Salcombe Yacht Club Festive Series 2022
by John Burn 1 Jan 2023 23:26 PST
24, 26 December 2022 & 1 January 2023
Christmas Eve was a well attended affair. Nineteen keen competitors took to the water to take part in the first instalment of the mini-series.
With a decent South Westerly and a strong ebb tide race officer, Barney Greenhill set a true spectators course and kept the fleet in the main stretch of the Harbour.
Fran Gifford and Sophie Mackley in a Merlin Rocket quickly dispatched the slower boats up the first beat. Once around the mark with the spinnaker flying there was no catching this paring. They produced a fine display of boat handling skill and tactical decision making which in turn led to them securing a comfortable victory.
Tim Law led the 13 strong Solo element of the fleet up the first beat and reached Blackstone first.
After initially choosing the wrong side for the first downwind leg he cut his losses and crossed over to the town side where Chris Cleaves had spotted the better pressure and was quickly closing the gap.
Unfortunately for Chris, Tim had managed to get across quick enough to stay in front and thereafter sailed on to finish 2nd with Chris finishing off the podium places in 3rd.
On to Boxing Day for Race number two in the series which saw Tim Law as race officer overseeing proceedings.
Similar conditions and course to Race 1 although this time there was fair sized swell at Blackstone and the sun was shining - nice!
16 competitors made the 11am start, no doubt still full of Turkey and the like from the previous days antics.
This time out Fran and Sophie had some stiff competition in the form of William Warren and Fiona Cranford Smith who had taken to the water in the Cranford Smith Merlin Rocket.
Not only this but Tim Fells, the newest member of the Salcombe Solo fleet who had missed race one, likely due to Festive Duties at home was back!
William and Fiona found themselves leading the fleet as they rounded Blackstone and managed to sail away on a puff leaving the rest of the fleet bunched up at the rocks.
Things were looking good for the leaders with clear air and a healthy lead what could possibly go wrong?? Well this is Salcombe and even an empty Estuary can throw up a surprise or two.
A regrettable date with a mooring buoy and a seemingly wrong strategic decision meant Fran and Sophie were now back in the game and reeling them in fast.
Meanwhile behind the pair of Merlins and at what turned out to be the business end of the race, Tim Fells was leading the battle for first Solo with ease. Tim had a decent lead over Chris Cleaves and Simon Dobson, who found themselves in closely fought battle for second Solo.
Back to Fran and Sophie who, did catch and pass William and Fiona to take line honours but unlike race one, on corrected time they dropped to 4th.
Tim having settled straight into Solo racing no doubt much to the frustration of the others, bagged himself another 1st place with Simon winning out the battle between himself and Chris who, on corrected time were 2nd and Third respectively.
Due to the weather, Race 3 on New Year's Day had to be cancelled. This meant that Fran and Sophie were crowned overall winners of the series with Chris Cleaves 2nd and Simon Dobson 3rd.
Thank you to everyone who helped out in the Race Box and Safety Boats not only for this series but over the entire season. We are very lucky at SYC to have so many members who volunteer their time week in and week out to enable us all to go racing!
Happy New Year!