Welstead September Yawl Open - Blue Fleet
by Simon Dawes 2 Oct 16:36 AEST
27-28 September 2025
After endless weeks of windy conditions and cancelled racing the September open offered up something more benign, with warm sunny days and light fickle N/NE winds.
With an event record entry of 18 blue fleet boats and a long list of competitive runners and riders, there was no obvious favourite. This one could easily go to any one of 6-8 boats!
Race 1 - 1,2,1,7,2,3
With the tide under them Mark and Phil (Y17) showed early pace to reach mark 1 first, closely followed by Mike/Nicky (Y15), Dan/Tim (Y98), Simon/Ross (Y150) and Rob/Robin(Y123) on the short loop around the harbour.
An early cross at Mill bay saw Simon and Ross come out with a narrow and very temporary lead which changed hands amongst the leading group into the bag. Dan crept away en route to Gerston and on the return, a fierce tacking battle between the chasing boats allowed "The Commodores Barge" to extend her lead and take race 1 with Mark/Phil 2nd while Rob/Robin and Mike/Nicky where kindly allowed to sail around Simon for 3rd & 4th as he butchered his first finish of the weekend (not to be the only time!).
Race 2 - 1,7,2,3
Anthony/Andrew (Y161) led the fleet to 1 with the pacy team of Mark/Phil hot on their heels off towards mark 7.
The tacking battle between the chasing pack allowed "Blinkie" to stretch her legs back from 7 and into the bag before a compression at Snapes where fortune favoured the brave to head into the building tide in the harbour in search of more pressure. Anthony/Andrew made the best of this and crept ahead of Simon/Ross to take 2nd.
Wonderful, competitive but super friendly racing in conditions far exceeding the forecast.
Time for beer and curry!
Race 3 - X,M,X,1
Initially a questionable course, that turned out to be a great call by Race Officer, Nigel Blazeby started with a short but tricky beat to X, where an inevitable bunch up allowed a few boats to make a break for it towards the glistening, gentle rollers off the bar.
A split of the fleet either side of Blackstone caused a few anxious moments for the leading boats.
Family Smithers and James/ Chubby, surprisingly absent on day one, had finally decided to join the party and led the leading group into the tricky route back into the harbour. In a game of snakes and ladders, Dan/Tim rolled the right dice, found the ladders and disappeared into the back end of the red fleet.
Simon/Ross had a little chat and finally Simon listened to his crew and made a break for the town side while the rest battled it out along the Portlemouth shore and had to cross the tide to X.
Dan/Tim were enjoying a pasty and a cuppa as James/Chubby and Simon/Ross battled out 2nd and 3rd.
Race 4 - X,O,X,2
Similar start to the previous race with a building tide caught a few out, including Dan/Tim who decided to do a bit of maintenance to a running mooring. There were, however, lines of breeze there to be taken advantage of and Mark/Phil and the come back kids, James/Chubby didn't miss the opportunity.
Another challenging beat back from O, with Limebury and Biddle points testing the relationships in more than one boat.
After rounding X, a short but eventful run ended with a 5 boat bunch up and with Blinkie disappearing on the tide towards Mill Bay, a gap opened for Simon/Ross to capitalise as inside boat which Simon butchered (again)!
James made the best of the opportunity to take 1st, Mark did a Houdini and recovered 2nd, whilst family Smithers finally made it to a podium finish ahead of Dan/Tim 3rd, which was a critical result for the overall standings.
Meaning Mark/Phil took the overall win by one point ahead of Dan/Tim 2nd, with Simon and Ross taking 3rd.
Overall Results: (top five)
1st Mark Waterhouse & Phill McGee (Y17)
2nd Dan Bridger & Tim Fells (Y98)
3rd Simon Dawes & Ross Borne (Y150)
4th James Greenhill & Chris Cleaves (Y138)
5th John & Tom Smithers (Y19)
For most this is the end of a fabulous season, with just a few Yawlies planning to drag it out for a few more weeks.
Fabulous sailing, great competition, all sailed in a sporting manner, amongst a group of wonderful people whom I feel privileged to be part of.