Results

Alister Morley - 4th

Paul Ellis - 6th

Chris Cleaves - 16th

Peter Hammond - 27th

Simon Yates - 32nd

Dave Greening - 35^th

Trevor Williams - 65^th

Peter Edwards - 67^th

Equipment

First & foremost - post race equipment and the deckchairs were the gossip of the dinghy park. Some of the close neighbours to our lads became quite bitter after day two, suggesting that these were illegal as they hadn't been through scrutineering and were not signed by a measurer. There was also some sneering at the regulation stainless flasks, but by the Friday attitudes had softened & some were contemplating purchases of their own.

On the boat front, Peter Hammond's new FRP Boon was first in line for scrutineering, a process which took somewhat longer than those in the queue behind would have liked, because it was the first example of this new model to be closely inspected by the scrutineers.

In a further attempt to maximise performance, several new sails were delivered in time for the championships.  Paul Ellis & ‘Pink' Dave Greening were each trying brand new Purple sails.  Both of these two were found guilty of having made the purchase without securing capital expenditure authorisation from the management over dinner in advance.  My informant advises that there was much sport to be had from watching the fear on Paul's face as he spent ten minutes talking to Paul's wife about the merits of experimenting with different sailmakers. Paul is reported to have cracked under the strain & confessed that he had bought a new sail without following the correct capex procedures.  Pink Dave (PD) is believed to have faced up to his similar predicament a little later.  It is understood that Mrs PD will soon be having some work done on her kitchen.

Highs & Lows

Best day's sailing - Thursday, 10ft swells and 20kts of wind. For those with the ‘fuller' figure, this was reported as ‘the best days sailing for 20 years'.  Boats were capsizing even whilst hove too. The secret apparently, was to keep moving to avoid the crests. 80 boats ventured out, 40 finished! One of the pond sailors was overheard in the bar afterwards saying that they don't often experience waves like that at their club.

Lowest point, Black Wednesday - for some the combination of 4 knots of wind, weighing in excess of 15 stone & being heckled by so called ‘mates' from their RIB, is a challenge too far.

Overheard in the Bar

Simon Corper - after the first day a group of competitors were in the bar speculating about who would win the team trophy. As he had sailed at Salcombe, Simon was asked which one of the Salcombe sailors was any good.  His reply "All of them" was apparently met with a deathly silence.

Alister Morley - following Peter Hammond's abrupt departure from Tuesday afternoon's race due to being black flagged, Alister tried to lighten the post race atmosphere in the bar with some small talk.  "Did you do anything interesting this afternoon, Peter?" is reported to have been a dismal failure.

Proudest moment of the week

Seeing Peter Hammond and Alister take first & second places. It brought home the strength of the talent that we have at Salcombe.

Visitors during the week

Scud and Wendy Stewart who kept busy on Xotic by giving our boys beer and tea for two days.

Wallace and Grommet (Y16) had a grand day out and helped pull the boats up.

Billy Jago, Bell and their friend Julian (shades of ‘Round the Horn') had a day out in their RIB on the Wednesday.  My informant advises that he is always amazed that someone who is ‘so crap at sailing' can be such an expert whilst observing from his vantage point in a RIB.

Other notable events in the week

Alister - arriving last for scrutineering, reversing his Land Rover into a bollard and knocking out the back window.

Yotter - on being black flagged in the first race, dropped his sail and moored himself to a navigation buoy to wait for the next race.

Yotter (again) - being beaten by Claire Clarke in a couple of races (well done Claire, remember to bring your boat with you next time you come to Salcombe)

Peter Hammond - winning a race. Fantastic for him and thoroughly well deserved.

Salcombe YC held their first of two annual open meetings for National Solos over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend, offering four races and generous sponsorship in the form of free beer from Barney Greenhill. 31 boats signed on for the event which is part of both the Western & Sea Travellers Series.  Competitors included boats from the steadily expanding home fleet, plus visitors from as far as Essex and Yorkshire.

Saturday's race began with a beat & run in the harbour before a close reach up to Gerston brought some synchronised capsizes before a screamer of a reach back and another sausage up the harbour. Local helms, Chris Cleaves and Alister Morley asserted their authority by taking first & second, chased by Mike Ball and Bill Jago as some squalls of 25 knots passed through the harbour towards the end.

Sunday dawned damp & miserable but after another sausage between Crossways & Blackstone, the wind died and the sun came out. Godfrey Clark emerged from the doldrums to run upstream into a handsome lead as the sea breeze began to develop and by Gerston was a long way clear of Bill Jago who also sailed his own race, having chosen the town side to escape the calm patch near Millbay. Returning to the harbour, Clark sailed into a dead patch, letting Jago through to win, while Morley and Mark Maskell closed right up at the finish line.

By afternoon it had become a case of Right weather-Wrong clothes for those still in dry suits as some typical summers sailing followed with a beat out to sea followed by a run up the estuary. Godfrey Clark was first round Blackstone but was passed up the bag by Paul Rayson, who worked the beat well to open up a big lead by the time they came back through the harbour. However, the sea breeze began to lose its battle with the prevailing easterly and the run upstream again became a beat with Rayson virtually at a standstill in mid-harbour. By the time they returned from Crossways, the Solos were in amongst the returning Yawl fleet and a chaotic end to the race saw Clark struggle through to win narrowly from Peter Hammond & Chris Cleaves with the unlucky Rayson only salvaging fourth place on the line.

With Clark now the overnight leader, the fleet awaited the outcome of the gale warnings for the following day, and by Monday morning the harbour was whipped up into white capped waves with huge squalls and driving rain, and it was decided to cancel racing for the day leaving the overnight positions as final.

Local boy Trevor Williams scooped the coveted photo of Smalls Cove having scored maximum points in the event