Summer Series - Race 3

Published 19:29 on 25 Jun 2023

Fast Handicap

 
Course M,3, 1, 3, 2
 
There were just three entrants for race 3 of the Summer Series: Mark Waterhouse and Fran Gifford in a Merlin Rocket, John and Annie McLaren in an RS400, and Mark Savage in his K1.

 

The Merlin and RS400 quickly broke away from the slower K1 and arrived at the first mark at similar times, they then split strategies with the Merlin opting to head back into the Harbour over the Hipple sand bar and continue down the Portlemouth shore whilst the RS400 chose to stick to the Cliffs and head along the Salcombe Town shore.
 
As it turns out, they arrived at the next mark again in close quarters, with not much to split them.

  

As the north-easterly began to cancel out the sea breeze transition zones were now appearing as usual right in front of the Club House. The Mclarens in the RS400 managed to slip away from the Merlin and went on to finish 2 minutes ahead, but unfortunately for them, it wasnt enough to beat Mark and Fran, who on corrected time claimed victory. It was, however, good enough for 2nd position, and Mark in the K1 had to settle for 3rd.

  

1st Merlin Rocket  Mark Waterhouse and Francis Gifford
 
2nd RS400 John and Annie McLaren
 
3rd K1 Mark Savage

By John Burn

Photos - Lucy Burn

 

Yawls
 
Course M, 3, 1
 
Nine Yawls arrived on the start line, and believe it or not, all nine got away cleanly. No one was called over, let alone the victim of an OCS, pointing to lessons hopefully being learned.

 

Will and Mandy Henderson were quick to get away, and in clear air, they soon formed a reasonable lead over the chasing pack and got round M first.

 
 
Dan and Gail Bridger were second around and closely followed by John and Frankie Burn. They remained side by side for much of the downwind leg back into the harbour and arrived at Crossways together, having closed the gap to the Hendersons.

 

As the fleet took on the loop of the harbour, the front three found themselves all back together as they reached the Watch House.

The sea breeze was dying as the north-easterly attempted to assert its dominance. This left the area in front of the club windless and confusing, not just for the sailors but no doubt also for the spectators.
 
John and Frankie looked like they might take the lead and sneak through under the Hendersons, but any thoughts of victory were soon put to bed as Will and Mandy were first to pick up the fresh breeze and once again sailed off into the lead.

 

Dan and Gail hunted down a nice puff to propel them into the more stable breeze and second place, overhauling John and Frankie.

The final leg back from Blackstone can only be described as stressful; there were huge shifts and lots of holes to try to navigate.
Upon rounding the final mark, Will and Mandy headed over to the town shore and started slowly making their way to the finish, while Dan and Gail sailed off towards Mill Bay in what initially looked like a good decision.

 
 
Unfortunately for the Bridgers the wind disappeared on them and they floundered helplessly as John and Frankie followed the Hendersons down the opposite side of the estuary in the more stable conditions. Final positions across the line and after the handicaps are applied
 
1st Will and Mandy Henderson Y168
2nd John and Frankie Burn Y170
3rd Dan and Gail Bridger Y159

By John Burn

Photos - Lucy Burn

Thank you to the race team and safety boat crews for their efforts on Saturday.

Solo Race 

Twenty two Solo sailors turned up at the start line on a glorious summer afternoon.  Surprisingly, despite the keenness of the competitors and the ebb tide, the fleet got away without a general recall, heading for mark M, located at the Bolt Head side of the Bar.  The majority of the fleet headed out on the Limebury point side of the harbour entrance, but those who went toward the cliffs under Bar Lodge found the most wind.

  

Simon Dobson led around the mark and took a bold course into the tide toward the Portlemouth shore, whilst his pursuers including Mike Hicks, Chris Cleaves and Simon Yates rock hopped along the Salcombe side.  An undecided Tim Fells started the run on the Salcombe side, but gybed off to join Simon. 
 
Despite a two mile run on vastly different courses the divided fleet rejoined in close company at Crossways, by which time Hicks had established a decent lead.

 

 
On the beat back into the harbour, the gradient wind was clocking to the South East, and was doing its best to nullify the weak sea breeze, resulting in several restarts as the sailors debated whether to go left to find the new breeze, or right to make the most of the remaining sea breeze.

 

After a trip to Blackstone, the leaders crossed the tide from Millbay, with Chris Cleaves emerging from the pack to take the shortened course win, whilst Bill Jago and Mark Sancken, previously buried in the middle of fleet, kept to the beach side, found the breeze out of Mill Bay, to take second and third places from Tim Law.

~ David Greening.

Junior Race

What started out as nice Swerly breeze funnelling down the harbour soon turned into an afternoon of frustration that only Salcombe can provide. 

This week the start line proved challenging in a new way, as the starting hooter sounded the whole fleet was very close to the line and alas the double hooter signified that someone was over the line. Lewis Groves in his RS Tera chose to return to the line and start again, so the Toppers led by George Reynolds and followed by Charlotte Simmonds took the lead as they tacked with the tide up to Ferry Mark, Dougie Roberts managed to run aground on the way but quite what he was doing on the shoreline when the tide was with him, no-one was sure. Lewis began to catch the Toppers and managed to lead around the first mark and as they made their way towards Crossways Lewis kept his lead with George and Charlotte following close behind. As they approached Ditch End, the wind now with some East in it, proved elusive and crossing the tide to the Salcombe side was a potential disaster and not guaranteed to be much better when/if you got there. This led to the boats all ramping up together with places switching frequently as puffs of wind appeared and disappeared in front of their eyes.  Charlotte managed to be first around Crossways with Dougie, Lewis and George all in close proximity. As the fleet made their way back up the estuary to Ferry Mark Lewis pulled out a decent lead ahead of Charlotte in second and was comfortably first around the mark.

 

By now the wind was switching between NEerly and SEerly below the start line and SWerly and SEerly above it but with a huge void of wind off the fuel barge. For some inexplicable reason Lewis sailed straight into this void and was soon caught and passed by the entire fleet. Now stuck in the tide and with little wind that seemed to be from every direction at the same time, Lewiss afternoon was done, he was never going to get back in the race or even to Crossways. The Toppers, not making the same mistake as Lewis, were also struggling but had had just enough wind to get them to the mark and around it. Once around the mark George charged into a commanding lead and was first over the line by a long distance followed by Charlotte and Dougie with Lewis retiring back to shore in despair, the second week in a row that had thrown away a win.

However, that was not the end of the story; the start line still had a part to play in the afternoon as George & Lewis were both deemed OCS handing the win to Charlotte and second to Dougie. Lewis had known he was OCS having returned to the line to start again but seemingly he didnt quite go far enough back, so his retirement was perhaps the best outcome in a very frustrating afternoon for all.

 Any chance of a SWerly next week, please…

~ A. Groves