Autumn Series Fast Handicap - Race 1

Published 13:51 on 7 Sep 2025

After a lot of behind-the-scenes crew/helm pairing, negotiations and secrecy, the Yawl runners and riders appeared on the pontoon for round one of the Autumn Series.

John Burn had opted for strength with Ross Borne as his selected crew in Y170. It was, however, Ross's tactical prowess that went on to earn him a gold star for achievement.

Skelly, who had briefly considered a helm change, decided that whats broken needs fixing — so a lighter, fitter, stronger Olly was retained as pilot of Battlecry.

Fran Gifford, no stranger to the sharp end of a Red Fleet yawl, paired up with Simon Dawes in Blue-fleet Y150. John and Katie Meadowcroft (Y175), Stephen Galvin and Chris Spencer-Chapman (Y99), and David Sworder with David Fitzsimmons (Y89) kept to their regular partnerships.

Launching from the outside pontoon berths in 25 knots of south-easterly is not a walk in the park. While other boats executed their departures smoothly, Fran quickly began to regret her choice of pairing within seconds of casting off.

(Note to helm: ensure your crew knows the painter is not really a painter — its a rope used to tie the boat to the pontoon, and it is permanently attached to the pontoon!)

As soon as the slack ran out, 20+ knots of easterly spun and pinned Y150 broadside to the pontoon. With the boat heeled over, helm and crew leapt back ashore just before the mizzen collapsed. A big wind shift tacked the boat, coinciding perfectly with the painter being freed — and off she sailed, unmanned!

Simon took the heroic — in fact, the only — option and dived for it, grabbing the gunwale and managing to haul himself aboard after an impressive body drag into the middle of the Bag. After a high-speed pontoon flypast for Fran to hop aboard, they were off to the races, mizzen restrung en route.

With a gusty east-south-east wind and low water, the race officer had few options — 3-7-5-7-5-7-3 was posted.

Plenty of tide under the fleet and patchy, shifting wind made for a tricky start. Two hooters and the individual recall flag had more than a few boats worried — who, and how many? Stephen Galvin was first to turn back, tentatively followed by Simon Dawes, until a reprieve came as the flag was dropped when Stephen re-crossed the line.

Olly and Chris led John and Ross, with Team Meadowcroft close behind, into the building breeze in the harbour. They rounded 3 ahead and just had to deal with a tricky section of the Bag before an exhilarating reach to Gerston. The return to 5 was all about keeping height and pace. The order didnt change for the repeat legs and remained tight among the leading three, hotly pursued by Simon and Fran, who had recovered from their early setbacks and showed good pace on the perfectly angled broad reaches up to 7.

It wasnt until the final rounding of 5 that an opportunity opened up — and Rosss tactical astuteness came into play. Choreographed by Ross, John executed the move perfectly, which was swiftly cut-and-pasted by the Meds, leaving Olly scratching his head. He quickly reeled in John and Katie, but John and Ross had broken clear and built a solid lead to finish 1st at the shortened-course finish at 3.

Simon and Fran kept the pressure on to take 2nd on corrected time, with Olly and Chris 3rd.

By Simon Dawes