Day 4
A Game of Snakes and Ladders
David Harding
Provisional results on www.pooleweek.org
Photos on www.SailingScenes.com
Whatever else it might be, racing in dinghies and keelboats (and yachts too, for that matter) is never predictable. It’s true that the best sailors tend to rise to the top, but it doesn’t mean that they run away with it every time. A poor start, weed around the rudder, a series of unfavourable wind shifts or simple bad luck can leave anyone struggling. The question is how you come back, or whether you have established enough of a buffer in a week-long series.
The Wednesday of Poole Week 2026 was a challenging day for everyone. When racing got under way, the tide in the harbour was still ebbing for a couple of hours and the south-easterly wind was lighter than on the first three days – down to 10 to 12 knots, then decreasing further for a while before picking back up. This called for much more emphasis on tidal tactics than had been the case earlier in the week.
Most of the fleets starting from the Parkstone Platform had a beat down the harbour to NC 2 (a port-hand buoy in the North Channel near the Royal Motor Yacht Club). Judging the approach was critical, with many boats over-standing by a big margin in the cross-tide.
NC 2 was the first of many marks for the one-race-on-Wednesday fleets, which went up and down the eastern part of the harbour a few times before a long run took them all the way to Hutchins, well to the west of Poole Yacht Club. At least the length of the course gave anyone who made a bad start a chance to get back into the race – like Michael Atkinson in the ILCA 7s, who had a number of issues early on and rounded NC 2 some way behind the rest of the fleet. But his boat isn’t called Captain Cornerbanger for nothing. From NC 2 he took a radically different course from the pack ahead, using every tidal back-eddy the harbour had to offer and eventually clawing his way back from 14th to 4th.
It was a Merlin Rocket 1,2 in the fast handicap fleet, the long, light run to Hutchins giving them the edge over the RS400s. Steve and Ally Tyler scored their first (and long overdue) bullet of the week after a good tussle with Dave and Frances Bursey.
In the Top Triangle, two of the leading boats in their respective fleets had less-good days. Richard Whitworth and Jack Bowen won the first race in the Flying Fifteens to make it four in a row. Their next race was one to forget, but they still lead overall. Ian Linder moves up to 2nd after posting a 4, 2.
John Tremlett’s less-good day in the XODs leaves him in 2nd place, one point behind Roger Yeoman. The top three places are still filled by boats from Itchenor.
One fleet that, collectively, hadn’t had a good day on Tuesday was the Wayfarers in their race around the islands. In one case, a buoyancy jacket proved (not for the first time) that it can be more of a liability than an asset when a spinnaker pole got jammed in it, causing a capsize. Another Wayfarer was tipped in when a RIB went roaring past far too fast and far too close. The tales of woe don’t end there. Happily, it was a better Wayfarer day on Wednesday, especially for David Moss and Mindy Fisher, who took their tally of wins to three on the trot to sit comfortably at the top of the table.
To the uninitiated, Wednesday might have looked like a lovely day to be on the water: warm and sunny with a gentle breeze. For racing sailors it was as testing as it gets and downright frustrating at times, but even those who weren’t happy with their results would probably agree that it was better than being in the office.
