting to spice things up, laid a course of 1-7-2-3-2, finishing the fleet on a downwind leg—an unusual move, but one met with quiet gratitude (and slight relief) by every sailor at the finish line.
Despite the squally forecast and sideways rain, five determined teams made it to the start line, battling not just wind and water, but also a sly, flooding tide and a battlefield of capsized Lasers strewn along the Portlemouth shore.
Peter Colclough and Alister Morley in the 505 kicked things off with a stylish capsize before the race even got interesting. Undeterred, they righted themselves and promptly disappeared into the mist at warp speed, their monster spinnaker briefly making a guest appearance before being wisely tucked away for the rest of the race.
Andrew Squire, with son-in-law Simon Evans clinging on, also went for a dip—but thanks to some quick reflexes and heroic crewing, they avoided further swims and sailed their way to a well-earned second place.
In Yawl 175, John Meadowcroft was persuaded by crew, Simon Dawes to join the fray in his shiny new boat. A cautious start soon gave way to a confident climb, as they swept past Y171 on the first beat and got stuck into the fleet chase. They kept it tidy (and more importantly upright), finishing without any breakages, which—given the conditions—counts as a major win and landed them in third.
Rumours had been swirling all week about a potential new dream team on the water. The only question: who would crew? All was revealed as Y170 headed to the start with none other than John Burn on the helm and Olly Turner up front. A new partnership was born—and it came out swinging.
From the gun, Y170 was never troubled. John and Olly stretched their lead with every leg, cruising home to take the top step on corrected time.
Carlsberg don't do Yawl teams... but if they did, they'd probably look a lot like this.
Despite the drenching, it was a fantastic afternoon on the water, with wind, waves, and even a shy appearance from the sun—just enough to remind us why we do this in the first place.
Overall Series Results:
1st Merlin Rocket 3666 - John & Zoe Meadowcroft
2nd Yawl 170 - John & Frankie Burn/Olly Turner
3rd Albacore 8252 - AJ & Sheila Squire/Simon Evans
Full results