St Helier Yacht Club's West Country Tour

Abracadabra during the St Helier Yacht Club's West Country Tour © Carol Wilson

Due to the on going problems with Covid-19 it was decided this year that in place of the biennial Jersey to Biscay Race there would be a tour of the West Country. This has been a great success with 26 yachts entered.

The first leg was the race from St Helier to Falmouth leaving Saturday morning and arriving Sunday. It was a superb downwind race with spinnakers flown from start to finish in a fresh easterly breeze. First to arrive in Falmouth was the Dragonfly Aquafly of Jeff Speller closely followed by Phil Burton's Arctic Tern but the overall winner on handicap and in the IRC Class was Abracadabra (Rhys Perkins and Bob de la Haye) with Knight Star [Arthur Manning] first of the slower Class 3 boats and Jenna B (Richard Gale and Phil Brown) was first of the IRC two handed boats and Wandering Star [Mike Foreman and Steve Pearl] first two handed in the cruising division. In the multihulls Aquafly was first with Anderica [ Andy Ravenscroft] second.

The second leg was east along the coast to the lovely port of Fowey. The wind was forecast to be much lighter and into the wind. A shorten course was raced but unfortunately some of the slower yachts were not able to finish within the time limit. First to the line was Arctic Tern very closely followed by Abracadabra but when the handicaps were applied the positions were reversed. This time first in the slower division was Mystique (Chris Fritot and Deb Hutchings) followed by Wandering Star and again the first Two Handed IRC was Jenna B and in Class 3 Wandering Star. In the multihulls positions were reversed from leg 1 with Anderica first and Aquafly second.

The last race was a long upwind beat to Dartmouth in a steady force 3-4. This turned out to be a very tactical race especially when rounding Start Point at Salcombe. Grace [ Bob Milner] with her longer waterline length was fastest on the water and on handicap and won overall. Wandering Star was second overall and first in Class 3. Out of the two handers Jenna B was first Class 1 and Wandering Star in Class 3. The multihull class was won by Aquafly.

St Helier Yacht Club is very grateful to Royal Dart Yacht Club for laying on a great BBQ and prize-giving reception. First overall and in Class 1 was Abracadabra, in Class 3a it was Mystique, in 3b it was Wandering Star and in Class 4 Aquafly. Out of the 2 handers first IRC was Jenna B and in Class 3 Wandering Star.

Overall Results: