A Postcard From Salcombe

[David W (Guest)]

Well, the sun is shining, the winds are the usual Salcombe mix, there are 17 entries and we're all having great
John and Mandy lead off the line on Sunday and sailed away chased closely by Tim Laws and Sam, Team Johnson took up the chase and managed to pass Shiney Disco Balls on the final beat.
Monday saw Bruce sailing a blinding first beat out to sea with Chris and Kate Edwards and David Wilkins and Lotty gaining places sailing under the cliffs to round 2nd & 3rd. A VERY long run then took the fleet to Gerston. This saw John & Mandy slipping through to 2nd place and the Edwards dropping back to 4th. A long lasting gust for the following pack took them several hundred yards right up to the transoms of the Edwards before it fizzled out. David & looty managed to creep away but the race for 4th became wide open with Tim & Sam again showing brilliant boat speed to take this place. At the front there was a close battle with Bruce and friend taking the Thorntons on the beat.
Today it was again the Thorntons turn - their downwind speed saw them build up a comfortable lead with Bruce again in hot pursuit. Places all behind them cahnged several times but ended up with Bruce 2nd again and Tim & Sam 3rd. Mike Day and Ann Murch took 4th.
More sun forecast for tomorrow!

Wish you were here!

David W
3481

[Roger Brisley (Guest)]

Wish I was there also

Keep posting the results......

Has any body any post nationals sails they want to dispose of??

Also can any body tell me if the top of a design 8 centre board case should be horizontal;  I'm trying to be a bit more scientific about basic setup but following the association tuning guide things look a bit weird like cb case slopes down toward the bow.....

Roger B

3334

[bimdaser]

Great to hear about the exciting racing in Salcombe. Top marks for write ups Dave - keep 'em coming. Looks like Salcombe is shaping up to be as exciting a Burton Week, good luck to everyone for the rest of the week.

However all this fantastic sailing is giving me huge withdrawl symptoms. Have to get out on the water soon...

Bim
3410

[David W (Guest)]

 ::)Woops - Apologies to Tim - he and Sam actualy got psat Bruce yesterday to take 2nd. The top 3 places are all very close between Thorntons, Johnsons and Tim Laws the battle behind is also very close between Chris & Kate, Mike and Anne and your reporter. Dave Greening is also joining in the fun and Becca Johnson has been showing good speed. Mike & Alex Storey are getting up to speed so we wait to see what the next half of the week will show.


This beats working!  

[observer (Guest)]

wednesday

1 Chris & Kate Edwards
2 Jon & Mandy Thornton
3 Tim Laws & Sam Game

Chris Edwards is still the man!

[David W (Guest)]

More sunshine and a pleasant force 2-3 for Wednesday's racing. The strong tide caught several boats out at the incident filled start. Tim & Sam, John & Mandy and Mike & Alex all elected to restart on hearing the recall signal. Mike & Ann and Bruce & Phillipe locked gunwhales and a certain un-named helm dropped his tiller in front of your reporter & Lill causing both boats to stop on the start signal!
Chris & Kate and Becca and Claire Johnson made impeccable starts and sailed off in to the distance leaving the rest of us untying ourselves from our various problems.
Tim & Sam, Bruce & Phillipe and John & Mandy all made good ground the Close reach( mainly) to Gerston and the fetch back throught the bag. Norman & Karen Brown in their Design 8 also made very good use of the shifts and got up to 6th place. David & Josie Greening found a BIG hole off  Snapes point and lost several places.   The beat up to Yalton saw Chris increasing his lead with Becca still in second place. The run back towards crossways had us weaving on port tack amongst the upcoming Yawls and then continuing to Blackstone. (This is the bit which I liked best as our shore hugging tactics took us past Norman & Karen and opened up a comfortable gap between us and the following pack). Another beat to Crossways, run to Mill Bay and beat to finish - somewhere amongst this was where the results ended up as reported by observer above - it was only on the last beat where Becca & Claire finally let Bruce past (probably so she wouldn't have to make the early morning trip to the baker for today's breakfast!). So Bruce collected a 4th Becca was 5th and managed our 3rd 6th of the week (we must surely get the consistency prize).
Sophie Mackley is enjoying her trawling this week, Malcolm is enjoying his individual courses (always pays to go the other way!). Meds is enjoying his OK sailing with a first yesterday and Chris Mayhew scored a 5th in a Laser.
Another crew for me today as Jenny has joined us  - there is talk of rain sometime later today, hopefully overnight with more of this sunshine tomorrow.
We're hoping to see a big turnout of juniors in Twelves for the Blickhorne trophy which was postponed on Tuesday due to a lack of wind.

Interesting conversation in the bar last night - the possibility of a Yawl challenge on one of the open meeting weekends here!

Cheers

David
  3481

[David W (Guest)]

Sorry not to have kept up with the last results but had to leave the house by 10 on Friday AM.

Thursdy was Mike and Ann's day (forgive the pun!). They had a cracking start, managing to avoid the melee at the Portlemouth end of the line as the fleet tried to keep out of the tide for the beat to Blackstone. There were many nervous moments for all as we each tried to find the best route through the bag to and from Gertson. On the way back against the strong tide Mike and Bruce went right, Chris went left, John and Tim went left,right,left, we went right and Dave Greening right then left. Each route looked a bit dodgy for a while but Mike and Ann managed to hold their lead to be followed home by John & Mandy, Chris and Kate and Tim and Sam who passed Bruce and Pierre by crossing to the Portlemouth Shore opposite Batson Creek. Sailing with Jenny this time we followed Bruce up the Salcombe side.
Unfortunately Chris & Kate were to discover that they were OCS at the start  . John and Mandy's consistency had now given them the week with a day to spare.

Friday was packing up day and it rained  very heavily at lunchtime. I was lacking a crew and my now homeless shore party were definitely lacking enthusiasm for a day on the beach with the prospect of packing up later so no race for me. Chris and Kate also missed the last race to start the journey home. Didn't really see much but 1st 3 were John & Mandy, Tim & Sam followed by Mike & Ann.

A highlight of the week must have been seeing 10 Twelves being saile by juniors competeting for the Blinkhorne Trophy on Thursday. They were joined by an Enterprise and 2 Solos. Well done to Charlie Game who won the event with Tim in the front of his boat.

So there ends another fantastic Salcombe Week. The boat is now hosed and polished, the sailing kit washed and the provisional booking made for next year's accommodation! Look forward to seeing many more there next year for another brilliant event.

Finaly a big THANK YOU to John Murrrel and friends at Slcombe Yacht Club for making us feel so welcome and ensuring that we have such a good time.

Cheers

David
3481

[Dave Croft]

Nice to readabout Salcombe and some familiar names, shame there were only 17 boats.  I think it's the first year in about 25 years (or more!) that we haven't managed to get to Salcombe with any of the boats let alone do one of the dinghy weeks. Salcombe cold-turkey!!! Last week we were at Portland for the Cadet champs with the next generation. Just in case you were wondering where a certain Mr Salcombe (Hendserson) was, he was at Portland too. Cheers, Dave

[Kate Edwards (Guest)]

   Salcombe was fantastic and the weather was awesome!!!! Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great week!

I have to say I was quite impressed with the old man - he has finally realised that getting his feet wet is not soooo bad and I think it was this lack of faffing that really helped our boat speed! Maybe next year I will be able to convince him that sand isn't the curse that he believes it to be and we'll see you all on Mill Bay!

Above all, Salcombe reaffirmed to me what a great bunch the 12s are! I don't think you'd find in many competitive fleets a boat lying in 3rd place cheering on the boat lying in 1st - but you do in the 12s! With such encouragement and support, no wonder the 12s dominated the week's junior race! Nice one!  

[sophie (Guest)]

talking of the crews race - well done Charlie and Tim. Please could either of you relay to sarah that I have her glass and will get it to Starcross somehow...

even tho distracted with getting the nets in on the yawl it looked like fun in the twelves, and glorious sunshine for a week is never a bad thing.

well done John and Mandy and all the other race winners... not forgetting Meds in his OK (who I am sure will advocate that generally the best sailing is in the afternoon)

[dreamer (Guest)]

[The Ancient Mariner (Guest)]

Ah, you MUST be talking of Salcombe, apart from being colour blind - the dinghy park is sand coloured!
Yup - you launch near the Bar (stamp of approval by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his famous poem) into a sheltered harbour, the access into the Range is easy - just turn left when launching; the waves can be as big as you dream of.
The tide and breeze - thats the differcult part!
Line starts  - definately!
Big fleets? Usually.......

And as to the reaches, the top of the estuary with the prevailing wing gives an awsome blast both ways!

Am I biased, slightly!

What ever, I hope that everyone enjoyed themselves!

[MikeDay]

Well, we're just back after an extended trip down to Cornwall and some surfing on the way back at Bantham.  And it was a great week, as Dave and all the rest have said - fantastic racing, super weather and brain-gurgling decision-making.  The race out to Starhole under the cliffs on Monday and the Bag against the tide on Thursday will remain long in the memory.  

Let's hope for the same next year plus even more boats.  Final top 6 were:
1. John & Mandy Thornton
2. Tim Laws & Sam Game
3. Bruce Johnson & Pierre
4. Mike Day & Anne Murch
5. Dave Wilkins & various
6. Dave & Josie Greening

Mike D
N3496