Hamble River Wednesday Night Series - Series A race 1
by Jane Windsor 17 May 2016 20:48 BST
11 May 2016
A beautiful sunny evening heralded the first Series A race for Hamble River Sailing Club, and the first 2016 River Hamble Combined Club race.
Winds from the south were forecast to stay under 5kts during race time, which was not ideal with a strong ebb tide. Although getting racing away was questionable, the race management team set up by Bald Head.
With support from Mentor Lis Robinson, RO Jane Windsor prepared courses for the four competing classes, with plenty of places to shorten course if the increasing wind fell away. Against forecast, the wind began to build and as it did so, the prepared courses were subject to a last minute change to hit race target times of around an hour for the bigger classes and 45 minutes for XOD and Class 3. The wind held at around 8kts and as the tide slackened all boats made good progress and finished in time.
In River Hamble Combined Club race, Class 1 was won by 'Midnight Cowboy' (Stephanie Merry), followed by La Nef IV (John Noe) in 2nd place and 'Eos' from Warsash Sailing Club completing the podium. 'Needlework' (Patrick Pym and Peter Smith) topped Class 2, with 'Cheeky Monkey' (Aidan Barr) and 'Dino Volante' (Alby & Katie Vigar, Ken & Linda Munro, Pat North) in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. 'Forethought of Gosport' won Class 3.
River Hamble Combined Club Trophies were presented Derek Hand and Nicky Gardner.
In HRSC Series A, 'Mischief' (Wilson, Wilson and Neale) led the XOD class home with clear water between her and 'Satu' (Andy Hamnett). In Class 3, the folkboats 'Fritha' (Bob Allen) and 'Isabel ' (Andrew Quicke) took 1st and 2nd place respectively, with RCS Mike James' GK24 'Forethought of Gosport' in 3rd place. In Class 2, the largest class, 'Needlework' (Patrick Pym and Peter Smith) topped the podium, with 'Imptish' (Barney Smith) in 2nd place and 'Anne Louise' (Peter Slimming) in 3rd. In Class 1, 'Midnight Cowboy' (Stephanie Merry) took both line honours and first place on corrected time. Second place went to 'La Nef' (John Noe).
A great start to HRSC's Wednesday Night Series A. Thanks to Club Members Paul Howard and Linda Munro for their help running the racing and special thanks to Bertrand Malas for inputting the results. Series A Race Officer Kathy Smalley is back and in charge on Wednesday 18th May.