Winter Series : Race 1 - Handicap
Published 11:29 on 29 Oct 2023
The first race of the Winter Series certainly felt like the end of the long, gentle autumn. 14°C, a force of 5/6 southerly, and the forecast of rain. Remarkably, four yawls turned up, plus the 505 of Peter Colclough, crewed by Alistair Morley, and the ILCA 4.7 of Edward Alexander.
Thereafter, on the water wasn't as fierce as some had anticipated; the wind was steady, and the ebb tide hadn't kicked up too much wave. The start was uneventful once the 505 realised that we were sailing under Salcombe yawl rules, and a port tack yawl has priority over lesser boats on starboard.
That misunderstanding sorted out the 505 disappeared in a cloud of spray. Its progress was interrupted only by a beaching when the lifting rudder lifted at terminal velocity. In the yawls, Y159 of Dan Bridger, crewed by Stephen Galvin, powered into the lead and were never headed; Y145, Greg, and Clare Hoar were safely in second, aided by a recorded plane on the run, against the tide, of 9.4 knots.
Y15 Mike Knowles and crew David Fitzsimons were 3rd, and the dream team of Rob Adams and Darius Panahy were lagging in 4th. (As they didn't come to the bar afterwards, I don't know if they had an excuse.) Edwards ILCA was upright whenever I saw it, and I suspect it was only the wind shifting south-easterly and dropping at the end that stopped him from winning.
Overall, the times were pretty close. Yawl 159 first, 505 second, and ILCA 198156 third.
To cap off a good day out, the handicap fleet made it ashore before the most apocalyptic rain came down, killing the wind and drowning the Solo and Merlin Rocket fleets.
By - Dan Bridger
Photos By - Lucy Burn
