The Salcombe Clothing Company-sponsored open meeting at Salcombe attracted 64 boats Over the Bank Holiday weekend, Salcombe YC held its second major open meeting of the 2003 season when it hosted 19 Solos, 3 Lasers and 42 Salcombe Yawl the latter sailing in two fleets and sponsored again this year by The Salcombe Clothing Company.

In race one on Saturday afternoon the Solos were led home Godfrey Clark in 4120 after long-time leader Chris Cleaves in 4409 got tangled up in Salcombe’s notorious ‘washing machine’ wind effect and by the time he had been well and truly rinsed he was back in about sixth place, a masterful recovery saw him race back to third behind Harold Cranch in 4063. The Yawl Red fleet was won in style by Jon Alsop and Peter Howard in Yawl 160 with Paul and Susie Ellis (Y157) second and Ian and Sophie McCormick (Y178) third. The lasers were lead home by Sophie Cannon. Barney Greenhill (Y138) won the Yawl Blue fleet from David Townend (Y126).

Race two on Sunday morning saw Simon Gibbens in Y167 lead the Yawl red fleet home with Alsop snapping at his transom. In the Yawl Blue fleet David Townend did a horizon job on the fleet, finishing nearly five minutes ahead of second boat Mike Hicks (Y105) with class chairman Barney Greenhill a further three minutes away!

With a high tide and plenty of wind, a long distance race around all corners of the Estuary was set for race three. Both the Solo and Yawl Red fleets were over eager on the starts and general recalls resulted with the race officer implementing a 20 per cent penalty for the restarts, unsurprisingly this brought the fleets into line! With strong gusts hitting the fleets on the way out to Blackstone, the Yawl Blue fleet had an identity crisis and a number of boats lost their mizzen masts making the fleet look more like Dayboats than Yawls. Townend again led into the distance only for his boom to explode in a particularly spiteful gust. The reach back through Widegates from the Kingsbridge end of the estuary was especially fast and the leading boats finished the race in under an hour and a half. Hicks, crewed by owner Martin Brett took the Blue Fleet race with Alsop the Red Fleet, Cleaves the Solo’s and Daniel Jacobs the Lasers.

The final race on Monday morning started at low tide and a course to seaward at Blackstone then a loop at Gerston and Saltstone gave more enjoyable conditions for the competitors. The Lasers race was won by Jacobs with Cannon very close. The Solos, all finishing within ten minutes, were shown ‘how to do it’ by Keri Harris sailing a borrowed boat, with Cleaves second and Cranch third.

The Yawl red fleet was won on the water by Graham Pike in Y154, however, realising an earlier infringement, he retired after finishing allowing Gibbens to take the race from Will and Mandy Henderson in Y168. In a similar fashion the Blue fleets on the water victor retired after finishing handing the race and the meeting to Greenhill.

Overall Results

Salcombe Yawl Red Fleet

1st Y160 Bluebird John Alsop and Peter Howard

2nd Y167 Shag Simon Gibbens and Seve Reed

3rd Y168 Storm Will and Mandy Henderson

4th Y157 Tease Paul and Susie Ellis

5th Y173 Another Dilemma Malcolm Squire and Jonathon Britton

6th Y170 Guillemot Geof Gilson and Anthony Lofts

Salcombe Yawl Blue Fleet

1st Y138 Betty Barney and Juanita Greenhill

2nd Y105 Mandarin Mike Hicks and Martin Brett

3rd Y65 Avocet Stephen Parker-Swift and Peter Hodges

4th Y137 Puffin Martin and Cheryl Beck

5th Y107 Foxy Nick Walker and Maggie Hartley

6th Y99 Shoveler Graeme and Lesley Shove

Solo

1st 4409 Chris Cleaves Salcombe YC

2nd 4402 Keri Harris RNSA

3rd 4062 Harold Cranch Salcombe YC

4th 4120 Godfrey Clarke King George SC

5th 4429 Malcolm Bell Salcombe YC

6th 4081 Simon Dobson Salcombe YC

Lasers

1st Daniel Jacobs Topsham YC

2nd Sophie Cannon Datchet Water SC

3rd Miles Ashton Starcross YC