Toughing it out in Torquay

Report and pictures from a windy Laser SB3 English Titles regatta

With the South West of England basking in warm, breezy summer weather last week it was not until Thursday evening, when massed ranks of Laser SB3s turned up in Torquay did the weather start to falter. Over the following three days the fleet assembled for the SB3 England Championship had a battle on their hands in Torbay as fresh winds swept in, then over, and finally swung back to enable a total of five races to be conducted by the excellent race team at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club.

Local boats were joined by a travelling contingent that even with the dire forecast numbered a healthy 27 entries. The line up included current National Champion Jerry Hill with 3 Sad Old Blokes and perennial performer Geoff Carveth with Palava. Local honour look set to be defended by Westaway Sail’s John Pollard.

Friday saw a strengthening breeze from the South East. The Torbay rollers gradually grew in size with the bay open to the east and for the final, third, race of the day lightning downwind runs on the big waves at over 15 knots were the reward for tough, lumpy 1 mile beats. Carveth stamped his authority on proceedings posting a clean sheet of first places with Daniel Geohagen and Platinum Blonde the next best with a 2,3,4.



Saturday was a wash out – with anxious sailors looking out of the bar windows as the seagulls got blown backwards down the seafront. 64 knots (and rising) were registered slightly further west at Plymouth. After a good open discussion on heavy air gybing sailors disembarked for shoreside entertainment in Torquay, most involving beer.

Sunday was sailable again with the wind into the West and the bay providing good shelter as the breeze once again increased. As before the Black Flag was out for the start and two races were sailed in tricky offshore conditions. Carveth was not to be headed and another two first places saw his four man/woman team take victory with no discards coming into play. Geoghegan secured second with a 5,2 with Hill dropping to fourth overall as John Pollard nipped into third overall.

Next in the calendar for the class is ACCBank Cork Week and then the VW Touareg King of Cowes competition on Friday 1 August.

	Sail No	Boat	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	3053	Palava	Geoff Carveth	1	1	1	1	1	5
2	3469	Platinum Blonde	Daniel Geoghegan	2	3	4	5	2	16
3	3048	Xcellent	John Pollard	5	2	5	4	3	19
4	3465	3 Sad Old Blokes	Jerry Hill	3	6	3	2	6	20
5	3451	City of Cape Town	Dave & Roger Hudson	4	8	6	7	12	37
6	3017	Doolali	Colin Simonds	6	12	8	8	7	41
7	3021	Here comes Bod	Charles Whelan	7	11	10	10	4	42
8	3464	Eric	Martin Wedge	8	9	11	9	5	42
9	3336	Uber 3	Adrian Peach	29	4	2	3	10	48
10	3226	Pink Gin	Peter Knight	16	10	13	6	13	58
11	3510	The Baron	Ben Williamson	9	14	9	18	8	58
12	3012	Barbarian	Benjamin Sturges	15	7	7	19	20	68
13	3366	Hooligan	Norman Broom	13	13	14	11	17	68
14	3026	Cardinal Puff	Richard Beaman	11	5	29	15	23	83
15	3276	Trouble & Strife	Ian & Clare Armstrong	14	17	19	21	15	86
16	3094	Xceptable	Steve Williams	19	20	22	13	14	88
17	3019	Ribidium	Sam Cook	29	15	16	23	9	92
18	3319	Devil`s Advocate 111	Tony Jaffa	21	16	12	22	21	92
19	3146	Bathstore	Tim Cork	17	19	18	26	16	96
20	3123	Mini Mayhem	Paul Craft	29	25	17	16	11	98
21	3108	Epitony	Tom Vernon	29	21	15	20	18	103
22	3211	Panic Attack	Peter Kent	22	23	21	17	22	105
23	3509	Laser Performance	Ian Mills	18	18	29	25	19	109
24	3047	Sun Micro Systems	Peter Heyn	12	29	29	12	29	111
25	3224	Whizz Bang	Nick Wright	20	24	20	24	29	117
26	3345	Jupiter	Richard Truffitt	29	22	29	14	29	123
27	3489	Red	Joe Woods	10	29	29	29	29	126
28	3078	Scool Boy Error	David McKay	29	29	29	29	29	145