Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe Yacht Club

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe © Lucy Burn

Wall-to-wall sunshine, neap tides, and plenty of wind set the scene for a brilliant bank holiday weekend spent on the water.

This is a report for the Red Fleet .

Race 1 : Course 7-1-3

12 teams arrived at the start for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon. Will and Mandy Henderson once again quickly exerted their dominance and were out in front, leading the pack into The Bag.

Phil King and John Sleep managed to keep themselves in contention, and as they worked through the loop in the main harbour, they caught the Hendersons and put them under pressure once again.

Will and Mandy held them off and claimed the first win of the weekend. Phil and John finished second, with Paul and Julie Rayson third.

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe - photo © Lucy Burn

Race 2 : Course 4-3-4-1-3-2

Sunday brought more sun and more wind, and once again, the 12 teams set off. This time with a long beat up South Pool Creek to mark 4. Conditions in the creek were tricky; massive shifts meant that places were easily gained or lost.

Will and Mandy made a rare mistake shortly after starting, which saw them relegated to last place so had a lot of work to do.

David Stone and Tim Hunt led the fleet up the creek and back down, but gear failure meant they were unable to hang on to the top five and unfortunately dropped back to 7th.

King and Sleep were now out front, battling with the Rayson Yawl for victory. This close racing continued to the finish, and it was King and Sleep who claimed the win, with the Raysons in second.

Mike Whitehouse and Charles Thompson managed to hold off John Burn and Tristan Stone, which earned them 3rd place.

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe - photo © Lucy Burn

Race 3 : Course 4-1-3-1-3-2

As the sailors waited for the blue fleet to finish their race, most decided to head for the beach. Sadly, upon re-launching, Malcolm Squire and his crew found themselves with a broken rudder. This meant they would have to withdraw from racing and were unable to take part in the afternoon's antics.

As the race got underway with the breeze still up, normal service was resumed as the Hendersons once again led from the front.

They very efficiently formed a comfortable lead over the chasing group, populated once again by King and Sleep, the Raysons, and also Burn and Stone.

This trio exchanged places regularly throughout the race, and while the Raysons, Sleep, and King were busy sailing each other away from Mark 1, Burn and Stone took full advantage not once but twice and ended up rounding ahead on both of the visits to Blackstone.

It was the second win of the weekend for the Hendersons though, with the Raysons managing to win out in the close battle for second. King and Sleep came home third.

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe - photo © Lucy Burn

Monday brought even more wind with it! The race officer chose to postpone for an hour in the hope that it would ease off enough to go afloat. Alas, that wasn’t the case, and he made the correct decision to abandon racing, much to the delight of some of the sailors.

Thank you to Yeti and Stones Boat Yard for once again sponsoring the open meeting and providing some fantastic prizes. Also, thank you to the race teams, safety boat crews, and everyone at Salcombe Yacht Club who put on a brilliant weekend of racing.

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe - photo © Lucy Burn

Red Fleet Results:

Blue Fleet Results:

Stones Boatyard & Yeti Late May Yawl Open at Salcombe - photo © Lucy Burn