Commodore 4

Force 4 winds with gusts of force 6 and heavy rain were forecast. In the event the powerful and highly variable winds were certainly present but the rain kept off. There was another constraint on sailing; Tamar Lake was hosting a major fishing competition with some sixty fishermen lining the shore. With sailors having to keep thirty yards off any shore with fishermen on it, the upper narrower part of the Lake was not available for racing. To achieve an hour’s competition, the Officer of the Day, Robin Spiller, designed a short course, covering the pontoon end and the centre of the Lake. There were to be six laps.

Adam Hilton’s Bosun, with Paul Petvin and Linda Spiller crewing, led the little fleet across the starting line a moment before the horn blew; he had to turn back and started last. Brian Pollard’s Bosun, with Cilla Gilbert, was the first legal starter with Nathan Pollard (Laser 4.7) and Geoff Floyd, who’d equipped his Solo with a cut-down sail, following. The Solo was still a handful and coping with near disaster let the Hilton/Petvin/Spiller Bosun past. Nathan Pollard’s little 4.7 sail was quite enough to power the boat around the short course at breakneck speed and he had lapped the field well before the end.

1. Nathan Pollard (Laser 4.7)
2. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
3. Adam Hilton, Paul Petvin and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
4. Geoff Floyd (Solo)

Sailboat 4

Over lunch the winds, ignoring all instructions from the meteorologists, dropped substantially. Linda Spiller and Jane Anderson were still wary and went out in a Laser 4.7 and Topper respectively. Nathan Pollard threw caution to the winds and let them blow him round the course in a full-sailed Laser. The Bosuns retained their small sails but were now helmed by Cilla Gilbert and Paul Petvin respectively. Nathan Pollard soon took the lead and again lapped much of the fleet. An exception was Linda Spiller who held second position throughout and finished four minutes behind Nathan. Novice helm Paul Petvin kept ahead of Cilla Gilbert until near the end but Geof Floyd, who’d not had a good start, took his Solo past everybody except the two leading Lasers in the course of the race.

1. Jane Anderson (Topper)
2. Linda Spiller (Laser 4.7)
3. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
4. Cilla Gilbert and Brian Pollard (Bosun)
5. Geof Floyd (Solo)
6. Paul Petvin and Adam Hilton (Solo)

Thanks  were given to Robin Spiller who ran the races and to Mandy and Brian Pollard for photography.

Midweek Mug 2

Gentle north-easterly winds which threatened to disappear but didn’t; cold but in the end, not rainy. Linda Spiller in the Laser with the big sail got away well, beating to Inlet where she met Inlet’s usual dodgy breezes. Adam Hilton’s Aero 7 followed with Rob Spiller’s Streaker third and Cilla Gilbert’s Bosun, with Jane Chadney crewing, fourth. That was the pattern of the race. The main variant seemed to be the Aero’s high pointing – on the beat Adam reduced the gap to Linda and increased it to Robin. When they were reaching and running Linda pulled away and Robin caught up.

1. Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
2. Robin Spiller (Streaker)
3. Adam Hilton (Aero 7)
4. Cilla Gilbert and Jane Chadney (Bosun)

Cup 4

Adam Hilton’s Aero 7 was first over the line followed by Jane Anderson’s Laser Radial, but Cilla Gilbert, with Brian Pollard in the familiar pale blue Club Bosun, was coming up fast, the only question being whether she was too far to leeward to get round the first buoy, Zebra, without tacking. She made it. After the third buoy, West, Mike Coulson, in the Wayfarer with Viki, came steaming up from a seventh place start with geneker flying on the long reach to Far. By the end of the lap the Wayfarer led and, when not surrendering ground by going round wrong buoys, looked secure in that lead. Jane Anderson made a much neater job of rounding Far than Adam Hilton and overtook. The charcoal clouds that had threatened from the start managed to drop their rain elsewhere although thunder echoed round the Lake. The wind was surprisingly benign with fewer gusts than usual. John Buckett, with Paul Petvin, was winning the Bosun race in fifth, with Cilla Gilbert now sixth and Toby Tobias, with Sally Wills, seventh. On Lap 3 the order stayed the same except that capsizes by the Aero promoted everybody behind by a place.

1.  John Buckett and Paul Petvin (Bosun)
2.  Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
3.  Mike and Viki Herbert-Coulson (Wayfarer)
4.  Cilla Gilbert and Brian Pollard (Bosun)
5.  Paul Whybrow (Solo)
6.  Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
7.  Toby Tobias and Sally Wills (Bosun)
8.  John Savage (Solo)

Retired Adam Hilton (Aero 7)

 

Tamar 5

Linda Spiller (Laser Full), fearing she would be over the line, turned back just before the horn blew, making Vicki Duncalf’s Topper first away followed by Brian Pollard, now helming the Bosun, and Mike Coulson in the Wayfarer. The Pollard/Gilbert Bosun again managed to gain the first buoy from a very downwind position, led and kept the lead round Inlet. Something held them up between there and West however and they were fifth round that buoy with the Wayfarer taking the lead. Paul Whybrow (Solo) and Linda Spiller were both making up ground fast after disadvantageous starts, with Paul third on the way to Far and Linda up to second on the way back, a position she retained for the rest of the race, but with a lead of millimetres at the end! The Bosuns were again scrapping; they went round Dam Green at the end of Lap 2 close together with Brian Pollard leading (and 4th in the race), Toby Tobias next and Paul Petvin making an admirable job of helming his first race, helped no doubt by the tutelage of John Buckett. By the end Paul had overtaken Toby.

1. Mike and Viki Herbert-Coulson (Wayfarer)
2. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
3. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
4. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
5. Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
6. Paul Petvin and John Buckett (Bosun)
7. Toby Tobias and Sally Wills (Bosun)

Retired: Paul Whybrow (Solo)

Thanks were given to John Dabbs and Kathy Wyke, Officers of the Day and Mandy and Brian Pollard photographers.

Cup 3

Bob Sampson and Sue Murray in the RS 200 were first over the line on a handsome day with a brisk little northerly. Vicki Duncalf pulled off one of her characteristically fine starts but at the first buoy (Zebra) it was Adam Hilton’s Aero 7 that followed the RS200. Jane Anderson (Laser 4.7), third at the start, and Robin Spiller (Streaker) who’d only started seventh, came next. These were still the first four at the end of a first, twenty minute lap that had taken the fleet on a beat all the way to Far buoy. They were again the first four at the end of the second with Linda Spiller (Laser Radial) coming up and finally taking over fourth place from her husband on lap 3. The Wills/Heasman Bosun had begun the race fifth over the line with the Gilbert/Pollard Bosun behind them. They swapped places more than once in the course of the race. With the Laser 4.7 having a handicap some 150 points better than the RS200 and the Aero7, there was little doubt that Jane Anderson would take the honours. The Aero7 capsized yards from the finish!

1. Jane Anderson (Laser 4.7)
2. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
3. Cilla Gilbert and Brian Pollard (Bosun),
4. Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
5. Bob Sampson and Sue Murray (RS 200)
6. John Dabbs and Paul Petvin (Bosun)
7. Robin Spiller (Streaker)
8. Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
9. Geoff Floyd (Solo)

Retired: Adam Hilton (Aero7),

Sailboat 3

The RS200 was again first away but with Sue Murray at the helm this time. John Dabbs with Paul Petvin and Adam Hilton in the latter’s Bosun got a fine start at third over the line but had his advantage disappear when the hull touched Zebra buoy. A racelong battle developed between Jane Anderson (generally second) and Linda Spiller (mostly third). Roger Heasman with Sally Wills had the early running in the Bosun race but Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert finished the first lap in front of them and were not challenged again, finishing a couple of minutes ahead.

1. Jane Anderson (Laser 4.7)
2. Linda Spiller (Laser Radial)
3. Sue Murray and Bob Samson (RS200)
4. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
5. Vicky Duncalf (Topper)
6. Roger Heasman and Sally Wills (Bosun)
7. John Dabbs, Paul Petvin and Adam Hilton (Bosun)
8. Geoff Floyd (Solo)

Retired: Robin Spiller (Streaker)

Grateful thanks were given to Paul Anderson and John Duncalf who ran the races and to Mandy Pollard for photography.

Commodore 2

Much to the relief of all afloat after recent windless Sundays, this week there was thankfully a strong, gusty breeze blowing down towards the dam.

First across the start line was Paul Whybrow’s Solo, but in the long beat up the lake Jane Anderson found the lead in her Radial rigged Laser.  With the disadvantage of a stiff personal handicap in the second of this new series, she needed to stay far out in front to stand a chance of beating the rest of the mixed fleet and this she soon started to do.  Linda Spiller had a larger full sail on her Laser, but after staying fairly close for the first two laps, she then found herself slipping ever further behind.  Penny Abbott with another full Laser rig, jostled places with the Solo, before catching a lucky wind shift on the last lap to overtake Linda.  This led to a determined battle between the two, Linda just able to regain second place on the water by the finish.  The two Streakers sailed by Roger Heasman and Robin Spiller were well matched, competing in 5^th and 6^th, but after the first lap Roger kept his bow in front.  Two Bosuns each had a Buckett on board, Nicky helming with Sally Wills as crew and John crewing, with Brian Pollard at the helm.  At times both boats were very close, but despite staying ahead and finishing a minute before Brian, Nicky’s personal handicap pushed her far down the final placings.  In the only Topper, Vicki Duncalf brought up the rear of the fleet, but was rewarded when handicaps were applied to finish times.  Jane Anderson’s valiant effort proved sadly for her, not quite enough.

1. Brian Pollard and John Buckett (Bosun)
2. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
3. Paul Whybrow (Solo)
4. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
5. Nicky Buckett and Sally Wills (Bosun)
6. Robin Spiller (Streaker)
7. Roger Heasman (Streaker)
8. Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
9. Penny Abbott (Laser Full)

Tamar 3

Sadly a rig failure prevented Penny Abbott from starting the second race and she was forced to limp back to the beach.

With wind strengthening, the remaining boats were in tight competition across the line.  However, now joined by Nathan Pollard in his full rig, the Lasers soon sailed ahead with Jane Anderson in what was to become an undisputed lead.  Likewise Linda Spiller found herself unable to catch up with Nathan and the race became something of a procession, the only change in position being that of the Bosuns when Nicky Buckett gained a lead over Brian Pollard during lap 3.  A course with several gybes made life more challenging, but the only capsize was an unlucky Roger in his Streaker, towards the end of the race.

1. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
2. Nicky Buckett and Sally Wills (Bosun)
3. Brian Pollard and John Buckett (Bosun)
4. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
5. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
6. Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
7. Roger Heasman (Streaker)

Retired: Penny Abbott (Laser Full)

Many thanks go to Geoff Floyd for acting as Officer of the Day and to Mandy Pollard for photographs.

Ladies/Gents/Junior/Gosling 1

Fifteen sailors in thirteen boats took to the water for the noon race on a glorious day which lacked nothing except wind. They milled about, pointing in every different direction, waiting for the start, but there were wily skippers who got away right on the gun – Paul Whybrow (Solo) at the clubhouse end of the line and Jane Anderson (Laser Radial) at the other end. Sally Wills’ Bosun (Roger Heasman  crewing) was on the wrong side of the line at that moment and had to go back; it took them, Linda Spiller (Laser), who mistakenly thought it was her who had started too soon, Toby Tobias in his beautifully refurbished Bosun and the Commodore in his new and underperforming Aero 7  a minute or five to cross the line when finally the horn blew. Another five minutes into the front runners’ race and an easterly zephyr picked them up and drove them towards Pinky with the Whybrow Solo sailing up the Devon bank and the rest in the middle, Robin Spiller in his Streaker going well amongst the Lasers. As the fleet crawled back towards the Dam the minutes clicked by and John Buckett, the Officer of the Day with John Savage, decided that at fifty plus minutes per lap, one lap would be enough. There were multiple changes of order even between Dam Green and the finish line and six boats crossed the line within a minute. First was Jane Anderson with Robin Spiller and Paul Whybrow impossible to separate in second. Meanwhile the vagaries of the wind had pushed the back of the fleet towards the front which brought slower boats with advantageous handicaps to the front of the order.

1. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
2. Toby Tobias (Bosun)
3. Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
4. Paul Whybrow (Solo)
5. Cilla Gilbert and Brian Pollard (Bosun)
6. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
7. Robin Spiller (Streaker)
8. Penny Abbott (Laser)
9. Linda Spiller (Laser)
10. Nathan Pollard (Laser)
11. Bob Sampson (Laser)

Retired Adam Hilton (Aero 7), John Dabbs (Gull)

 

Tamar 2

There was a little more wind and the fleet started towards Pinky on a starboard tack, Jane Anderson (Laser Radial) just leading. But by the end of the lap it was Penny Abbott (Laser) who led with Bob Sampson (Laser) second. Roger Heasman with Sally Wills led the Bosun race at the end of each lap with Brian Pollard (with Cilla Gilbert) and Toby Tobias swapping places behind him. Nathan Pollard (Laser) had a successful second lap, going from fifth at the end of lap 1 to first at the end of lap 2, a position he retained at the finish and it was only Jane Anderson’s smaller sail that deposed him in the adjusted results.

1. Jane Anderson (Laser Radial)
2. Nathan Pollard (Laser )
3. Bob Sampson (Laser)
4. Penny Abbott (Laser)
5. Linda Spiller (Laser)
6. Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)
7. Robin Spiller (Streaker)
8. John Dabbs (Gull)
9. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
10. Toby Tobias (Bosun)
11. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)

Retired Adam Hilton (Aero 7)

Grateful thanks were given to John Buckett and John Savage who ran the races and to Mandy and James Pollard for photography.

Commodore 1

The high winds continued with their accompanying Tamar Lake super-gusts. This year the Club’s Commodore series has an innovative new handicap system which takes into account the past performance of the skipper as well as the boat. None of these factors stopped Jane Anderson (Topper) getting away first; she was followed by the Laser 4.7s of Bob Sampson and Nathan Pollard. Two battles ensued; a Laser battle in which Nathan Pollard led Bob Sampson at the end of lap 1 but not at the end of laps 2 and 3. And a David and Goliath battle in which Roger Heasman and Sally Wills (small sails on their Club Bosun) overtook Jane Anderson and finished each lap ahead until the last. New handicaps or not, the results put the competitors in the same order as they finished on the water.

1. Bob Sampson (Laser 4.7)
2. Nathan Pollard (Laser 4.7)
3.  Jane Anderson (Topper)
4. Roger Heasman, Sally Wills (Bosun)

 

Pursuit 1

Jane Anderson’s was the first boat to set off in the Pursuit race. She was followed two minutes later by Nathan Pollard and the Heasman/Wills Bosun, now with full-size sails. After another four minutes came Bob Sampson in the rear. But the wind had not abated and the gusts had increased in strength. Jane Anderson decided on the first lap that her neat frame would need a good few extra kilos if it were to keep the Topper up-right for the 67 minute length of the Pursuit race; she retired. The Lasers were planing across from Inlet to West, spray flying but Nathan Pollard was caught out rounding Dam Green and had to practice his dry capsize technique. A gust caught out the Bosun, up-ended it and it took all the efforts of the crew and the safety boat (John Weller and Brian Pollard) to get it upright and towed back to the pontoon. While this was going on Bob Sampson also gave up the uneven struggle with the winds. Nathan Pollard was left, alone and magnificent, to win the race, a second capsize after the finish not deterring him.

1.  Nathan Pollard (Laser 4.7)

Retired: Jane Anderson (Topper), Roger Heasman, Sally Wills (Bosun) and Bob Sampson (Laser 4.7)

Grateful thanks were given to Nicky Buckett and Linda Spiller who ran the races and to John Weller and Brian Pollard for safety boat duties.

Click here to see Race Series Results 2019 including times – last updated on 15th April 2019

Cup 1

There was a lot of wind on the Lake, gusty, blustery wind coming from the east. Jane Anderson again joined Vicki Duncalf in Toppers, Bob Sampson had the smallest available sail on his Laser and various would-be single-handed racers fled to the comfort of Bosuns. The Herbert-Coulsons were unperturbed in their Wayfarer. The start was from the long Home 2 line, to give time and space for a reasonably orderly queue to form rounding Dam Green. The usual start line might well have caused first corner accidents like a motor race! Bob Sampson got away first, followed by Vicki Duncalf and Jane Anderson. And Bob, then Jane, got to Dam Green first followed by John Dabbs (with Adam Hilton and Penny Abbott) in the first of the Bosuns. The Wayfarer took an unlikely course to Dam Green but gained ground fast on the run to Zebra and was soon second. Jane Anderson settled into third, the position she held for the rest of the race. Roger Heasman (with Sally Wills and Geoff Floyd) gained the lead in the Bosun sub-race on lap 1. Brian Pollard was fast catching the other two Bosuns but still had Vicki Duncalf ahead in sixth at the end of lap 1 but he got past her on lap 2 and past the Dabbs/Abbott/Hilton Bosun on lap 4; they cemented their defeat by touching the buoy at Dam Green and having to do a penalty 360° turn.

1. Bob Sampson (Laser 4.7)
2. Jane Anderson (Topper)
3. Mike and Viki Herbert-Coulson (Wayfarer)
4. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
5. Roger Heasman, Sally Wills and Geof Floyd (Bosun)
6. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
7. John Dabbs, Adam Hilton and Penny Abbott(Bosun)

Sailboat 1

Nathan Pollard added a second Laser 4.7 to the fleet and got off to a flyer with Bob Sampson and Jane Anderson following him. But Adam Hilton, now helming his Bosun, got round Dam Green in third and led the Bosun race from then on with, on lap 2, Jane Anderson’s Topper overtaking, but never pulling clear of, the Heasman/Pollard Bosun battle. Swooping past all of them from the rear at the start was the Herbert-Coulson’s Wayfarer which took up the lead on lap 2 and kept it. The handicap put the Wayfarer behind the Lasers.

1. Bob Sampson (Laser 4.7)
2. Nathan Pollard (Laser4.7)
3. Mike and Viki Herbert-Coulson (Wayfarer)
4. Jane Anderson (Topper)
5. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
6. Adam Hilton, Penny Abbott and John Dabbs (Bosun)
7. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
8. Roger Heasman, Sally Wills and Geoff Floyd (Bosun)

Grateful thanks were given to John Duncalf and Paul Anderson who ran the races, to Toby Tobias and Paul Petvin for safety boat duties and to Mandy Pollard for photographs.

Barnwell 5

For the first race of the season the sun shone brightly but the brisk north-easterly winds were cold. There were two Lasers in the fleet; Bob Sampson got his over the line first with Nathan Pollard hard on his heels. Vicki Duncalf (Topper) followed closely with the jolly threesome of Dabbs/McKee/Petvin in the Club’s Bosun slightly slow to reach the start line. It was a true beat to Inlet with the wind becoming unpredictable as the trees behind the buoy disrupted it. Nathan Pollard had his bow ahead of Bob Sampson for a while but a judicious choice of tacks put Bob round the mark first and on the planing reach to West he stayed in front and remained there in the long beat to Far. These two were still close at the end of lap 1 but on the second Bob Sampson pulled out a lead which he extended as the race progressed, finishing a couple of minutes in front of Nathan. John Dabbs had managed to get past Vicki Duncalf in the beat up to Inlet and stayed in touch with the leaders for the first lap giving hope for a win on handicap. The gap had increased by the finish of the race but at six minutes behind Nathan Pollard the Bosun trio still got second place on handicap.

1. Bob Sampson (Laser)
2. John Dabbs, Paul McKee and Paul Petvin (Bosun)
3. Nathan Pollard (Laser)
4. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)

Barnwell 6

Bob Sampson generously swapped places in the safety boat with Adam Hilton, giving Adam the chance to race his new Aero 5 for the first time. The winds had freshened so that the Aero and the Pollard Laser crossed the start line at some speed and at much the same moment. Nathan soon pulled away. Vicki Duncalf again started in front of the Dabbs Bosun (now with Paul Petvin as the sole crew) but she was overtaken on the fast reach across to West. A capsize at Inlet left Adam Hilton at the back of the fleet and another during the gybe at Pinkie caused him to retire. On the second lap Vicki Duncalf was also caught out but carried on to gain second place to Nathan Pollard. The Dabbs/Petvin Bosun retired after the race; they had signed on with Paul Petvin as helm but the strength of the wind deterred him.

1. Nathan Pollard (Laser)
2.  Vicki Duncalf (Topper)

Retired: Adam Hilton (Aero 5), John Dabbs and Paul Petvin (Bosun)

Grateful thanks were given to Roger Heasman and Cilla Gilbert who ran the race, to Brian Pollard, Adam Hilton and Bob Sampson for safety boat duties and to Mandy Pollard for photographs.