Hassall Law Yawl Open Blue Fleet Report
Published 08:13 on 26 Sep 2023
Competitors were promised near perfect conditions for the last of this years Yawl open events with a steady 10mph South Westerly breeze forecast accompanied by sunshine and blue skies. To the surprise of many, the wind was a notch up from that forecast and provided some challenging conditions in the estuary as the wind against tide created some moderate waves.
In terms of team pairings, there were a number of changes to the regular runners and riders in that Olly Turner had teamed up with Chris Skelhorn in Y68, Simon Dawes & Woody were paired in Y150 and John McLaren and Scud were sailing together in Y84. Thanks also to Crispin Waterhouse for stepping into Y123 at the last minute whilst Robin visited the urgent Care Centre in Newton Abbott to have a gardening injury attended to!
The other change for this event was the introduction of race tracking for all those who had signed up to use the app implemented by Mike Knowles and kindly sponsored for the weekend by Stones Boatyard. For those interested you can view the app here https://stonesboatyard.co.uk/pages/salcombe-yawl-racing
Race 1
Due to the stronger than forecast winds in the estuary Tim Fells (who did a great job as PRO) set the course as 1,7,2,X allowing for a shorter second beat and loop around X to finish in the event the wind continued to strengthen. This course aptly demonstrated the importance of good pre-race preparation, as for all those who failed to locate the exact position of X prior to the start (including myself) were later to be left wondering exactly where to find the leeward mark!
Despite the ebbing tide, some port bias and enthusiastic fleet bunching towards smalls there was a clean and orderly start, best demonstrated from a snap shot of the tracking image.
The majority of the pack stayed in the tide and crossed tacks whilst heading to number 1 with Simon Dawes taking an early lead. The leading bunch at the first mark rounding comprised Simon Dawes, John McClaren, James Greenhill and Olly Turner.
With strong winds and little tide, the run back into the Bag gave crews the opportunity to cross the tide at various locations to try and break free from the pack, some choosing to cross early while others hugged the Mill Bay shoreline all the way past Venus Café. The rounding into the Bag saw Simon and Olly pull away until the pack approached Saltstone where the fleet bunched before splitting left and right looking for clean air. The leading boats rounded mark 7 unhindered while the remaining fleet cartwheeled round the mark with multiple boats overlapped.
The beat back through the Bag was shifty and having rounded Snapes the beat to mark 2 had become rough as the wind built against the ebbing tide. Simon managed to remain ahead of Olly until he broke through on the final approaches to No 2.
Rounding Mark X (once you had located it amongst the Yawl trots) was simple enough as long as you remembered to leave it to Starboard. Mike Knowles had the perfect racing line to take it to port until those rounding to starboard pointed out the error of his ways !
Olly managed to increase his lead on the final beat and the line honours went to Olly & Chris 1st, Simon & Woody 2nd and James & Rob 3rd.
Race 2 saw a course change to 1,7,1,X which extended the second beat to mark 1, something that was met with a sigh of disappointment in our boat at least due to the tough conditions.
An enthusiastic start in strong gusty conditions necessitated a second sound signal from the race box, but as no action was taken by any of the crews it would remain to be seen who fell foul of being OCS.
Olly and Chris in Y68 had established the lead by the first mark and started to pull away on the downwind leg. Simon made an early break by crossing to the town side ahead of the chasing pack that had formed a closely packed bunch. Rounding Snapes and into the Bag, Simon & Woody managed to wriggle through Olly & Chris who then exchanged places all the way to number 7. John McLaren and Scud stayed low going through the Bag which paid off for them and put them back in the hunt. The two leading boats (Y150 & Y68) crossed tacks all the way along the return leg towards number 1, but a shorten course was sounded (no doubt to the relief of many) and line honours again went to Olly any Chris ahead of Simon in 2nd and James in 3rd. Unfortunately Y84 & Y123 were the culprits of the OCS flag which elevated the positions of the main fleet by 2 places.
To conclude day 1, Chris Skelhorn, who was so delighted with his two first place positions, wasnt concentrating sufficiently when mooring and managed to fall off the floating dock !
Day 2 saw an increase in the wind strength and some deliberation by the PRO as to whether it was appropriate to run the racing. His decision was to sail, but the number of competitors was significantly diminished.
Races 3 & 4 only saw four blue fleet crews, albeit Simon and Woody arriving 15 minutes late to the start due to a timing error on Woodys part (Simon suggests).
Despite the lack of boats on the start line, there was still some bunching at the pin end and calls of windward boat form Olly to James and Rob in Y138 ! Olly established a quick lead and Y138 & Y123 sailed a close race with Simon closing the gap from his late start. Coming out of the bag Olly had established a considerable lead but elected to push the tide in the middle of the fairway. James and Rob in Y138 spotted an opportunity having broken through Robert and Robin in Y123 and headed into the foreshore moorings and out of the tide. They made considerable ground on Olly & Chris threatening their lead on the final approach to the finish, but Olly managed to hang on with the final placings being Olly & Chris 1st Y68, James and Rob 2nd Y138 and Robert & Robin 3rd Y123.
The final race saw the same four boats start, but due to a rudder pintle failure after rounding mark 1 James and Rob Y138 were forced to retire, leaving Olly to lead the way around the course unchallenged with Simon & Woody in second and Robert & Robin in third.
Overall results reflected the placings throughout the weekend with Olly and Chris the deserving winners followed by Simon & Woody in 2nd place and James and Rob with a well-earned 3rd.
by Robert Smith Y123
