The Gul Allspars Final Fling 2018

After Storm Callum had passed which put pay to any racing on Saturday, crews arrived late on Saturday afternoon to convene in the warmth of the Royal Western Yacht Club for the competitors briefing followed by an exceptional talk from dinghy sailing legend Mike McNamara, and to make good use of the facilities, well the bar anyway!

Sunday morning presented the 38 competitors with heavy rain and dark cloudy sky's, with hardly a breath of wind in sight. Fortunately once rigged and ready to go afloat the wind had arrived, a shifty, gusty North Westerly breeze. On the racecourse it was evident that an interesting day lay ahead, with several masses of post Callum weed for the competitors to navigate on the way around the course!

Gul Allspars Final Fling in Plymouth Sound - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Race one began in 10-12 knots, a big shift off the line meant the left had side was the way to go, with those on the right now looking out of it. The faster boats lead the way with the B14's, amongst the first bunch to round on the windward leeward course, but they were unable to shake off the slower boats. The early gibe paid as well as the avoidance of weed which was giving local moth sailor Dan Ellis a headache. The Wayfarer helmed by Liam Arrowsmith was going very well in a breeze that began to look a little fickle, along with Janet & Alan Ritchie & Steve Mitchell / Polly Newman both in Scorpions. The race was shortened after three laps with the Wayfarer stretching their legs to take the win, from the Tim & Sarah Parsons in the Merlin Rocket and The Ritchie's in their Scorpion.

Gul Allspars Final Fling in Plymouth Sound - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

The wind had dropped and shifted right significantly enough to shift the course further out into the sound, and into the now ebbing tide. The race team did a good job of resetting the course for a second windward leeward race. Race 2 got underway in very little breeze, thankfully this filled back in soon after the start from the right hand side of the course, this allowed some to pull themselves back into the race after a tricky start. The VX One, helmed by Simon Hawkes was now showing some good boat speed, without the handicap of weed around the keel, they went on to revel in the increasing breeze and take the win, followed by the international Canoe of local sailor Chris Hampe, with Janet Ritchie showing consistency with third. The B14's were also enjoying the increased breeze with Mark Watts taking 4th and Kathy Sherrat 5th. Tim & Sarah Parsons rounded out the top 6 to stay in contention overall.

Gul Allspars Final Fling in Plymouth Sound - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

The Marquee race 3 was a long distance race, consisting of a short beat to round the windward mark and head ¾ mile downwind to the breakwater, and out of the sound before gybing along the breakwater and back in through the western entrance for the 1.8 mile beat to the finish. The strengthening breeze had stayed in and those on the starboard end of the line look favourable, lead off the line by visiting RS200 sailors Dave & Ed Stubbs from Lyme Regis.

Gul Allspars Final Fling in Plymouth Sound - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Dan Ellis was now in full flight and able to stretch his legs on the larger course, coming back into the sound before any of the other competitors has left, completing the course in just 26 minutes to take the handicap win but over a minute from the fast charging Canoe of Chris Hampe, with Tim and Sarah taking third and the overall win from the Scorpion of Janet & Alan Ritchie who came home 10th in race 3. The VX One of Simon Hawkes took third overall, with all races to count in the revised format.

At the prize giving many goodies were donated by sponsors Gul and Allspars these were shared through the fleet, with local youth sailors Dan Boyns and Jacob Prigg getting a prize for beating an RS800 to the windward mark in their RS Feva, with an additional prize giving for the B14 TT Circuit also taking place. Thanks go to the club for a great event in tricky conditions, with the storm playing havoc with plans for Saturdays sailing, as well as the event sponsors for making it all possible. Don't miss out, 2019 planning is already underway for a similar date in October next year.

Overall Results: