27th Devon Yawl National Championship at Yealm Yacht Club

27th Devon Yawl Nationals at Yealm Yacht Club © Paul Gibbins Photography

19 boats raced as the Yealm Yacht Club hosted the 27th Devon Yawl National Championship over the weekend of 21 and 22 June. With high pressure over the UK, the weather forecast leading up to the weekend ranged from sunshine and lots of wind to thunderstorms and no wind. In the end it was light wind with a few showers on the Saturday and full-on fun conditions on the Sunday.

The Race Officer, Chris Matthews and team, decided that as the Sunday was looking "iffy", they would try to run 4 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. That is how it turned out.

A total of 20 boats entered, including 6 visiting boats from Plymouth's RWYC, Topsham SC, Bosham SC and Powderham's Starcross YC. (One boat did not make the start line because of rudder problems - hence 19 racing.)

The course for each race over the weekend was a triangle followed by two windward-leeward's with a dog leg reach to the finish.

Saturday arrived, overcast with a couple of heavy showers and a light South-Easterly breeze.

With the first race postponed for 30 minutes to allow the breeze to build, the Yawls were soon under way. A couple of early starters had to return and restart, but the light airs gave everyone a turn to be at the front.

This first race was sailed in around 4-6 knots. Being under the cliffs, the approach to the windward mark was a little shifty and puffy. DY383 (Andy Williams and Dan Allin) led from the start and crossed the finish line first. However, DY383 was involved in a Port/Starboard incident early on and was protested and disqualified, leaving DY368 (Dan and Nigel Ellis) in first place. This was to have some significance for the eventual results. Second was DY13 (Robin and John Graham) and third DY351 (Ed Williams-Hawkes and Strangler).

Whilst waiting for the second race, DY186's helm, Tim Petitt entertained the fleet. Having decided to adjust the tack of the jib at the end of the bowsprit, Tim slipped on his lovely varnish work and ended up in the water hanging on until the crew could be persuaded to pull him back out.

27th Devon Yawl Nationals at Yealm Yacht Club - photo © Paul Gibbins Photography

For race 2 the wind was still light and had shifted substantially to the East, so the windward mark was now in the entrance to the River Yealm, with a reasonably high cliff either side. The breeze was spreading out as it exited the river. The local boats followed the local wisdom of going either left or right. Not having that local wisdom, DY311 (Eduardo Aldaz-Carroll and Dimitri Despierres) from Bosham SC, sailed the puffs and shifts perfectly up the middle arriving at the windward mark first and holding the lead thereafter for a well-deserved win. Second was DY186 (Tim Petitt and Tony Calcutt) and third DY368.

Race 3, the wind having shifted right again, saw a repeat of the race 1 course. with the windward mark under the cliffs. On the first leg the wind suddenly shut off about 100 metres from the windward mark. 18 boats arrived almost simultaneously to a dead calm. The leading boat DY391 (Jay Williamson and Nic Wood) arrived first, drifted down with the tide and managed to slip around the mark to the second leg. The rest of the fleet effectively restarted the race. Some seemed to do better than others on the drifathon around the mark and a couple of the favourites for the series ended up with a double-digit finish. Once around, the breeze picked up halfway down the second leg to the day's customary 5 knots. The fleet started to catch up DY391, with DY386 (Steve Northmore and Trevor Griffiths) and DY324 (George Kerr and Jon Truman) completing the podium.

The fleet was hoping it might get sent home after the third race. However, the sun came out, the breeze picked up and a fourth race was run. DY368 led from start to finish, covering the following fleet all the way around the course. Tactically, heading for the cliffs and the accelerated wind zone seemed to pay off. As the textbooks say, 'head for the headland', so the leading boats did, making it a bit of a one-sided beat. DY383 took second spot and DY186 third.

The forecast for Sunday was accurate. A mean wind speed of 22 knots gusting 29 and a building sea from the Southwest. This meant all the fun you can have in a Devon Yawl. These conditions usually see local races run inside the sand bar. However, this was the DY National, so the committee boat team had to suffer a bumpy anchorage for the good of the class! Race mark manager, Jon Pegg, enthusiastically set long courses to enable the Class to enjoy the conditions to the full.

Race 5 got under way with DY383, DY368 and DY186 leading the charge to the first mark. DY368 just made it ahead with DY186 rounding inside on a tighter turn as the reach was more of a run and jib poles were deployed. Dumping the mizzen sheet is crucial to a fast bear away in these conditions. This is where it got interesting. The wing mark was set to the right end side of the river entrance, where the seabed shallows quite quickly. The building waves gave full on surfing conditions with breaking crests. Several boat lengths were won on successful surf. DY368 and DY186 were side by side passing and repassing each other. It was a close-run contest. The final upwind leg, biased to the right-hand Wembury shore, allowed DY186 to stretch out comfortably ahead of DY386 to finish first. Third was DY383.

That bias to the right-hand Wembury shore was to be important for Race 6. Despite the pin layer's efforts, the line had a bias to the committee boat end. The committee boat end of the line was the place to be and quite a few boats thought so. DY186 unwisely took on DY386 on the start line and duly ended up OCS. DY186 had to go around full tack and gybe to re-start.

Having started, DY186 took the right-hand side of the course and found that the bias really was there. Despite DY186's OCS, DY368 only just crossed on port. DY368 then tacked on top of DY186 and thereafter controlled the position. The reach from the windward mark to the wing mark was probably one of the fastest rides DY186 has had. It was doubtless shared by the rest of the fleet. Full on broad reach, planing on the tops of the waves, the sun came out, the waves were translucent blue green with breaking crests, helm humming, then thinking, will the kicker and rudder pintles hold out? In one case the pintles did not hold out and DY62 retired rudderless. Sunday was probably one of the best sails the Devon Yawl fleet has had for a long time. It certainly demonstrated the strength of the Devon Yawl as a boat.

DY186 managed to hold onto the tail of DY368 around the course, but now the right side of the beat was a done thing and there weren't many passing places. It was a question of just holding on and enjoying the ride. Towards the finish DY368 stretched out her lead for a comfortable win over DY186 with DY383 third.

Well done Dan Ellis and his dad, Nigel (crew and boat preparer). They sailed brilliantly throughout the series to a worthy win.

Overall Results:
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