Poole Week 2026, In Association With Haven Knox-Johnston Day 5
by David Harding 28 Aug 06:37 BST
23-28 August 2026
Flying Fifteens, Poole Week 2026, In Association With Haven Knox-Johnston, Day 5 © David Harding /
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Is It Best From The West?
After four days of easterlies, it was a return to classic Poole Week conditions on the Thursday of Poole Week 2026: warm sun and a brisk south-westerly blowing across the harbour.
This is exactly what most competitors wanted. South-westerlies tend to be cleaner than easterlies, especially in the harbour's Top Triangle because there's no wind-shadow from Brownsea Island. A beat from the Parkstone Platform takes the fleets away from the traffic and moorings in the eastern part of the harbour and straight into relatively clear, open water. We've had a lot of easterlies this year. While this particular south-westerly probably heralds the arrival of more unstable weather, it was widely welcomed by almost everyone.
That included the race officers, not least because the combination of a south-westerly wind and high tide opens up South Deep, to the south of Brownsea Island, as a race area, and that's where the Flying Fifteens, Wayfarers, XODs, Redwings and Dolphins were sent. The wind direction gave a starboard-biased beat to Amy mark and a run back down. The Flying Fifteens did this twice, using Charles Stanley (just south of Brownsea Castle) as a leeward mark. The tide was still ebbing, so on the beat it paid to go right, over the shallows between South Deep and Blood Alley, and then to stick to the deeper water on the downwind leg.
The only problem with Thursday's wind for some of the lighter crews was that there was rather more of it than they might have wanted. The forecasts were typically predicting around 12 knots, whereas on the day it was 14 to 18, with the odd gust over 20.
In the Wayfarers, that suited Jackie Dobson and Sam Pygall better than it suited David Moss and Mindy Fisher, who were leading at the start of the day. Dobson and Pygall won both races - a second was sailed to make up for the Wayfarers not having raced on Monday - and that put them back at the top by one point.
The XODs also had a second race in compensation for 'one-race Monday', when all starts were postponed because of high winds. After their lengthy first race, this kept them out for some time after everyone else was back at the bar.
The upshot of the two races was that John Tremlett's 1, 2 put him level on points at the top of the table with Roger Yeoman (3, 1). Yeoman sits in the No.1 spot having won the last race, both boats having three wins apiece.
Another keelboat class racing in Poole Week is the Bembridge Redwings. What they lack in numbers they more than make up for in elegance, wafting gracefully around the harbour and lending a touch of restrained elegance to proceedings regardless of what's going on around them. Malcolm Bentley and Tom Reynolds won yet again, so they're now discarding a 2nd place and counting a clean row of bullets.
One more bullet was also the order of the day for Richard Whitworth and Jack Bowen in the Flying Fifteens, though they were chased hard by Ian and Kim Linder, who are only five points adrift in the overall standings.
Just three points behind the leaders in the Dolphins are Sean Meharg and Pat Harris after their 3rd place on Thursday. With the Dolphins joining the four other fleets in South Deep, it all got pretty busy up there, but each fleet was able to sail its own race - most of the time, at least.
In the Top Triangle, the fast handicap fleet, RS200s and ILCAs (6s and 7s) were revelling in the fresh breeze and open water, with the asymmetric classes at full tilt downwind in the 20-knot gusts. Dave and Jan Pointer won both races in the 200s to take a 10-point lead. A 4, 3 for Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin keeps them in top spot in the fast handicap fleet, with Steve and Ally Tyler's Merlin Rocket staying in 2nd.
So Day 5 was definitely one for those who like a bit of breeze. The forecast for Day 6 is for even more. If the predicted strengths are exceeded by the margin they were on Thursday, it's going to be full-on out there. Hang on to your hats...