Page 24 - Masthead - Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 Yearbook

22 Fleet Reports
HANDICAP FLEET REPORT
Fast Handicap
Chris Cleaves won the Sailing Club Series, first of the top three fast handicappers of which all three were Phantoms. Numbers have now doubled in this new, growing fleet on the estuary, with six in this emerging competitive class. Chris, Bruce Hattersley and Paul Ellis have joined Alistair Morley, Scud and John McClaren. Chris, Bruce
and Alistair came 2nd, 3rd and 4th in
the Summer Series, beaten only by old handers Charlie and Helen Lloyd in their National 12. The Phantoms, like our other new growing fleet, the Aeros now have their own open weekend, but in the Salcombe Gin Regatta they stay in the Fast Handicap fleet, with Alistair winning that, followed closely by those legendary hardcore
repeat visitor/members, Fran Gifford and Sophie Mackley, in Fran’s Merlin Rocket. Dan Bridger came 3rd in the regatta, reinforcing the status of Aeros, alongside the Phantoms.
Looking through the competing boats
in the sailing club series, the summer series and the Salcombe Gin Regatta, it
is clear that the National 12s, the Merlin Rockets and the RS200s and 400s are
still serious and regular contenders in
the Fast Handicap fleet and the regular competitors are all still doing healthily with their performances: Squires (in various assortments) and Cranford Smiths in Merlin Rockets; Lloyds, Browns, Days, Blazebys and Ballantine’s in National 12s; McLarens, Janzens and Colcloughs in their RS 400s.
Fast handicappers also had a healthy presence in the Bucket and Spade Series, with Peter Ballantine returning to his home stretch from Uni to come first in his Laser, relegating three rather good solo sailors (Billy Jago, Simon Yates and Malcolm Mackley) to 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the process.
ANOTHER WELCOME GROUP ARE THE LADIES WHO LAUNCH
Medium Handicap
Peter Cook and Janet Exelby continue to dominate the Medium Handicap fleet in their Firefly, clearly enjoying the position they occupy since choosing to sail this classic wooden dinghy. They won both Sailing Club Series and Summer Series. In the Sailing Club Series they were followed closely by Clare Booth (in her Aero7), Andrew Groves and Esther McClarty
(in their Laser Radials), showing that
the regular club members still perform consistently well against good competition.
In the Summer Series, Andrew, Clare and Esther were still amongst the top performers but what has been really noticeable over the Sailing Club and Summer Series (and Gin Club Regatta) is
the new and welcome arrival to the Medium Handicap fleet of cadets graduating
into this fleet with 4.7 Lasers. George Alexander, Emily Janzen, Ruari McColl and Will Meek all fall into this group on a regular basis, with others coming along every now and then. Another welcome group are
the Ladies Who Launch who have started coming along for club racing. Colleen Pope and Nicki Dobson were already racing (occasionally) but have been joined by Jackie Humphries and Nicky Sheppard and, hopefully, many more in the future. Meanwhile, we say goodbye to Elodie Grenen (and her Laser) who’s off to read naval architecture... joining the hordes of Salcombe sailors at Southampton Uni. Nicki Dobson