Summer Series, Race 2

Published 17:47 on 18 Jun 2023

Fast Handicap

 
John and Annie McLaren in their RS400 were joined by new members Richard and Helen Elliott who were out in their Tasar on Saturday.
 
As they made their way up the first beat, the wind dropped the closer they got to Mark N, and with a strong flood tide, Richard and Helen struggled to make headway.

 
John and Annie eventually managed to round the mark, and with the tide under them, they were soon back in the harbour, where there was a gentle breeze.

 
They completed the remainder of the course unchallenged and secured first place.
Richard and Helen opted to head back to the boat park early and withdrew from the race.

 
Yawl Handicap
 
10 Yawls once again arrived at the start line, consisting of 4 red and 6 blue fleets. After last week, you would have thought certain teams would be more cautious when attacking the start line, but alas, no. Andrew Wood and Chris Skelhorn, for the second week in a row, found themselves OCS along with two others, none of whom went back to restart and therefore also received the OCS award.
 
The first beat was a long affair short tacking along the Portlemouth shore with plenty of action despite the light winds.
 
Dan and Gail Bridger took the lead initially but caught a mooring buoy line just off the beach between Smalls and Millbay.

 
John and Frankie Burn capitalised on their misfortune and then led the fleet up to the rocks off Sunny Cove.

Andy and Elizabeth Savell then took the lead as they headed out over the sand bar, hugging the rocky shoreline, attempting to cheat the tide.
 
The wind was quickly deserting the fleet, which made progress to the mark slow. It was clear whoever managed to reach the N first would most likely sail on to claim victory. 

This was indeed the case with Andy and Elizabeth rounding mark N first, followed by John and Frankie.

 
This pair formed a sizeable lead over the fleet on the long downwind leg to crossways. Once around the mark, the race officer thankfully chose to shorten the course, so it was just a short beat back to the line for the front pair.
 
Dan and Gail Bridger had managed to recover well, but with Mike Knowles and Nicky Bass in close quarters, they were unable to put enough distance between themselves to beat them on handicap.
 
Final results
 
Andy and Elizabeth Savell, 1st
John and Frankie Burn, 2nd
Mike Knowles and Nicky Bass, 3rd

Thank you to Will Henderson and his team for overseeing an enjoyable afternoon on the water.

By John Burn

Photos ~ Robin Hodges

Solo Race

Saturday saw an excellent turnout of sixteen Solos for what the forecasters suggested would be another light wind race with the wind clocking from North Easterly to South Westerly throughout the duration of the race.  It was therefore a pleasant surprise that the light wind had already established itself from the South West before the start.  With a spring flood tide it was going to be essential to be in the first rank of starters heading toward the beach.  For Olly Turner and Simon Yates they were too keen and were judged over by Race Officer Will Henderson, and had to sail back and restart. 

 
Tim Fells led the fleet along the Portlemouth shore, with the greatest challenges coming from Chris Cleaves and Roger Guess.  However the fleet bunched up at the tidal gate that is Biddle Head allowing Simon Yates and Olly to get back in the mix. 

 
The first mark was mark N which was situated in the maximum flooding stream and in a location where the wind is renowned to switch off.  The fleet short tacked past Limebury Point, with Fells the first to break away from the shore, followed by Cleaves, Guess and Cranford-Smith.  Simon Yates put in an extra safety tack into the shore, which allowed him to lay the windward mark, propelling himself into the lead ahead of the early crossers, who were stuck stemming the tide on starboard.
 
This pretty much set up the rest of the race, Yates extended his lead down the long run to Crossways, Cleaves pulled away from Fells who lost pressure down the run, and David Greening failed to hold off Guess who took fourth place as they both tacked for the finish line.

By David Greening.

Photos ~ Robin Hodges

Junior Race

Oh for the long forgotten days of a SW'erly F3-4...the afternoon started with a promising sea breeze beginning to fill in but it never really arrived and was soon dropping and shifting.

The juniors with a Blackstone - Crossways, Ferrymark - Crossways course and a building tide really only had one option, the beachside start, but only George Reynolds decided to start anywhere near the line. He soon established a lead being chased by Lewis Groves in an RS Tera and Charlotte Simmonds in a Topper.

Lewis soon got into the groove, passed George and began to establish a solid lead as he short tacked up to Blackstone. George pulled out a good lead over the rest of the pack and the two of them rounded Blackstone and rode the ride down to Crossways leaving the rest behind. 

George McClaren in his first race of the season clung on to the pack in his Topper and as his confidence grew he looked more and more accomplished. Dougie Roberts, also in a Topper made up the fleet and did well in what was the first race of the season that required light winds and short tacking which, as we all know takes some practice and experience to get right.

Once around Crossways Lewis pulled out a bigger lead as he tacked up Portlemouth against an ever building tide and dropping wind. By the time he reached Smalls the wind was very light and progress, at times, seemed almost impossible. George began to cut the lead as the wind clung to the shore below Smalls before fading on the approach to Millbay, Charlotte began gaining on George and as they passed Small's briefly moved into second but a tack out into the tide soon reversed that. 

Lewis rounded Ferrymark with what looked like an  unassailable lead, with the tide now in full flow wisking him off downwind and George a long way behind. With the wind now extremely patchy around Ferrymark the chasing pack struggled to round. Charlotte had a particularly challenging time as the wind and tide seemed to gang up on her and the mark proved extremely elusive.

Lewis rounded Crossways and for some reason opted for Salcombe side, he later said it was the last time he was listening to a pre race chat from his dad, George followed suit but both could not get past Snape's. George soon realised the error of his ways and switched to Portlemouth leaving Lewis trying to tackle Snape's, by the time he realised the futility of the situation George was long gone and took a win based on quick thinking and sailing smarts. Lewis was left to rue bad decision making and a second place. George McClaren came in third with an excellent performance in his first race in a single hander.

By Andrew Groves.