May Cup 2025 at Porthpean Sailing Club

Alan Harris - May Cup at Porthpean © Paul Gibbins Photography

Sat in the club looking out of the window a westerly breeze can be deceptive as it blows over the top of the clubhouse. The monthly cup races have become a feature, event style racing, downwind finishes, using different parts of the bay.

The recent high pressure had seen winds from an Easterly direction for the last few weeks so the West breeze was a welcome return.

The fleet set off from the tranquillity of the beach to arrive in the racing area with a solid 20 knots! This wasn't going to be for everyone and several sailors took the opportunity to inspect the bottoms of their boats.

May Cup at Porthpean - photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

While several sailors decided that topping their tan up on the beach was a better option, the now reduced fleet got going for race 1.

This was about feeling your way into your groove, flattening everything down and staying in your boat were good choices. The fast fleet was a mixture of the two strongest classes at the club, the Tasar and the Blaze. These boats were relishing in the conditions, the on form Alan Harris and team Hawkins were showing great pace.

In the slow fleet it was as though they were all attached, and the faster boats were struggling to stay ahead of the Solos. Geoff Holden had settled in nicely and was having a great race with the faster boats.

The Hawkins took the fast fleet win from Harris and our visitors Matt & Amelia. In the slow fleet, Geoff was enjoying himself so much he wanted to go around again. Kim Furniss watched him sailing up wind as he took the victory, with Geoff managing to still finish second from Sean Biggs.

Charlie Nunn - May Cup at Porthpean - photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

Race 2 and some sporty gusts were coming through more often now, the survivors had found their grooves and were still smiling.

The Tasars and the Blazes were now flying around and enjoying some electric reaches. Bruce Keeping/Pete Keilbart who had left their regular crews ashore and teamed up were loving it although it was Harris and the Hawkins setting the pace, with Charlie Nunn and our visitors Matt & Amelia battling it out for third.

In the slow fleet Kim Furniss was showing why he was a former world champion and proving that age is just a number. The Solo of Tosh and the Supernova of Shaun Welsh were now starting to enjoy their day on the water too. Paul Sanders in his Aero 7 had blistering speed at times, however his front crawl was pretty good too.

Shaun Welsh - May Cup at Porthpean - photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

In the fast fleet the Hawkins narrowly took the win from Harris, with Matt & Amelia taking third from Charlie. Kim took the win in the slow fleet from the rapidly improving Tosh with Welsh taking third.

The last race of the day and the wind had reduced to a very pleasant 15 knots, however that was not not for long. Shortly after the start a 30 knot squall arrived to keep the sailors on their toes. By now everyone had the measure of the conditions and enjoyed a very rapid one lapper to finish the day.

May Cup at Porthpean - photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

The fast fleet was led by Harris with team Hawkins and Nunn in hot pursuit. Harris was struggling to make the gybe in the now pumping breeze, an unexpected turtle allowed The Hawkins and Nunn to take advantage with Harris eventually finishing third. In the slow fleet Furniss was showing his class and won from Tosh and Biggs.

After an epic day the fleet were pleased to arrive at the calmer waters of the beach, to enjoy hard earned pasties, relax with a beer and talk about their sailing/swimming exploits of the day.

Thanks must go to all our volunteers, small clubs just can't function without them.

May Cup at Porthpean - photo © Erika Sisak

Fast Fleet Results:

Slow Fleet Results: