AM: Tamar Trophy 10

Eleven boats glided out onto the water for the midday race, on the sort of golden early 
autumn day that frequently appears in British Tourist Authority adverts but which has 
in reality been sadly rare of late.  Faced by only a short beat to the Dam buoy into the 
south-easterly breeze, a good start was at a premium and with boats divided between 
port and starboard starts, there was keen competition for an early advantage; Neil 
Wallace's Wayfarer clawed along the start line on starboard and called for water on 
Steve Axford's port-tack Laser, forcing Steve to turn away.  Turning immediately 
onto port, Neil was quickly at the mark and with an elegant pirouette around Dam 
worthy of a 'Strictly Come Dancing' contender, was away clear and heading up the 
lake.   Steve Axford was unwilling to be brushed off so easily, however, and with a 
bulldog-like tenacity continued to harry Neil round the course for the remainder of the 
race, catching the Wayfarer on the downwind legs only to lose ground again on the 
beats.  Behind them, the Lasers of Jane Chadney, Katie Leveridge and Simon Veal 
occupied the mid-fleet positions.  Absent from the Laser ranks was Jane Anderson, 
who instead was trying out her brand spanking new Topper; far from contending with 
the usual teething problems of an untried boat, however, she was soon leaving the 
Otter and the other Toppers trailing in her wake.

As the race progressed, fluctuations in the wind strength and direction meant that 
boats could quickly change positions: in the Wanderer, Mike Ford and Adeney Pooley 
managed to overtake Simon Veal for a spell before falling back.  On the beat from the 
West mark to the Inlet buoy, a favourable windshift let John Duncalf sail direct to the 
mark, in one fell swoop reeling in the substantial advantage that Jane Anderson had 
built up.  Adam Pollard, sailing his Pico two-up with brother Nathan, was showing 
impressive maturity, keeping contact with the rest of the fleet for the first two laps 
before gradually falling back.  By the end, the Wayfarer crossed the finish line over 
forty seconds ahead of Steve Axford, but Neil had failed to put sufficient distance 
between himself and Jane Anderson, leaving Jane a comfortable winner on handicap 
and Neil having to be content with second.  John Duncalf would have done enough to 
gain a hard-earned podium position, but then learnt that he had been adjudged to be 
over the line at the start and so was disqualified, thus letting through the Otter into 
third place.

Results: 1st Jane Anderson (Topper)
2nd Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
3rd John Buckett (Otter)
4th Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
5th Steve Axford (Laser)
6th Mike Ford and Adeney Pooley (Wanderer)
7th Jane Chadney (Laser)
8th Katie Leveridge (Laser)
9th Simon Veal (Laser)
10th Adam Pollard and Nathan Pollard (Pico)
John Duncalf (Topper) dsq

PM: Pursuit Race 

A rescheduled Pursuit race in the afternoon gave the opportunity for the slower boats 
to get away clear in undisturbed air at the front of the fleet.  First out of the blocks 
was Vicki Duncalf, but with the wind tending to become lighter, it quickly became 
apparent that it was likely to be hard going for the Topper sailors in the fleet.  The 
intricacies of boat and helm handicap gave John Savage an early start in the relatively 
fast Solo; despite a slow getaway to the Dam mark, he made a good recovery and 
began to display flashes of impressive boatspeed in the gentle breezes.  For much of 
the race, the Solo was locked in a three-way battle with Mike Ford in  the Wanderer 
and John Buckett in the Otter, with the lead frequently changing hands and none of 
the trio managing to make a clearcut break.  Amongst the middle starters, Adam and 
Nathan Pollard were making their first appearance in a Pursuit race, negotiating the 
fickle zephyrs round the Dam buoy in company with Jane Anderson and making a 
tidy getaway in their Pico. Last to get away was the Scorpion, with Paul Whybrow 
faced with a daunting 14 minutes to make up on the lead boat and with relatively little 
wind available to help close the gap.  

As the race entered its later stages, the Solo, Wanderer and Otter were still close 
together as they made the turn at the Pinky buoy, only to be confronted by the massed 
cavalry of the faster boats in the fleet, who had found a windier patch lower down the 
lake and began quickly eating up the gap to the early leaders, like the pack in the Tour 
de France hauling in a failed breakaway group.   First through was Jane Chadney in 
her Laser, who made short work of passing all three erstwhile leaders and rapidly 
vanished off into the middle distance.  Having negotiated the turn at the West mark, 
John Savage then fell foul of a mainsheet which failed to uncleat, leading to his Solo 
making its debut capsize.  With the minutes ticking down towards the end of the race, 
Jane Chadney had victory sewn up but four boats were still in close contention for 
second place, the Scorpion and Wayfarer having caught the Wanderer and Otter.  
With the quartet all heeling in a brief interval of stronger breeze, shoreside spectators 
were hard-pressed to predict which of the four boats would prevail.  However, after a 
deftly managed spinnaker gybe from Steve Axford at Inlet, rapidly followed by 
another gybe round the point, it looked as though second place was going to fall to the 
Scorpion, but in the dying seconds Neil Wallace in the Wayfarer somehow managed 
to find a little gust to retake second and get the nod from the Race Officer.  

 Results: 

1st Jane Chadney (Laser)
2nd Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
3rd Paul Whybrow and Steve Axford (Scorpion)
4th Mike Ford and Adeney Pooley (Wanderer)
5th John Buckett (Otter)
6th Katie Leveridge (Laser)
7th Simon Veal (Laser)
8th Jane Anderson (Topper)
9th John Savage (Solo)
10th John Duncalf (Topper)
11th Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
12th Adam Pollard and Nathan Pollard (Pico)