Page 6 - Masthead - Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 Yearbook

4 Fleet Reports
CRUISER RACING 2018
Well, here we are again, closing down on another year of Cruiser sailing. I think we can all agree that the weather has given us a beautiful season of great memories on the water. The UK is a truly great place to be when the weather is as kind as it has been in 2018.
It may be that the downturn in cruiser racing is reflective of the beautiful cruising weather that we have experienced. It may also be that we are expecting too much in the amount of racing time that people can fit into busy calendars! But who cares as long as you have all enjoyed yourselves.
Johnny and Kim are clearly way ahead of the rest of us in both racing attendance and performance so well done and thank you for their enormous support on the race track as well as the Rallies.
Peter Sandover is also regularly out
on the Range to support us as well as consistent runner-up to Johnny. Moonbeam is a very pretty boat and sails well. Ian Stewart and Chris Wincer have not been out so much this year however they are both good yachters and always give a good showing for themselves.
Two strong and supportive additions are James Jones in Glenbeigh Girl and John White in Robin, thank you and well done to you both.
The Yacht Club sent a team to Plymouth to compete in the Commodores Challenge and we faced some very competitive teams. Managing to come last was disappointing but we know that we can
do better. Thanks to those that made the participation possible.
BUT WHO CARES AS LONG AS YOU HAVE ALL ENJOYED YOURSELVES
The Regatta Sunday on the 16th September was a two-race event held in beautiful sailing conditions. This suited the two RS Elites sailed by Martin Beck and yours truly, with the result ending in a draw with one race win each. Our thanks must go to the Race Committee headed by Jeremy Gurney and Malcolm Bruce who also supplied the Committee Boat as well as Peter Colclough’s team for their Mark laying skills.
Looking to next year, we are planning to reduce the number of races to one per month in the hope that we can encourage more to join us without such a demanding schedule. As we are now laying marks in the Range each Sunday, we have decided
to offer an additional start to the dinghies, weather permitting.
If we had some of the Range races with longer legs, more like the Skerries race, do you think this would be more attractive? Please let us have your ideas.
Another interesting initiative is to see
if we can offer small keelboats a race in the Estuary around high tides on alternate Sundays. We would like to hear from those who would be interested.
Thanks to you all for your cheerful company. It is a pleasure to enjoy sailing with so many nice people.
Johnny Hearth
Rear Commodore Cruising