Please select your home edition
Edition
HKJ YY Leaderboard

Salcombe Yacht Club Winter Series Race 1

by Dan Bridger & David Greening 30 Oct 2023 09:09 GMT 28 October 2023

Handicap Report (by Dan Bridger)

The first race of the Winter Series certainly felt like the end of the long, gentle autumn. 14°C, a force of 5/6 southerly, and the forecast of rain. Remarkably, four Yawls turned up, plus the 505 of Peter Colclough, crewed by Alistair Morley, and the ILCA 4.7 of Edward Alexander.

Thereafter, on the water wasn't as fierce as some had anticipated; the wind was steady, and the ebb tide hadn't kicked up too much wave. The start was uneventful once the 505 realised that we were sailing under Salcombe yawl rules, and a port tack yawl has priority over lesser boats on starboard.

That misunderstanding sorted out the 505 disappeared in a cloud of spray. Its progress was interrupted only by a beaching when the lifting rudder lifted at terminal velocity. In the yawls, Y159 of Dan Bridger, crewed by Stephen Galvin, powered into the lead and were never headed; Y145, Greg, and Clare Hoar were safely in second, aided by a recorded plane on the run, against the tide, of 9.4 knots.

Y15 Mike Knowles and crew David Fitzsimons were 3rd, and the dream team of Rob Adams and Darius Panahy were lagging in 4th. (As they didn't come to the bar afterwards, I don't know if they had an excuse.) Edwards ILCA was upright whenever I saw it, and I suspect it was only the wind shifting south-easterly and dropping at the end that stopped him from winning.

Overall, the times were pretty close. Yawl 159 first, 505 second, and ILCA 198156 third.

To cap off a good day out, the handicap fleet made it ashore before the most apocalyptic rain came down, killing the wind and drowning the Solo and Merlin Rocket fleets.

Solo Report (by David Greening)

As the Solo sailors glanced up the course toward Blackstone there was some trepidation to see the 505 of the sailing god that is Peter Colclough smitten by an enormous southerly gust coming from the south, it was therefore with some relief to them that the Race Officer decided to reign in the windward mark from X to the Millbay mark, with multiple laps to Crossways.

The favoured start was from the Portlemouth shore, tacking onto port to get the maximum benefit from the spring ebb tide. A compact group of Solos arrived at the windward mark, with Tim Fells gybing across the tide toward the windier Salcombe shore followed by John Burn, Chris Cleaves and Gavin Stevens, while Simon Dobson led David Greening and Mike Hodges down the Portlemouth side. By the time the Portlemouth group had realised their error, they were to have to play catch up for the rest of the race.

Whilst Tim Fells extended his lead, the wind continued to pick up between the Ferry and the windward mark and the third beat saw Burn capsize and dropping out of the leading group, while Stevens had a death roll capsize on the final run.

This led to Cleaves, Dobson and Greening covering each other to take second, third and fourth in short order.

Related Articles

Salcombe YC Spring Series race 4
Owning a Merlin, Solo and Salcombe Yawl is known locally as The Golden Triumvirate Teams were confronted with a briskly flooding tide and a solid but gusty 15 knot breeze on this fine day. Much like handicap racing across the UK, Salcombe relies on trusty club stalwarts for weekly handicap attendance. Posted on 31 Mar
Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Salcombe
David Greening is as good a race officer as any class could wish for The 2025 Salcombe Craftinsure Silver Tiller and Allspars South West Series open meeting sponsored by Helly Hansen looked like it was going to be a long damp weekend with light winds, but this little haven in the South Hams had other things in mind. Posted on 25 Mar
Allspars sponsor Merlin Rocket South West Series
The series kicks off this weekend with a two-day opening event at Salcombe Yacht Club The Merlin Rocket Owners' Association is delighted to announce Allspars as the title sponsor for the 2025 South West Series. Posted on 19 Mar
Salcombe YC Spring Series race 2
A brisk 10-15 knot north-easterly, paired with plenty of blue sky and sunshine A brisk 10-15 knot north-easterly, paired with plenty of blue sky and sunshine, set the stage for Race 2 of the Spring Series. Launching once again at low tide turned into a muddy affair. Posted on 17 Mar
Salcombe Yacht Club Spring Series Race 1
Between 0-15 mph depending on where you were in the estuary at any particular time The 2025 SYC Spring Series got under way at Salcombe with grey skies and a North Easterly breeze of between 0-15 mph depending on where you were in the estuary at any particular time. Posted on 9 Mar
Helly Hansen to sponsor Merlin Rocket Week
Salcombe YC also announce Silver Tiller event Salcombe Yacht Club (SYC) is thrilled to welcome Helly Hansen as the official sponsor for Merlin Rocket Week (28th June - 4th July 2025) and The Merlin Silver Tiller (22-23 March 2025). Posted on 8 Mar
25th anniversary of COGS
Cornwall Offshore Group Series has a new race to Salcombe this year Way back in the summer of 2000, a Falmouth sailor had the idea to get all the local sailing clubs together to start an offshore race series. It would incorporate a number of longer type, coastal and offshore races into a single series. Posted on 20 Feb
Solo Nigel Pusinelli Trophy at Salcombe
36 competitors for the GOAT Marine Western Area Series event 36 competitors descended from various parts of the UK to contest the re-arranged Nigel Pusinelli Trophy, 11 were official visitors but a good proportion of the home fleet live in Surrey so were able to tie in a trip to the second home for the weekend. Posted on 21 Oct 2024
Salcombe RS Aero Open and UK Masters Champs
30kn gusts from a variety of angles alternated with 0kn calms every few seconds The Salcombe RS Aero Open doubled as the RS Aero UK Masters Champs and despite a challenging forecast 7 RS Aero visitors travelled to Salcombe joining the Solos, K1s and the local Yawls to enjoy and be challenged by Salcombe's high sided tidal ria valley. Posted on 4 Oct 2024
YW Dayboats at the Salcombe Town Regatta
The 'various' crews rotated each day giving great experience to younger sailors Twelve YWDB's made the trip to Salcombe again this year to take part in the fun of Salcombe Town Regatta. Whilst two of the leading helms were sprightly grandparents, the 'various' crews rotated each day giving great experience to younger sailors. Posted on 27 Aug 2024