Plym Yacht Club Yacht Havens Friday Series 3 Review
by Plym Yacht Club 19 Sep 16:19 BST
The final Plym Yacht Club Friday Series finished this week, concluding the Summer evening series' in Plymouth. Sponsored by Yacht Havens, 22 boats sailed across both fleets, with plenty of DNC's as many PYC boats took part in the many regattas up and down the south-west.
Rounding out a clean set of wins, John Lewis' Squib Bootneck sailed a steady set of top 4 results to almost win the third series, and whilst taking the Overall YTC comfortably, was second on the ultimate count back of the result of the last race to Kevin Palfreeman and Anthony Kehoe's Zulu with both boats on 9 points. 7 of the 11 boats entered got a top 3 result, showing the competitiveness of the Friday night YTC fleet. The other Impala of Roger Stanbury rounded out the top. 2 lost weeks due to winning Fowey Regatta meant the normally consistent team of the Cload Brothers on Calypso had to settle for 4th place.
In IRC, a win each in the 1st and 2nd Series for Dominic Hanley's Stitch and Tilted of Ann & Keith Whitfield respectively meant the 3rd Series was always going to be a showdown for the coveted Plymouth Sound Cup. Unfortunately, a dismasting in the stormy Dartmouth Regatta effectively ruled Tilted out, meaning the competition was to be between Hanley's Formula 28, the 2 x 1720's, Melges 24 and Humphreys 30. Racing was mixed but tight, notably with race 6 seeing 4 boats only 12 seconds apart on corrected time, but the ultimate victor was Stitch on a comfortable 7 points. 2nd to 4th, however, was a different story, with Robbie Boalch's Crescendo taking 2nd on count back from Stig Mcdonald's Melges 24 Haku, while Ian Luscombe had to settle for 4th, only 1 point behind them.
The multitude of count backs, single digit differences on elapsed times and myriad of courses show why race boats of all shapes, speeds and sizes are flocking to PYC Fridays, and we look forward to seeing what 2027 has in store, with rumours of a JPK joining the ranks, as well as another Cork 1720, to really flesh out the top of the IRC fleet, with an MGC/27 and additional Impala adding to the YTC fleet in equal measure.
Thanks from the Plym go to our sponsors, all the sailors (ranging from a Squib to a Corby 35) and volunteers, and Kevin and Louisa for exceptional post-race sailing suppers! Heads now turn to our final club racing of the year, the Shopfitting by SWS Autumn Series, which is set to be equally tight, with new entries from the Laser 28 of Jon Rickard & Matt Blakeston, and Roy Morgan's HOD 35 Sir Ducktion. Will be a series to watch!
Full results here.