Harbour Races 2025
ST. MAWES
A small weather window appeared on Saturday the 13th. September. No racing had been held in the previous two weekends due to high winds, crews were very keen to get on the water, some had even given up and laid up ashore for the winter. The St.Mawes Harbour race was scheduled for Saturday and Falmouth on Sunday. St. Mawes sailing Club have an excellent weather monitoring system which showed a peak in wind gusts of 24 knots at 0945 and average wind of 15 knots at the same time, at 10.00 hrs then Race Officer gave the decision to Go, and the fleet were informed by WhatsApp.
At 2.00pm on the start line there were five B Class and a wonderful six C Class, making this probably the first time that the smaller 23 ft.boats outnumbered the 28’s. B got away first with Sam Heard in ‘Meloris’ taking the windward end of the line next to St.Mawes quay and leading the fleet around the course. C started five minutes later and having watched the other boats congregate at the windward end and they got away in close combat. Because of the strong winds some boats opted to sail without topsails, the heavier boats were hard pressed but managed full sail. Upwind the topsail in those conditions doesn’t really help, but off the wind it gives that little extra push.
After a tight race in B class it was Sam Heard in ‘Meloris’ that held her lead by two minutes in front of Steve Miles in ‘Florence’. Both leading boats carried topsails. C class was even tighter with Peter Caldwell sailing ‘Iris Elizabeth’ carrying full sail was two minutes in front of Jon Brunee in ‘Juanita’ and two and a half minutes in front of Phil and Jilly Slater in ‘Lottie’. After a gruelling race all the crews assembled in The St.Mawes Hotel who kindly sponsored the event with hot food and complimentary drinks.
The President of the Working Boat Association, Sue Treneer presented the trophies to the winners thanking the sailing Club officers and rescue boats.A good time was had courtesy of the St. Mawes Hotel and its staff.Always a favourite drinking place of all the Crews.
Full corrected handicap results were:
B class
1st. Meloris – Sam Heard
2nd. Florence – Steve Miles
3rd. Evelyn – Rob Wing
4th. Winnie – A. Williams
5th. Endeavour – Ollie Graffy
C Class
1st. Juanita. Jon Brunee
2nd. Iris Elizabeth – Peter Caldwell
3rd. Leila – Adam Bird
4th. Lottie – Phil & Jilly Slater
5th. Serica – Paul Ferris
6th. Truth – Ross Collet
FALMOUTH
The forecast for Sunday all through the preceding week was full gales, and they were not wrong. The morning arrived with gentle breezes from the south and by the afternoon at 3 pm which would have been the middle of the race it was blowing 25-28 knots gusting over 40 knots from the south west.
A decision to cancel the race had been made on Thursday as Falmouth Harbour course, unlike St.Mawes. is very tight and close to moored boats. The possibility of any accident,or damage in the confined areas of the Harbour was not worth the risk. As it turned out it was far too hazardous to sail on Sunday due to the wind conditions accompanied by torrential rain sometimes reducing visibility to a couple of hundred yards.
Pictures below are of B and C fleets starting off the St. Mawes start line taken from the Clubs Webcam hence sorry the quality of reproduction is poor. Top one C. Class. Lower one B. Class.
