Salcombe May open meetingNational 12 Gul Series Round 2 at Salcombe Sensational spring sailing conditions greeted the National 12s that travelled to Salcombe YC over the May Day bank holiday weekend to contest the second round of the Gul Series. Race 1 on Saturday afternoon saw William Warren and Sophie Mackley straight out of the blocks to lead around Blackstone from John & Katy Meadowcroft. With the wind building on the 2 mile run back into the harbour it was important to find the right combination of being in the tide and the wind and maximising boatspeed. Tom Stewart and Nicky Bass then took up the challenge before Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne, appearing from nowhere, sneaked around the second mark in the lead. With the tide high the fleet then sailed back out of Yalton Creek to explore Frogmore Creek a further two miles up the harbour. It was at this point that Stewart & Bass made their break to establish what turned out to be a race winning lead. Behind them Warren & Mackley who had missed out on the run back into the harbour started to show good upwind speed to get back into second place. It was all looking good until a capsize approaching the final leeward mark relegated them to fifth, behind the Camm & Ballantyne who sneaked a second ahead of Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart, and the great Salcombe hope and teenage sensations Peter Ballantine and Theo Harris. Sunday morning dawned with lighter winds but splendid sunshine. Ballantine and Harris led off the line for another harbour tour. Always under pressure from a cavalcade of boats swapping places behind them they grimly hung on to their lead, showing great local knowledge about where to go and refusing to panic or be daunted. Later on in the race they managed to build a little bit more of a cushion to win the race ahead of Stewart & Bass. An admin error from the race team saw race 3 being inadvertently started with a sea course rather than a harbour course having been set. As the fleet lined up to start there was much discussion as to not just what the buoys might look like but whether indeed they would be in position so early in the season. Fortunately shortly after the start the error was noted and the race abandoned with a harbour course being set. Ballantine & Harris negotiated a tricky first beat better than anyone else and established a good early lead. However the sail up to Frogmore saw the fleet condense and Stewart & Bass take up the lead. After half an hour or so, Camm & Ballantyne woke up and started making progress through the fleet to finally clinch second place ahead of Warren & Mackley, showing for the third race in succession a fine ability to get “Salcombed” at a critical moment. On Monday morning, stronger winds were back. Camm & Ballantyne were early leaders and on the run out to the bargained good distance on the chasing back who were all interfering with each other. The leeward mark under the rocks was a pretty windless affair which put paid to the challenge of Warren & Mackley. A four way battle for second place emerged which went in favour of the consistent Stewart & Bass. The first boat without a T-foil was John & Mandy Thornton, whilst the Gul prize for greatest improvement when to Charlie & Helen Lloyd from Salcombe. The next Gul Event is Burton Week at Brixham YC over the Whitsun weekend. Peter Ballantine and Theo Harris will go as real contenders in a boat built to the Feeling Foolish design that won Burton Week 15 years ago and now with a home built t-foil rudder retro fitted to it. Overall results
Photos courtesy of John Murrell at http://www.fotoboat.com/
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