Salcombe Yacht Club Autumn Series Race 2
by John Burn & David Greening 11 Sep 02:45 PDT
9 September 2023
Fast Handicap (by John Burn) Y Course - 6 - 2
Seven Yawls and one Albacore turned out on Saturday, and under the expert eye of Race Officer Will Henderson, they got underway, heading off towards Mark Y.
While most of the fleet preferred Ditch End, Greg and Claire Hoar in Y145, along with Andrew and Sheila Squire in the Albacore, headed off towards Snapes before making their dash into Yalton Creek. It worked well for both teams, and they rounded clear ahead of the chasing pack.
John and Frankie Burn in Y170 made the wise decision to stay low around Scoble Point, leaving Olly Turner with Chris Skelhorn in Y68 and Andy and Elizabeth Savell in Y187 behind as they quickly ran out of breeze underneath the point.
As they made their way to Mark 6, the Albacore was stretching its advantage and was soon in the more stable breeze working its way down the Frogmore Creek. John and Frankie closed down Greg and Claire and once again chose to stay low, which enabled them to pass Y145 at Halwell Woods.
As they returned from Mark 6, John and Frankie caught Andrew and Sheila as they once again had to navigate the treacherous Hallwell Point. This pair remained close, with the Albacore just edging ahead before they reached the Millbay Mark.
Andrew and Sheila took line honours, but once handicaps were applied, they dropped to third.
After a solid performance, John and Frankie bagged themselves first place, while Greg and Claire showed great downwind speed and were rewarded with second place.
Thank you to Will and his team for facilitating another great afternoon of racing at Salcombe.
Solo Race (by David Greening)
A light predominantly easterly wind greeted the eleven Solo sailors for the second race of their Autumn series. With a neap high tide coincident with the starting time, race officer Will Henderson set a course to explore some of the extremities of Salcombe harbour.
With the fleet heading north off the start line, most decided to work the Portlemouth shore on the route toward mark Y set half way up Yalton creek. Gavin Stevens and Billy Jago were the leading proponents of this route, with David Greening slightly behind. They were joined by Tim Fells who led a fleet of one around a great circle route via Snapes Point.
Once the fleet had negotiated a fleet of thirty Toppers who had adopted the windward mark, Tim Fells worked into the lead followed by Greening. However a restart in the lee of Halwell Point, saw Fells pull away and allowed Chris Cleaves, Billy Jago and Gavin Stevens back into the race as the wind filled in from behind, an order that was retained at Frogmore.
The fleet headed back, had another restart while revisiting the lee of Halwell and then headed to Mill Bay and then to a shortened finish. Tim Fells cemented his win from Chris Cleaves and Billy Jago, while Greening sneaked past Stevens on the penultimate leg.