Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit - Day 4

Report from Nick Hopwood

Lymington Town Sailing Club ran Race Four of the Solent Circuit series on Sunday 1st November, once the fog had cleared. After a 40 minute postponement for the wind to fill in from the east, opposing the flood tide, the race committee set a simple windward-leeward course up and down the mainland shore for all classes. During a lull in the breeze the Race Officers, Nick Hopwood and Rob Milledge, were considering stopping the races after just one lap, but it freshened again just in time to enable a second shorter lap via a relocated windward mark. The competitors enjoyed close quarters tactical racing in bright sunshine, and smiles were in abundance back in the club's Solent Room afterwards.

In the IRC handicap class, Peter Schofield's Zarafa and Ray Crouch's Boomerang continued their rivalry, but the conditions favoured the smaller Malbec 240, Moonraker, skippered by Tim Knight taking his first victory. A similar outcome in LAH1 with Jon and Bob Baker's J97 Jaywalker losing out to Andrew Pearson's 707, Spike, and Charlie Roberts Contessa 32 South Haze in third having made an excellent start.

In LAH2, the evergreen Rosenn, with Bob Fisher at the helm, took first place. However the closest battle was Pat Stables' GoogleEye pipping Harry Ellens' Tokoloshe by one second on corrected time.

The normally popular Folkboat fleet was reduced in number, due to the forecast of low winds. John Cooper's Jen took the win ahead of Chris Hills Padfoot with LTSC Commodore, Nick Ingram, coming home in third place.

The J80 class enjoyed very close racing once again, with Andrew Hurst in Fiducial winning, Nigel Brooke in Hush second, and Nick Kirkman third in Jane.

The RS Elite fleet stayed ashore for the second consecutive week, due to the lack of wind.

Report from Alex Barnes

The fourth race in the Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit took place on Sunday morning despite heavy fog and light winds early on.

Visibility was very low from the LTSC balcony shortly before the crews were scheduled to go out and there were also winds of just 1-2 knots blowing around.

The race officials headed out slightly later than usual after the fog had cleared, but it was over an hour until the race was able to start.

Wind speeds increased sufficiently for the racing to take place, with Charlie Roberts on South Haze displaying some great skill to begin their race at the front of the fleet.

The RS Elite fleet never appeared out at the starting area and this was probably due to the low winds, as it would have been very difficult for the crews to out into the Solent until the wind speeds had picked up for the race start.

The series continues on Sunday 8st November when Race 5 will be contested. Entries are still being taken and details are available on www.ltsc.co.uk or from the sailing secretary at .