Gul Wrecker at North Devon Yacht Club

by Jon Miles 2 Nov 2017 08:03 PDT 29 October 2017

Rounding the gybe mark during the Gul Wrecker at North Deveon Yacht Club © Simon Fleet

The day dawned with forecast 4-5 from the North. Visitors were directed to the local hotel on the beach to rig and prepare to launch off the beach. The wind delivered and some great racing was in prospect.

The slowest boats went off at 11.10 with the RS Feva XL and Laser Radials followed 9 minutes later. The Race Officer set a P course with a true beat followed by 2 reaches and a run. With 2 hours racing ahead it was time to dig in. The quicker boats meantime were enjoying coffee in the club with the majority of monohulls starting about 30 minutes later. The Sprint 15s found an intruder on their start line as a traditional International Canoe joined them with the Dart 18s starting 7 minutes later.

The RS Feva with local sailor Anthony Grey crewed by his son lead for the first lap with the Lasers challenging. Soon Ben Flower in his standard Laser showed his pace.

As the local cats galloped through the tail of the fleet it was clear the Icon sailed by Paul and Nicki Bartlett and Simon Hawkes in a Phantom both from Starcross were showing their pace, along with a Scorpion sailed by Tim and Sarah Parsons from Lyme Regis SC.

Winners Frazer Manning & David Grant power past a Redwing at the gybe mark during the Gul Wrecker at North Deveon Yacht Club - photo © Simon Fleet

Unfortunately both Canoes were forced to retire with gear failures but it was a great day for the big cats. Frazer Manning crewed by David Grant cruised into the lead with Sam Heaton reveling in the stronger winds in his Sprint 15 took 2nd place. The cats took the top 6 places but the Bartletts in the Icon lead the monohulls in 7th, from Simon Hawks in the Phantom and Ben Flower in his Laser.

It was great to see the inaugural NDYC winter open pursuit attracting a total of 43 entries with 33 boats finishing the race.

Full results are posted on www.sailingsw.co.uk/sw-series with pictures and drone video on the web site pages.

Overall in the Sailing Southwest Winter Series the Parsons sailing their Scorpion top the ranking after 2 events. The series rolls on to Penzance for round 3 on the 12th November.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Type	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Laps
1	D18	7942	Frazer Manning	David Grant	NDYC	6
2	D15	1972	Sam Heaton		NDYC	6
3	D15	1545	Richard Chidwick		NDYC	6
4	D18	7442	Hector Bunclark	Daniel Craner	NDYC	6
5	D18	7876	Garry Jennings	Judy Hughes	NDYC	6
6	D18	7480	Tim Cobby	Emma Cobby	NDYC	6
7	Icon	18	Paul Bartlett	Nicki Bartlett	Starcross YC	6
8	Phantom	1454	Simon Hawkes		Starcross YC	6
9	Laser	213126	Ben Flower		Poly Steps Quay	6
10	Scorpion	2041	Tim Parsons	Sarah parsons	Lyme Regis	6
11	D15	1849	Liam Bunclark		NDYC	6
12	Merlin Rocket	3774	John Turner	Katie Frost	Lyme Regis	6
13	RS 500	508	Ian Mairs	Abi Campbell	BCYC	6
14	RS 400	1280	Iain Horlock		Exe SC	6
15	Blaze	710	Nick Ripley		Paignton	6
16	RS 400	411	Richard Cain	Barney Dearsly Starcross YC		5
17	D Zero	260	Stacey Bray		Porthpean	5
18	D Zero	11	Steve Bolland		Bristol Corinthian YC	5
19	Blaze	807	Mike Bell		Burfield	5
20	D15	525	Alex Raymont		NDYC	5
21	Blaze	713	Eric Evans		NDYC	5
22	Blaze	828	Jon Ironmonger		NDYC	5
23	Aero 7	2104	Richard Willows		Roadford Lake SC	5
24	Laser	WA2	Dan Barker		NDYC	5
25	Laser	151242	Tom Lewis		NDYC	5
26	D 15	1424	Ken Heason		NDYC	5
27	Laser	159397	Amy Barker		NDYC	5
28	Feva	6544	Anthony Gray	J Gray	NDYC	5
29	Scopion	1886	Peter Smith	Howard Stone	NDYC	5
30	Laser	7	M Selter		NDYC	5
31	Bahai	3	Matthew Brittan	D Brittan	NDYC	4
32	Redwing	211	Matt Muir	Ellie Hopper	NDYC	4
33	D18	5949	Marc Craner	Harry Gove	NDYC	4