Please select your home edition
Edition
Ovington 2021 - ILCA 1 - LEADERBOARD
Product Feature
Reef knot bracelet in sterling silver and brass by Angela Lago
Reef knot bracelet in sterling silver and brass by Angela Lago

Salcombe Yacht Club Sailing Club Series - Race 4

by John Burn & David Greening 13 May 2024 11:10 BST 12 May 2024

Solo fleet

The forecast Easterly breeze did not put off fifteen Solo sailors from coming to the starting line.

Fortunately, the wind inside of the harbour was aligned to allow beat and running, and race officer Graham Cranford-Smith set an adventurous course that took the fleet out of the harbour at low tide and taking advantage of the stronger Easterly breezes to be found beyond Lambury Point.

A competitive start saw Tim Law, followed by David Greening make the no tide zone of the Yawl trots first, allowing then to round the windward mark at Crossways in first and second, with an invigorated Rob Peebles and Simon Yates in immediate pursuit down the lengthy run to Starehole.

As Tim Law surfed merrily away on the wash of the South Sands Ferry, those to windward in the pursuing pack made good gains on new breeze, including Commodore Simon Dobson, who made a speedy recovery from his annual buoyancy test.

Whilst Law headed up the beat, Greening managed to sneak second around the leeward mark by reaching in from the rocks, followed by Peebles.

There followed an three mile windward leg, and whilst Law continued to extend his lead, Greening became becalmed under Halwell Woods, allowing Dobson and Chis Cleaves planed past him on either side!

This remained the formation to the finish with Rob Peebles picking up fifth place.

Fast Handicap fleet

The fourth instalment in the SYC Sailing Club Series proceeded under the watchful eye of Race Officer Graham Cranford-Smith. The sun was shining and a steady force 3 had set in from the E-NE, so all that was left now was to set the course, and what a course it was!

3 - M - O - 7 - 1 - 3 - 2 was displayed from the Watch House Balcony, which quickly caused mutterings on the water such as "have you seen the course?" and "where's M?" as sailors tried to recall which mark was indeed M and which was O.

The mixture of 13 boats got under way to the sound of an individual recall, with Yawl 145 being deemed OCS for the second race in a row.

The fleet quickly arrived at Crossways with the McLarens RS400 out front, followed by John and Frankie Burn in Yawl 170, with Tim Fells and Fran Gifford in a Lark a close third.

The fleet maintained formation on the long downwind leg to Stare Hole Bay, with the exception of Tim and Fran, who worked their way past John and Frankie, arriving at M just ahead.

As the sailors made their way across to mark O and then back across The Bar, the wind speed had slightly increased in the vicinity of the Blackstone Rocks. The beat back through the harbour saw the Lark unable to stretch their advantage over the Yawls as Olly Turner and Chris Skelhorn in Yawl 68 powered their way up the beat, catching the lighter-weight Burn team in the process.

The two front-running Yawls worked their way past the Lark as they entered the bag, but it was not long before the Lark was flying the spinnaker and planed off into the distance, heading for Gerston.

The race officer opted to shorten the race on the way back from Mark 7, and as the front runners exited the bag, John and Frankie got back past Olly and Chris but were unable to pull enough of a gap to beat them on corrected time.

Andrew Groves, sailing his Laser Radial, had quietly gone about his business, finding the quickest way around the course. Andrew was rewarded with a well-deserved second position on corrected time, with the gap to third just one second, showing how close the racing in the handicap fleet is!

Results can be found on the Salcombe Yacht Club website here.

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