J/24 class in the Tamar Packaging Spring Series at Saltash Sailing Club

On board during the Saltash Sailing Club J/24 Spring Series © Sam Marshall

The 2018 SSC Tamar Packaging Spring Series boasted a different format for the J24 fleet to previous years.

With the shift in J ownership from Plymouth Sound towards Saltash, the decision was made to run committee boat starts in the river South of Saltash. This allowed for 3 races a day on the first two weekends, with the final weekend in the Sound. The format worked well, and proved that the use of committee boats in the river can provide good windward/leeward racing.

The series attracted 8 boats, including Alan Harris-Guerrero's Legal Alien, travelling from Fowey and Mark Lewers' new boat, DanJerous When Wet. Day 1 saw a flukey tactical race against the tide weaving in and out of moored barges and boats, with Day 2 being a gusty nightmare from the East. The final day had winds going 360 degrees, and really changing positions amongst the fleet, only allowing for one race.

The J24 class lived up to the standard close-quarters racing, with every boat in the fleet being in the top three at one point over the 7 races. Steve Wassell's Dogs Jorrocks was always up there, taking advantage of a major windshift on the final race to take third place on countback, having not been driving on the second weekend. Dave Cooper once again bridesmaided his way to second in Red Alert after a good second day, as consistency was once more shown to be key. Legal Alien showed good boat speed over the 3 weekends to take the 2018 Series with no results outside of the top 4.

Thanks go to all that helped to make the series a success, the committee and marklaying boats and all the volunteers, and the people that made the journey up to Saltash. We look forward to more visiting boats coming and seeing how they fair in the river in the Autumn Cup in September.

Full series results can be found here (PDF format)