PASAB 2008

Biggest yacht race ever for Penzance

Last Friday saw 140 competitors take to the water on the annual PASAB (Penzance Around Scilly And Back) race run by Penzance Sailing Club. This made for the biggest yacht race even to start and finish in Penwith, with 31 yachts filled the bay on Friday evening on what was the 31st running of PASAB.

Over the years PASAB has gained a national reputation as a unique, competitive and well run race with competitors this year travelling from as far as London, Hampshire and Bristol to mix with a range of local boats. This made for a spectacular sight as they left the bay, with craft ranging from high performance multihulls to boats sailing in our Lugger fleet.

The first leg saw the fleet make slow progress out of Mounts Bay before heading around Wolf Rock Lighthouse overnight then finishing just south of St Marys, Isles of Scilly over the course of the morning and early afternoon on Saturday. While the multihulls of Tony Purser (Backlash 2) and Jon Nichols (Pandemonium) took an early lead; these faster boats where later becalmed just short of the Islands allowing some of the faster monohull fleet to make up on lost ground. Norman Curnow ’s crew on ‘Jazz’ finally took the leg with Tristan Harwood’s ‘Dogmatix’ coming in second making it a one, two for Saltash Sailing Club.

Sunday brought light winds from the east which causing the race committee to set a short course around St Marys. As the wind built the fleet quickly completed the course, with the fastest boats recording times of just under two hours. Again ‘Jazz’ from Saltash pulled through to take the leg; with Cedric Wynter’s crew on ‘Out on a Limbo’ coming in a close second. The short race created a welcome break after the extended Leg 1 and crews soon scattered to explore the islands. Sunday evening saw the traditional island prizegiving at the Scillonian Club, with the Truan Hick from the Isles of Scilly Sailing Club presenting the Venus Cup to the round island winner.  

Monday saw a refreshing force 4 from the southeast which allowed the fleet to make quicker progress back towards the mainland. Under the cover of rain, the fleet quickly split up as they made their way up wind. These conditions favoured the larger monohulls with Tristan Harwood’s ‘Dogmatix’ and John Whitehead’s ‘Artemis’ coming in first and second in the monohull fleet, only just beaten over the water by ‘Backlash 2’, ‘Adonnanta’ (Peter Lilywhite) and ‘Pandemonium’ (Jon Nichols) who came in first, second and third respectively in the multihull fleet.

After a long weekend of sailing, which saw competitors clock up at least 24 hours racing, Cedric Wynter’s ‘Out on a Limbo’ from Penzance Sailing Club came out on top with consistent results all weekend; only 10 minutes ahead of Norman Curnow’s ‘Jazz’ from Saltash; closely followed by John Whitehead’s Artemis from Plymouth.

On the following Saturday we were please to welcome Richard Wood to present the prizes at the event prizegiving. Richard was one of PASAB’s founders as well as, in recent years, being part of the first British crew to pass through the North West passage above North America.

Alongside the normally array of prizes presented to the class and leg winners; special mention was also given to Becky Leech sailing on ‘Incite’ as the youngest competitor on the water and Ros Bennet’s ‘Demelza’ the Cornish Crabber that won the Merit Prize for persisting in conditions which were not ideal for their boat.

Overall a great weekend was had by all with many competitors wanting join the race again next year. A big thank you must go out to the team from Penzance Sailing Club that has worked for the last 12 months to make the event run so smoothly.

More details at the PASAB webpage [PASAB...]

Prize listing below:

Overall Trophies

Manzi Trophy - Fastest time Overall (PY Handicap) Mono/Multi
1 – Out on a Limbo (Cedric Wynter)
2 – Jazz (Norman Curnow)
3 – Artemis (John Whitehead)

Christopher Laughton Trophy - Fastest time overall (MOCRA) Multihull
1 – Backlash 2 (Tony Purser)

IRC Trophy - Fastest Time Overall on IRC rated Boats Monohull
1 – Glissade (Martin Tilley)
2 – Bewitched (Joe Poynton)
3 – Jazz (Norman Curnow)

Row Trophy - Fastest Penzance-based Boat (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 - Out on a Limbo (Cedric Wynter)
2 – Sequester (Tim Cardell)
3 – Bewitched (Joe Poynton)

Petit Bateau – Fastest overall double-handed (elapsed time)
1 – Pandemonium (Jonathon Nichols)

COGS Trophy
1 – Incite (Martin Leech)

Class Trophies

Penzance Sailing Club Shield - Fastest Class 1 (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 - Jazz (Norman Curnow)
2 - Incite (Martin Leech)
3 - Glissade (Martin Tilley)
4 – China Blue (Chris de Glanville)

Laity (Morrab Studio) Trophy - Fastest Class 2 (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 – Out on a Limbo (Cedric Wynter)
2 – Artemis (John Whitehead)
3 – Sequester (Tim Cardell)
4 - Bewitched (Joe Poynton)

Robinson Travel Trophy - Fastest Class 3 (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 – Happy Return (MBLA)

Leg Trophies

Porthcressa Trophy - Fastest Penzance to St Mary's (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 – Jazz (Norman Curnow)

Penwith Trophy - Fastest Penzance to St Mary's (PY Handicap) Multihull
1 – Backlash 2 (Tony Purser)

Venus Trophy - Fastest around the Islands (PY Handicap) Mono/Multi
1 – Jazz (Norman Curnow)

Rainbow Trophy - Fastest Penzance Boat Around the Islands (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 - Out on a Limbo (Cedric Wynter)

Bevill's PASAB Cup - Fastest St Mary's to Penzance (PY Handicap) Monohull
1 – Dogmatix (Tristan Harwood)

Tolvadden Trophy - Fastest St Mary's to Penzance (PY Handicap) Multihull
1 – Backlash 2 (Tony Purser)

Special Trophies

Collin Harrison Cup - Youngest competitor starting all Legs
Becky Leech (Incite)

Lanxon Trophy - Merit & Overall Effort
Demelza (Rosalind Bennet)

Cobbler's last - Last Penzance-based Boat – Monohull
Silverwind (Sam Kent)