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GILL Series 2: Salcombe YC
Salcombe Yacht club
hosted round 2 of the 2009 sponsored Gill series. 9 local boats were
joined by visitors from as
far afield as Northampton and Trent Valley.
Tom Stewart and Liz
Ross who did a good job of throwing away round one (Burghfield) seemed
determined to make amends. They
led at the first mark in race one and pulled away to win from current
Gill champions Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne, who in turn worked their
way through the fleet.
Race two on
Saturday morning started in a strong Northerly. Current cadet Champion
Arthur Henderson crewed by Mary Henderson led the charge off the start
line, but got a little too low on the fetch to the first mark. Tom and
Liz again led and then pulled away from the pack on the long beat to
Gerston. Kevin Iles and Jane Wade made significant progress and stormed
through into second place. The fleet then enjoyed a challenging seat of
the pants (one cheek behind the transom) ride back to the bag. As often
the Blackstone end of the course had completely different conditions,
Tom and Liz had the pain of being becalmed within yards of the leeward
mark while the fleet caught up and sailed through. Jon Ibbotson and
Charlotte Stewart kept their wits about them and beat John and Mandy
Thornton in a close finish.
The third race went
to Stewart and Ross again who worked up from a shaky start to overhaul
Graham and Zoe who held an early lead. Jon and Charlotte finally worked
through the chaos and pulled up to third.
Going into race
four (on Monday morning) the Thorntons, Graham and Zoe, Jon and
Charlotte and Tom and Liz were all able to win the open. The protagonists
all opted for relatively safe starts up the line from the supposedly
favoured Mill Bay shore. They then all looked a bit daft when a port
shift left them stranded and unable to lay the start line, meanwhile
John and Katy Meadowcroft had a flying start coming out from the shore.
Derek and Christina Davis saw some breeze on the right, crossed the tide
twice and rounded the top mark behind the Meadowcrofts. From the
potential victors John and Charlotte made the best beat while Graham and
Zoe got caught up in a messy bout of roll tacking. Tom and Liz had a
good run to Gerston and pulled through to fourth place. In the
increasing breeze they worked through the less experienced crews and on
the run to Gerston second time pulled into the lead. Meanwhile Jon and
Charlotte and the Camms did the same to finish second and third on the
line.
Thanks to Gill’s
generous sponsorship the prizes were spread down the fleet.
Overall results
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