Salcombe Gin SYC Regatta - Red Fleet Yawl Report

Published 11:09 on 9 Aug 2026

Twenty Red Fleet Yawls competed in the Salcombe Gin Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta, in fine and variable conditions with notably windy races during the middle of the week.

Sunday

F2-3 ENE

5-N-0-3-1

There was a crowded starting line particularly at the Portlemouth beach end with a couple of individuals being recalled including Y170, John Burn and Tris Stone and Y171, Mike and Karen Whitehouse.

Simon Gibbens sailing with his nine year old grandson George Gibbens in Y167, were first to reach Harbour anchorage and Snapes Point pulling out a comfortable lead into the Bag, chased down by Y178, Paul and Anna Rayson and Y168, Will and Mandy Henderson.

On the final lap Will and Mandy held the breeze to overtake the Gibbens who got stuck in Crab Pots to take the lead, finishing in that order, followed home by Y184, David Stone and Mike Hazelwood who pulled past Y181, Paul Ellis and Martin Beck on the final beat.

Monday

F2 ENE 

3-N-W-1

Just before the start a light sea breeze filled in, the now running fleet was divided between the two sides of the ria, the majority favouring the Portlemouth side to stem the ebb tide.

The smaller fleet on the Salcombe shore prevailed, being able to reach into the Crossways mark and secure mark room below the fleet running in from Portlemouth.  Most extreme were Andy and Elizabeth Savell in Y187, who rounded in first place followed by the Gibbens (Y167), and father daughter combo David Greening and Josie Dayment in Y177.

The fleet now beat toward what was now the windward mark off Starehole Bay, with Y186, Olly Turner and Chris Skelhorn finding more wind under the cliffs to surge into second place.

On the run back to one, Turner and Skelhorn found more pressure in the middle of the harbour to take the lead from the Savells, who finished in that order followed by Greening/Dayment.

Tuesday

F4-5 SSW

1-7-1-7

Fleet started clean on a big ebb tide heading to Blackstone, with a tightly packed fleet running back along the Portlemouth shore.  Y170, John Burn and Tris Stone,  pulled into the lead by Snapes Point and extended it by the Gerston mark, but an incident with the Turner/Skelhorn boat saw John and Tris take penalty turns and drop out of the front group. 

 

On the second lap, the fleet compressed as the wind lightened at Saltstone, with Olly and Chris getting away.  Stone and Hazelwood and the Hendersons made the most of their opportunities to move into second and third, which was the running order at the end of the final beat to the finish of what was to prove an attritional day.

Wednesday

Wednesday

F4 SW

1-7-1-3-2-3

Another breezy day made all the more daunting by the sight of the Class Chairman Mike Knowles boat capsized on the way to the start line.

Y170, Burn and Stone were first off the line, using their superior weight to power away from the rest of the fleet never to be troubled, as ever the fleet headed down the Portlemouth en masse,  crossing to Snapes, Turner and Skelhorn bringing up the rear of the fleet were first to cross back to Bungalow Point to find more breeze and less tide to move up into second.  

Whilst husband and wife team John and Katy Meadowcroft worked through from quite deep in the fleet to secure third place, followed by the Hendersons, an impressive performance by both pairs given the conditions.

Thursday

F4 WSW

W-7-1-3

First start had a general recall with the majority being carried over the line by the ebb tide.  

The restart was poorly attended, since half the fleet had failed to note that the restart would be before the Yawl Green fleet start, however this did not present the late starters with a huge disadvantage as the race unfolded.

Y167, Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed were first off the line and first to reach mark W, under Bar Lodge, alongside Y181, Paul Ellis and Martin Beck followed by Y183, Phil King and John Sleep who were able to pick up the wind coming out of North Sands, whilst the midfield wallowed in a hole swept back by the ebb tide, which at least allowed the late starters to get back in the game.

A spread out fleet then tracked back through the harbour, but at Ox Point there was a final opportunity for a reordering with the Hendersons working up to third place behind King/Sleep who had over hauled Gibbens/Reed.

Friday

F3-4 WSW

W-7-1-3

Auburn Cup day, the redemption race, and a frizzante in the air.

The unassuming Hendersons demonstrated calm to round mark W off Splatt Cove in the lead.  The fleet followed into the Bag with those going low benefiting most.  The purists crossed to the lee shore across  Widegates, with the Hendersons moving across after Dendridge to lead around Gerston, a lead that they extended back in the harbour.

The Meadowcrofts were best of the rest and tried to chase them down.  It got close for a while on the final run, but the Hendersons were able to hold on for the final beat to take the win and the Auburn Cup from the Meadowcrofts with Paul Ellis and Martin Beck following home.

 

This gave the Hendersons the week from the Meadowcrofts, who demonstrated a great ability to work up the fleet especially toward the end of the week, with Olly Turner and Chris Skelhorn completing the podium.

 

We were blessed with fine weather and good sailing breezes.  The week demonstrated that the Salcombe Yawl Red fleet is in rude health, with four different race winners and no over dominant force.  It was great to see married couples take the top two places in what was a tough week of sailing.  The designs of Howlett and Morrison equally divided in the top six, and the debut HD Sails getting onto the podium in the hands of John and Katy.

Thanks go to Nigel Blazeby and his Race Teams for making the best of what were quite testing conditions and delivering an excellent week of sailing.

By David Greening | Photos by Lucy Burn