Page 11 - Salcombe Masthead 2020

system settled over us for Merlin Week. Setting courses on days when the breeze starts off in the north-east but then fills
in from the south makes life difficult for Principal Race Officers David Greening,
Ian Stewart and myself, but we do our best! At least the sailors had plenty of nice beach time to recover from the vagaries
of the harbour. Testament to the enduring popularity of the event is the long waiting list for entry into next year’s edition. We owe a huge thank you to Graham and Fiona Cranford Smith and the many volunteers who support them for putting on such a fabulous event year after year. The support of our Harbour Master, Cameron Sims-Sterling, and his on the water team lead by Phil Goodhead is also critical to the success of these two events. The Harbour Authority allow us to run full width starts for 60 boats whilst their patrol boats hold back traffic during the start sequence. Long-time sponsors Sharp’s Doom Bar were replaced by Salcombe Gin this year and we are much appreciative of their support too.
Salcombe Gin also sponsor our own Regatta Week which this year saw
180 entries, an increase over last year which is a pleasing divergence from the nationwide trend towards lower numbers. We introduced more fleet racing this
year and reduced the handicap from two divisions to one. This seems to have been well-received by the sailors and the race management teams alike so we plan to repeat the formula in 2020. The first two weeks of August were unusually windy this year with several south westerly
gales blowing through. Racing had to be cancelled on four separate days across the two Regatta weeks, including two days of the SYC Regatta – a very unusual occurrence. A decision to cancel racing
CONDITIONS CHANGED MARKEDLY BETWEEN LATE MORNING WHEN THE CALL WAS MADE AND EARLY AFTERNOON.
is never taken lightly but the safety of competitors, and indeed other harbour users, is of paramount importance. The decisions to cancel were correct at the time of making but with the benefit of hindsight it is probably true that racing could have gone ahead on the Wednesday afternoon of Regatta Week. Conditions changed markedly between late morning when the call was made and early afternoon. In order to give our Race Officers more options
in this sort of situation, we will be adding
a new Sailing Instruction in 2020. If the Answering Pennant is flown over flag D, racing is postponed and competitors must remain ashore until the signal is lowered. If it is decided that racing can go ahead, no race will start until one hour after AP over D is brought down. We will also be making the wearing of buoyancy aids compulsory when racing.
On the subject of race management, all regular dinghy racers are expected to undertake three duties throughout the year, either in the Watch House or in a patrol boat. You can either sign up for these on days that suit you best or wait to be allocated an empty slot by the SYC office. If you are allocated a duty that you cannot undertake, it is your responsibility to swap that duty with somebody else
– please don’t phone up the office in
the week before saying that you cannot make it. A further point to remember is
that the Dutyman system only rosters one person for each patrol boat however patrol boats should be crewed two up. It is the responsibility of members allocated patrol boat duties to recruit their own crew. We rely on this system of volunteers to enable racing to take place. If people let us down, racing might have to be postponed or even cancelled and none of us want that.
Berthing for dinghies is a perennial problem for the club as we are not blessed with a large dinghy park next door. The popularity of racing means that there are always new boats that need berthing. Currently many Juniors are buying Lasers as they move on from the Club’s Toppers and this is something to be encouraged and accommodated. The Sailing Committee
has been working to extend our berthing facilities at ‘the tank’ and at the far end of Batson carpark. We are hopeful that these efforts will bear fruit in 2020 but to be sure of being allocated a space, race regularly, do the quota of three duties and help with the regular grass cutting working parties.
By the time that you are reading this the 2019 season will be drawing to a close. We look forward to another packed programme of racing in 2020, as well as the celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of the Club’s foundation.
Simon Dobson
Fleet Reports 9