Salcombe Town Regatta

Salcombe Town Regatta © Heather Greaves

Salcombe Town Regatta © Heather Greaves

As part of the Salcombe Town Regatta, the sailing racing took place from Monday 7th August to Friday 11th. This is a family friendly event with racing taking place in the morning allowing plenty of time for the beach or other Town Regatta activities in the afternoon.

Generous sponsorship from Blueriver Cottages and St. Austell Brewery allowed a well-attended Welcome Reception to be held at the Salcombe Yacht Club to get the week off to a good start. This year the format of the racing was changed slightly with a four race series being held Monday to Thursday followed by a Pursuit Race on the Friday.

In the 12-strong single hander start the Lasers and Solos raced together but were scored separately. The Laser class was won narrowly by Neil Davies from Mike Hicks whilst the Solo fleet saw a comfortable victory for Paul Payle. The 24 boats in the Handicap section were divided into a fast and a slow fleet to allow boats of approximately the same speed to race together. In the fast fleet, Christian and Sophie Day in their National 12 took two race victories and the overall series. In the slow fleet Chris Edwards and his Streaker won on the tie breaker having been tied on points with the Enterprise of Tim and Annie Brettal. Colin Blewitt in his Dayboat was third. The Junior Handicap had 10 entries and Finn Johnson took a close victory over Oliver Meadowcroft.

There were 29 Salcombe Yawls competing, spread over the Modern and Classic fleets. In the Classics, Guy Rigby and Tom Crampton Smith won three races to take a convincing win from Mike Knowles and Crispin Waterhouse. In the Modern fleet, the overall winner again had to be settled by tie breaker with Will and Mandy Henderson prevailing over Dan Bridger and Andrew Sterling. Graham and Tessa Pike were third.

The conclusion of the fleet racing heralded the Friday Pursuit Race. In this format, boats start at staggered intervals to reflect their speed, the race is run for exactly 100 minutes and whoever is leading at the finish is the overall winner. There were also prizes for the best fancy dress of boat and crew. On the first windward/leeward lap from Blackstone to Yalton the early starting Feva XLs maintained their lead for a while, only to be overhauled by the Yawls, lead by Will and Mandy Henderson. However, the second lap saw the fleet reach to Gerston and here the faster, modern dinghies were able to take advantage of the planning conditions. The Yawls were overtaken first by the Aero of Tim Fells and then the National 12 of Christian and Sophie Day. As the 100-minute time limit approached the National 12 was bearing down on the Aero but when the canon was fired to signal the end of the race, Tim Fells had just hung on for the win bringing to an end a thoroughly enjoyable and fun week's sailing.