Salcombe Yacht Club Festive Series Race 3

Salcombe Yacht Club Festive Series Race 3 on New Year’s Day 2022

by John Burn 2 Jan 17:47 AEDT 1 January 2022

It was unusually mild for the first day of 2022 (Happy New Year!) and the last race of the Festive Series with a fresh south westerly breeze on hand to deal with any lingering New Year hang-overs that may or may-not have been present.

Chris ‘Chubby’ Cleaves was OOD and he opted to keep the fleet in the main stretch of the harbour. The course 1-3-1-3-2-3 with all the windward marks to starboard and all leeward marks to port. This meant that the many spectators forming on both sides of the Estuary had the ability to follow the race from start to finish without the need to be out on the water.

The 20 strong fleet made up of a variety of different classes were all a little too eager to get away leading to a general recall. The race team promptly got the start sequence under way again with a cheeky black flag for good measure. Unfortunately this caught out David Greening who fell foul and was subsequently disqualified.

With a second crack of the whip the fleet were away, Will and Rob Henderson had a disastrous start by their high standards but fear not Henderson fans this was by no means the end of their race. They were joined by Tim Fells who, after a blistering start up the Portlemouth Shore felt that he needed to return to the start line, maybe they were feeling generous and wanted to give us all a chance?

The first beat to Blackstone was chaotic with everyone jostling for position but it was the 505 of Peter Colclough and Alister Morley that rounded first. The Squire Albacore was second around followed by the Borne/Burn Merlin. If Will, Rob and Tim were initially going easy on us all it certainly didn’t last long, they made their way through the fleet with ease, Tim rounding right behind the Merlin closely followed by Will and Rob. Simon Dobson and Mark Waterhouse lead the charge for the Solo fleet and rounded ahead of the rest of the pack.

The first downwind leg was a relatively calm affair, a bit of place changing occurred throughout the fleet but it was mostly just a follow my leader down to Crossways.

Battles were now forming all over the Estuary right the way through the pack, the Merlin lighting up the afterburners catching and passing the 505 on the second beat to Blackstone, Dobson and Waterhouse locked in a dog fight to be the first Solo, Tim leading the charge for the 3 Aeros and the Laser Radial of Esther McLarty defending against the onslaught from the Solos.

Things unfortunately took a turn for the worse for some as the capsizing now began. Gavin Stevens in his Solo went over right in the middle of the Estuary and managed to get wrapped around the mooring buoy. Simon Ballantine in his Aero 7 had a multiple capsize event, James Greenhill just off mark 2 decided to take a dip, but probably most notably was the Squire Albacore. On the last beat with the finish line in touching distance AJ attempted to clear weed off the rudder, this was not a good move. They got hit by a gust and over they went effectively destroying their overall result in the process.

Dobson held off the challenge form Waterhouse and was the first Solo, on corrected time his performance earned him 2nd place with Waterhouse taking 3rd.

1st place went to Will and Rob Henderson, after starting last they showed that in Salcombe anything can happen and you never give up! This meant that they took the overall series win, Simon 2nd and Paul Ellis 3rd.

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	PY	26 Dec	1 Jan	Pts
1st	Lark	2157	Will Henderson	Mandy Henderson	1070	2.5	1	3.5
2nd	Solo	5898	Simon Dobson		1143	2.5	2	4.5
3rd	Solo	5574	Paul Ellis		1143	1	5	6
4th	RS AERO 7	1505	Tim Fells		1068	6	4	10
5th	Solo	5951	Billy Jago		1143	4	7	11
6th	Solo	5769	Ed Stephens		1143	10	8	18
7th	Solo	5406	James Greenhill		1143	8	17	25
8th	ALBACORE	8252	AJ Squire	Shelia Squire	1040	13	12	25
9th	Solo	5743	Nigel Blazeby		1143	17	10	27
10th	RS AERO 7	1746	Simon Ballantine		1068	12	16	28
11th	RS AERO 9	1752	Dan Bridger		1019	15	14	29
12th	Solo	5792	David Greening		1142	11	BFD	32
13th	Solo	5411	Stuart Cartwright		1143	23	18	41
14th	Solo	5364	Mark Waterhouse		1143	DNC	3	70
15th	Solo	5879	Chris Cleaves		1143	5	DNC	72
16th	MERLIN?ROCKET	3682	Ross Borne	John Burn	980	DNC	6	73
17th	Solo	5757	Julian Meek		1143	7	DNC	74
18th	Solo	5313	Jonathan Reynolds		1143	DNC	9	76
19th	Solo	5096	Robin Hodges		1143	9	DNC	76
20th	Solo	5311	Mike Knowles		1143	DNC	11	78
21st	505	8050	Peter Colclough	Alistair Morley	903	DNC	13	80
22nd	Solo	5453	Bruce Hattersley		1143	14	DNC	81
23rd	Laser Radial	213150	Esther McLarty		1147	DNC	15	82
24th	PHANTOM	1417	Olly Alexander		999	16	DNC	83
25th	Solo	5088	Tristan Squire		1143	18	DNC	85
26th	Solo	4940	Geoff Allen		1143	19	DNC	86
27th	RS AERO 7	2060	Amy Cleaves		1068	20	DNC	87
28th	Solo	5876	Gavin Stevens		1143	DNC	RET	88
29th	RS AERO 7	3024	Geoffrey Cox		1068	21	DNC	88
30th	Solo	5183	Malcolm Mackley		1143	22	DNC	89
31st	RS TERA PRO	2749	Edward Alexander		1364	RET	DNC	92