Salcombe Gin Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta 2026
by Salcombe YC 12 Aug 14:18 BST
Gold fleet - Salcombe Gin Salcombe YC Regatta © Lucy Burn
ILCA 6 Fleet - by A Groves
It was always going to be a competitive week, with George Reynolds and Charlie McKenzie just returning from strong performances at the ILCA Nationals, and Freddie Smithers switching to the somewhat more physical ILCAs after his Blue Fleet win at Yawl Weekend. We also had an increasingly rare appearance from Edward Alexander, as the rugby season doesn't start for a few weeks yet.
Across the six races, there were four different winners, with brilliantly close finishes coming down to just seconds on many occasions. There was a clear top four vying for the podium across the whole week, but every element of the fleet had its own personal battle throughout, for fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, with sailors moving up and down the leaderboard quite consistently.
Race 1: The first race was typical of how the week panned out, with leads changing hands, close finishes, and great battles. Freddie Smithers raced off into a big lead, only to be reeled in by George Reynolds and Charlie McKenzie. On the final beat, Smithers chose the East Portlemouth side, whilst McKenzie and Reynolds opted for the Salcombe side. Smithers regained the lead to take the bullet, with Andrew Groves almost sneaking into 2nd, just 7 seconds separating 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Race 2: On a day when wind was at a premium, and the ebb tide was picking up speed with every passing minute, Reynolds pulled away on the final beat and took the bullet, with McKenzie second, Groves third, and Smithers fourth. It was a bit of a masterclass in roll tacking from Reynolds and McKenzie, as they managed to propel themselves forward with pretty much zero wind and scant regard for rule 42.
Further down the fleet, a real battle was beginning to take shape for fifth, sixth, and seventh overall. Penny Guess, Gabriel Cranch, Alan Wilcox, and Alexander were all in close contention for those spots.
Race 3: Day three saw a reasonable breeze coming from the north-northeast. The first four round mark one were all pretty close, with McKenzie just taking the lead. McKenzie and Smithers pulled out a lead as they ran down towards Gerston, with Groves lagging back in sixth or seventh place, and Reynolds leading the chase of Smithers and McKenzie.
The race finished with McKenzie taking the bullet, Smithers in second, and just seven seconds separating Reynolds and Groves. Fifth and sixth, between Alexander and Wilcox, was also a close affair, with just a few seconds separating the two.
Race 4: Day four brought a force six southwesterly, causing havoc on the start line for all the classes that morning. There were many capsizes, followed by many more capsizes, as the fleet stretched out quite considerably between Blackstone and Yalton. Reynolds raced off into a big lead and took the win, his strong wind skills coming to the fore. Smithers reeled in Groves and McKenzie, as his weight advantage saw him gain some impressive upwind speed, to take 2nd, with Groves in 3rd and McKenzie 4th. Alexander finished right on McKenzie's transom, unable to find a way through.
Race 5: Race five saw Groves finally get a win. Reynolds came in second, and Smithers just after Reynolds, again with mere seconds between the two. McKenzie was lagging down in sixth after a disastrous capsize going towards the final mark, allowing Alexander and Guess through to take fourth and fifth, with Cranch coming in seventh, just a sparrow's fart behind McKenzie.
Race 6: On the final day, there was everything to play for, first v second, third v fourth, fifth v sixth, all battling it out. Smithers took an early lead, which he never relinquished, with Reynolds second and Guess 3rd.
Groves was on for a podium place, sailing in 3rd for just about the entire race, whilst McKenzie, battling more with himself than anyone else, was three places adrift. But in true Salcombe style, Groves was becalmed at the final mark, as Guess and Alexander sailed through with their own private wind. Despite hauling in Alexander, Groves couldn't get back past Guess, who held on to 3rd, having been improving all week after a long layoff from sailing, which had been spent completing marathons and triathlons at mind-boggling pace.
Overall Standings: Smithers' first place in the final race gave him the overall win for the week, with Reynolds in second and McKenzie in third.
First and second were level on points, with Smithers taking the overall win on countback, having recorded one more first place across the week. Third and fourth were separated by just a single point, between McKenzie and Groves. Fifth and sixth were only separated by three points, with Alexander just pipping Guess. Seventh and eighth were separated by just two points, between Wilcox and Cranch, although Cranch was AWOL for race six, last seen heading for Boardmasters with a tent and a very clear sense of priorities. Again, very close racing throughout the field.
Elsewhere in the fleet, Venetia Andrew came alive in the strongest winds, while Sudais Karin deserves a mention just for getting a boat with 1970s technology through the regatta in one piece. There was also a fierce battle at the tail end of the fleet, with Andy Searson and Jane Walker finishing on equal points, Searson taking it on countback.
It's safe to say this was the best regatta week for at least 10 years, and possibly ever. It had everything. Light winds, strong winds, medium winds, a high-quality field, and the week's best three sailors on the podium. It really was an absolutely brilliant week, and to top it all, we had Mediterranean-style weather. What more could we ask for, other than for next year's regatta to be brought forward to next week.
On behalf of the ILCA fleet, I'd like to thank the organisers and all the volunteers who made a fantastic week possible.
Salcombe Yawl Red Fleet - by David Greening
Twenty Red Fleet Yawls competed in the Salcombe Gin Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta, in fine and variable conditions with notably windy races during the middle of the week.
Sunday: F2-3 ENE, course 5-N-0-3-1
There was a crowded starting line particularly at the Portlemouth beach end with a couple of individuals being recalled including Y170, John Burn and Tris Stone and Y171, Mike and Karen Whitehouse.
Simon Gibbens sailing with his nine year old grandson George Gibbens in Y167, were first to reach Harbour anchorage and Snapes Point pulling out a comfortable lead into the Bag, chased down by Y178, Paul and Anna Rayson and Y168, Will and Mandy Henderson.
On the final lap Will and Mandy held the breeze to overtake the Gibbens who got stuck in Crab Pots to take the lead, finishing in that order, followed home by Y184, David Stone and Mike Hazelwood who pulled past Y181, Paul Ellis and Martin Beck on the final beat.
Monday: F2 ENE, course 3-N-W-1
Just before the start a light sea breeze filled in, the now running fleet was divided between the two sides of the ria, the majority favouring the Portlemouth side to stem the ebb tide.
The smaller fleet on the Salcombe shore prevailed, being able to reach into the Crossways mark and secure mark room below the fleet running in from Portlemouth. Most extreme were Andy and Elizabeth Savell in Y187, who rounded in first place followed by the Gibbens (Y167), and father daughter combo David Greening and Josie Dayment in Y177.
The fleet now beat toward what was now the windward mark off Starehole Bay, with Y186, Olly Turner and Chris Skelhorn finding more wind under the cliffs to surge into second place.
On the run back to one, Turner and Skelhorn found more pressure in the middle of the harbour to take the lead from the Savells, who finished in that order followed by Greening/Dayment.
Tuesday: F4-5 SSW, course 1-7-1-7
Fleet started clean on a big ebb tide heading to Blackstone, with a tightly packed fleet running back along the Portlemouth shore. Y170, John Burn and Tris Stone, pulled into the lead by Snapes Point and extended it by the Gerston mark, but an incident with the Turner/Skelhorn boat saw John and Tris take penalty turns and drop out of the front group.
On the second lap, the fleet compressed as the wind lightened at Saltstone, with Olly and Chris getting away. Stone and Hazelwood and the Hendersons made the most of their opportunities to move into second and third, which was the running order at the end of the final beat to the finish of what was to prove an attritional day.
Wednesday: F4 SW, course 1-7-1-3-2-3
Another breezy day made all the more daunting by the sight of the Class Chairman Mike Knowles boat capsized on the way to the start line.
Y170, Burn and Stone were first off the line, using their superior weight to power away from the rest of the fleet never to be troubled, as ever the fleet headed down the Portlemouth en masse, crossing to Snapes, Turner and Skelhorn bringing up the rear of the fleet were first to cross back to Bungalow Point to find more breeze and less tide to move up into second.
Whilst husband and wife team John and Katy Meadowcroft worked through from quite deep in the fleet to secure third place, followed by the Hendersons, an impressive performance by both pairs given the conditions.
Thursday: F4 WSW, course W-7-1-3
First start had a general recall with the majority being carried over the line by the ebb tide.
The restart was poorly attended, since half the fleet had failed to note that the restart would be before the Yawl Green fleet start, however this did not present the late starters with a huge disadvantage as the race unfolded.
Y167, Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed were first off the line and first to reach mark W, under Bar Lodge, alongside Y181, Paul Ellis and Martin Beck followed by Y183, Phil King and John Sleep who were able to pick up the wind coming out of North Sands, whilst the midfield wallowed in a hole swept back by the ebb tide, which at least allowed the late starters to get back in the game.
A spread out fleet then tracked back through the harbour, but at Ox Point there was a final opportunity for a reordering with the Hendersons working up to third place behind King/Sleep who had over hauled Gibbens/Reed.
Friday: F3-4 WSW, course W-7-1-3
Auburn Cup day, the redemption race, and a frizzante in the air.
The unassuming Hendersons demonstrated calm to round mark W off Splatt Cove in the lead. The fleet followed into the Bag with those going low benefiting most. The purists crossed to the lee shore across Widegates, with the Hendersons moving across after Dendridge to lead around Gerston, a lead that they extended back in the harbour.
The Meadowcrofts were best of the rest and tried to chase them down. It got close for a while on the final run, but the Hendersons were able to hold on for the final beat to take the win and the Auburn Cup from the Meadowcrofts with Paul Ellis and Martin Beck following home.
This gave the Hendersons the week from the Meadowcrofts, who demonstrated a great ability to work up the fleet especially toward the end of the week, with Olly Turner and Chris Skelhorn completing the podium.
We were blessed with fine weather and good sailing breezes. The week demonstrated that the Salcombe Yawl Red fleet is in rude health, with four different race winners and no over dominant force. It was great to see married couples take the top two places in what was a tough week of sailing. The designs of Howlett and Morrison equally divided in the top six, and the debut HD Sails getting onto the podium in the hands of John and Katy.
Thanks go to Nigel Blazeby and his Race Teams for making the best of what were quite testing conditions and delivering an excellent week of sailing.
Fast Handicap - by Frances Gifford
The Salcombe Gin Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta fast handicap fleet enjoyed the sunshine and mixture of wind strengths provided by the weather gods throughout a week of exceptionally close racing. A 25 boat fleet, with an incredible range of dinghy classes, including a 505, two Comets and most things in-between, there was no risk of knowing the race results until published. With separate trophies for N12s, Rs400s, Enterprises and Merlins there was competitive fleet racing within the handicap.
In the end two boats won three races each, being the N12 of Zoe Meadowcroft and Zoe Ballantyne and the Merlin Rocket of Frances Gifford and Charlotte Stewart, but with more consistency in the other three races, the N12 prevailed to take home the trophy and the gin. The Ilca 7 of Alistair Conn, counting only 2nds and 3rds completed the podium.
The RS400s looked to be enjoying their internal races, zigzagging round the estuary often at high speeds, with Peter Jackson and Dave Phillips winning the most trophies, and in the Enterprises Ann Jackson and Rebecca Bradley enjoyed the slower pace, taking their trophy and 5th place overall.
There were a number of juniors throughout the fleet with Sammy Dalby, Charlie Dalby and Elodie Warren in the front of the Comets having a particularly wonderful time in the 20+ knots of Wednesday, and Jax Jacobs and Sebastian Day making their N12s go incredibly quickly in the lighter stuff.
It was a brilliant week - thanks to Salcombe Gin for the Gin, Gara Rock Hotel for the glasses and congratulations to Zoe and Zoe on their fantastic win. Hope to see everyone and more next year!
Salcombe Yawl Blue Fleet - by Robert Smith
The never-ending summer sunshine continued throughout the week and with the wind varying from light on day one, becalmed on day two and rough conditions on day three, there was certainly something to suit everyone's appetite and comfort zone. The balance of the week was generally moderate breezes that allowed us to enjoy some champagne sailing conditions in the estuary as well as a number of excursions into the range to look for Mark W (That is the orange cylindrical variety as the other Mark W was driving the water taxi all week !)
Two of the sailing highlights for Robin and myself in Y123 were probably the flat out plane we had on our way to Gerston in the heavy stuff on Tuesday, and surfing back into the harbour on the Wednesday in equally blustery conditions running close to Blackstone to stay as clear of the tide as possible.
In terms of the runners and riders there were four crews that all shared line honours at some point throughout the week making it an open and exciting series with an interesting amount of place changing and the overall result not being decided until the last race.
Although Tim Fells and Phil McGee were undoubtedly the quickest on the water across all conditions, a retirement due to gear failure and an OCS disqualification in race 5 meant they were carrying too many points for a podium finish despite racking up three wins.
Day One saw James Greenhill and Frankie Burn take an early lead, with Nigel Dawbarn and Andrew Ralston chalking up a solid second place with John Thornton securing third with one of his two crews for the week Bryony Thornton / Nicola Bass.
The race start for Day Two was certainly one of the most unusual, even by Salcombe standards. The solo fleet got away in clear breeze beating to Crossways against the tide. As the sea breeze started to fill in the Red Yawls start turned into a broad reach with everyone bunching towards mark 3. The Blue Yawl start was by now a running start with the fleet splitting both sides of the estuary to stay out of the tide, but making very slow progress towards the Red fleet, which were now becalmed just before Mark 3. Both fleets converged on Mark 3 at the same time in surreal conditions as one large log jam.
Those who managed to round on the inside track kept their positions throughout with the remainder of the race becoming somewhat processional. Tim Fells and Phil Magee took their first win of the week with Anthony Lofts and Andrew Stirling holding on to second place while Simon Dawes and Steve Walter were getting used to driving Y15 on loan from Mike Knowles to secure third.
Day Three saw the big breeze come in during the afternoon as predicted and the talk on the yacht club terrace was of gear failure and injuries rather than sailing prowess, albeit the PROs decision to send the fleet to Mark 7 for two laps also got a mention ! A broken bow sprit curtailed Y17s race while Darius & Jane Panahy (Y 152) suffered a broken boom. Nigel Dawbarn also had a boom incident albeit his head came off the worse requiring a trip to A&E but only after he and Andrew manged to complete the race.
Robert Smith and Robin Piggott were very satisfied with what they thought was solid second place in such challenging conditions until learning of Fells and McGees retirement whereby they claimed line honours followed by Russell and John Smithers in second and Woody and Jon Manners in Third.
Despite predictions for the wind to ease on Day Four whereby more boats ventured to the starting area, in reality the wind was equally as fierce as the previous day resulting in one red fleet yawl capsizing prior to the start. Conditions were very challenging, but despite the strong winds the first 5 boats were all in relatively close proximity throughout the race and generally maintained their positions from Mark 1 with Y17 (Tim Fells) first, Y138 (James Greenhill) second and Y126 (Andrew Woody Wood) third.
Day Five appeared to start conventionally with the usual suspects crossing paths up the first beat and some place swapping before Y17 started to pull away and put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack. Y123 took an early lead over Y126 but several place changes occurred going into the bag and again beating back through the harbour to number 1. On the final rounding at Crossways Woody & Manners gained the inside track over Smith & Piggott and despite being pushed to the line Y126 prevailed for second on the water, but failing to hear a finishing bell for Fells & McGee (who were later confirmed OCS following a protest hearing) thus giving Woody & Manners their first win of the week.
Going into the Final Race Woody (Y126) & Greenhill (Y138) were guaranteed 1st or 2nd overall but either could take the overall win depending on who prevailed on the water. Smith (Y123), Dawbarn (Y99) and Smithers (Y19) were all capable of taking 3rd overall depending upon their relative finishing positions and points scored in the final race.
Smith & Fells both made a good start and hit the right hand side of the course while the remainder of the fleet stayed high on the Mill Bay side. Fells tacked across to Mill Bay and subsequently benefitted from the port hand lift that also favoured the remainder of the fleet. Smith & Piggott held on too long before tacking over and dropped to mid fleet. Woody & Manners were in a strong second place with James Greenhill and Frankie Burn chasing hard. Russell & John Smithers were also in the mix who had been joined in Y19 for the last race by William, the third generation of Smithers, who appeared to be having a fantastic time. (Well done for sailing three up John !)
The fleet bunched coming down the run, with most crossing from the ferry steps over to the foreshore moorings. Robert Smith decided to hold on further along Fishermans and crossed later bringing them back into contention with the main pack. More place changing occurred through the bag and on the return beat to number 1 Tim Fells & Phil McGee had a convincing lead. Robert Smith & Robin Piggott had pulled through to second while Woody & John Manners were battling with James Greenhill & Frankie Burn along with John Thornton & Nicky Bass.
The finishing positions for the final race were 1st Y17 (Fells & McGee), 2nd Y123 (Smith & Piggott), 3rd Y138 (Greenhill & Burn).
This was sufficient to secure the overall win for James Greenhill & Frankie Burn, followed by Woody & John Manners in second and Robert Smith & Robin Piggott in third.
All in all a superb weeks sailing with many memorable moments. Thank you to Nigel Blazeby and the whole race team for running a great regatta.
Salcombe Yawl Gold Fleet - by Mark Alexander
Overall, 14 boats competed in the mornings regatta Gold Fleet, with competitive but relaxed racing the perfect environment for both young and old.
The Fleet was dominated by the rising talent of young sailors Emily Hoar and Frankie Burn in Y170, winning 4 out of 6 races. If they hadn't taken the scenic route to Mill Bay on the final leg of the first race, going via Blackstone, it would have been 5 - remembering the course being the one skill they have yet to fully master.
As it was, the first two races were won by Rob Adams in Y141 sailing with two of his grandchildren, Billy & Hugo. Sadly, early success proved a false dawn as a succession of equipment failures meant they subsequently slipped down the order. Still, Billy & Hugos non-stop chat provided Rob with a continuous source of amusement and welcome distraction from the business of sailing.
This left the door open for James & Christine Le Coulliard in Y188 to take second place overall, getting faster and faster throughout the week. Although relatively new to Yawl sailing, they clearly know one end of a boat from the other and will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
In third place were Peter Andrews and Roger Odell in Y84, the most consistent of the Blue boats.
Honourable mention should also go to Nick & Vanessa Lowe sailing in disguise in Y22 with sails borrowed from Y40 who finished in 4th, narrowly missing out on the podium.
Another honourable mention should also go to Steve King and Julliet Howard in Y140 who soldiered on cheerfully throughout the week despite being in a boat that leaked like a sieve.
Photos courtesy of lbcreate.pixieset.com/sailing