Salcombe Yacht Club Midweek Series - Race 4
by John Burn 19 May 2022 07:45 PDT
18 May 2022
Tim Fells and Fran Gifford in race 4 of the Salcombe YC Midweek Spring Series © Lucy Burn
A strong tide, rain and little to no wind; not exactly a recipe for a thrilling evening's racing. That being said, nine boats turned up on the start-line for the fourth instalment in the first of the Midweek Series.
Malcolm Mackley found himself once again in the Race Box which was possibly the most favourable place to be. He had to think on his feet and, after several course changing decisions, settled for a course of 3-2-X-2-X. The X mark was eventually dropped close to the Portlemouth shore between the Ferry landing and the start-line.
He had to make the tough decision of when, not if, to shorten the course putting the suffering for all involved to an end. The leaders rounded X for the first time after only 28 minutes so Malcolm decided to let them continue up to Mark 2, with the wind disappearing this ended up taking another 30 minutes for the leaders to complete before they were greeted with a well earned finishing bell.
Tim Fells and Fran Gifford had a great start in the Lark and led the race from the off. Unfortunately, they were not able to get far enough ahead and had to settle for third place on corrected handicap time.
The battle for the victory was between Robin Hodges and Graham Cranford-Smith, both in Solos. Graham also had a great start but it wasn't long before an in-form Robin had caught him. This pair remained in a close fight all evening but it was Graham who came out victorious by just 1 second earning him first place with Robin second.
Thank you to Paul and Charlie Evans for providing rescue boat cover on what turned out to be a pretty uneventful evening.
Full results of the series so far