Goacher and Evans lead

A report on races two and three from the Flying Fifteen Nationals

With a northeasterly wind of 10 knots the start of Race 2 was set at the Southern end of Torbay with the windward mark towards Thatcher Rock.

Yesterday’s race winner Steve Goacher was first to the windward mark followed by Simon Dangerfield 3583, Alan Bax 3786 and Simon Kneller 3699.

After the leeward mark Yachts and Yachting tacked on to starboard while the rest of the fleet went on port into the middle of the bay. This cost local sailor Martin Payne crewed by John Heyes of Y&Y a couple of places by the windward mark.

A real battle was on for second place between Kneller 3699 and Bax 3786 with Kneller just holding on.

In the Silver Fleet Nick and Lucy Oliver 3144 held off their Royal Torbay rivals to win the Silver Fleet coming 15th overall.

In the separate Classic event Mike Jones 2645 held the lead in a close race until David Hill passed him on the final beat taking another first place.

For the afternoon race the wind moved to the east and dropped down to 4 knots.

From the start the fleet separated with Steve Goacher tacking on to the right hand side leaving most of the fleet in the middle. Jeremy Arnold/Mike Pearce 3599 led at the windward mark followed by local sailors Colin Fletcher and son Huw 3429. Steve Goacher was in third place followed by Alan Bax in fourth.These positions continued until the leeward mark and at that stage the fleet had split into two groups.

For the windward leg those who then went right and stayed right gained at the expense of those who stayed with the rest of the fleet in the middle. Simon Kneller moved from near the back to be third at the final windward mark whereas Bax and Fletcher struggling with a dying wind against the tide found themselves well down. The wind by now was down to 2/3 knots; Arnold had a good lead but with problems with his spinnaker pole he lost his lead to a patient Goacher who alone in the fleet managed to keep his spinnaker filled.

Yachts and Yachting appeared to go too low but picked up a slight breeze and reached to the line taking fourth place on a shortened course behind Kneller.

In this race the Silvers were spread throughout the fleet with Bill Butcher taking 9th place overall.

In the Classics George Rock Evans 2562 took the early lead and had a close tussle with David Hill, the lead changing until the final beat when David Hill accelerated away to post yet another win

Results:
Race 2 Open Fleet
1. Steve Goacher & Phil Evans 3721
2. Simon Kneller & David Lucas 3699
3. Alan Bax & Andrew Weatherspoon 3786

Race 3 Open Fleet
1. Steve Goacher & Phil Evans 3721
2. Jeremy Arnold & Mike Pearce 3599
3. Simon Kneller & David Lucas 3699

Race 2 Classics.
1.David Hill & Maf Smith 671
2. Mike Jones & David Travis 2645

Race 3 Classics
1. David Hill & Maf Smith 671
2. George Rock-Evans & son 2652